Our guest speaker this week was Nancy Markowitz, who is a spokesperson for “Welcoming the Stranger,” a group devoted to assisting those who have legally made it to America and are seeking asylum from persecution in another land.
About a year and a half ago, Ms. Markowitz attended the initial meeting of a Jewish-based group of caring individuals who saw a huge need to assist those seeking asylum. When refugees arrive after their struggle to get here, it’s the start of another chapter without any assurances, and risk being turned away without any protection.
It’s important for an asylum seeker to have somebody help them find their way through the legal labyrinth. Before the first meeting ended, Nancy had decided she had to help. As a member of Portland’s Jewish community, she is familiar with what it’s like to be without a safe homeland and to be the focus of hatred and injustice. She immediately took an assignment and became the mentor for a family escaping persecution in the Ivory Coast, Africa. The family consisted of two parents and their two young children and they were being housed in a shelter and little more. When they first reach the U.S., they are not allowed to seek work for the first 6 months and are not allowed to have any money or valuable assets. The plight of these human beings is not lost on Nancy and the other members of “Welcoming the Stranger.”
The Welcoming group becomes a reliable resource for the asylum seekers and legal matters are tended to by specialists. While the wheels of justice grind on, sometimes for years, there is the daily living needs to contend with. These people are here without a job, a place to live, furniture or a financial base. Since they can’t have assets, they need help with common daily needs like travel, clothing, toiletries and cleaning. Nancy emphasized how dedicated and determined the seekers are to find ways to live on their own and not require assistance from the community. The Ivory Coast family, despite incredible struggles, including the mother being diagnosed with breast cancer requiring treatment, has found a rental and secured furniture with the assistance of the Welcoming group and “Furniture Friends.” The father has found a job, striving to make things better. While recovering from her breast cancer, the mother has used the time to become proficient in English and she looks forward to getting a job to help the family become a functioning part of their new homeland.
The story of the Ivory Coast family is but one of many. Nancy proudly says that when you assist a family, you morph from mentor to friend. One of her happiest moments is when the South African couple she helped invited her to be present at the birth of their first child and was told that she would now be the grandmother to their little girl.
Nancy and the Welcoming group have helped asylum seekers from the Ivory Coast, Congo, Burundi, and South Africa over the past 1.5 years. They have worked with over 100 “matches,” but still have many more families needing assistance. There are many small things we can do to help, such as donating used cell phones, lap tops and good furniture, which will be distributed to those in need.
If you would like to help “Welcoming the Stranger,” please contact Nancy Markowitz at: nmark88@gmail.com.
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Photo L-R: Andreea Paine, Nancy Markowitz and President Don Zillman.