Tobin shows Heiba how to use the “Welcome Home” washing machine.
MATT ROMANO
with others to help resettle more than 80 immigrants from 13 families
through Prince of Peace. The fami- lies were housed in living arrange- ments in the community in proper- ties not owned by the church. She remembers each of them by name. Today she orients newcomers to
Mona (refugee names were changed) washes dishes in the Welcome Home resi- dence the day after her arrival from Libya.
that’s a great idea.” The congregational council, with
Tobin as a member, approved the idea “as long as it wouldn’t cost us money,” she remembered. The decision led to a remarkable ministry that began in 2009—well before Welcome Home had its start—with Tobin as the linchpin. The parsonage was “home” for six months for the first guest fam- ily. After they left in 2009 for more permanent housing, Krey and his spouse moved into the parsonage. Since 2009 Tobin has worked
30 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
the Welcome Home residence. She teaches them about public transpor- tation and drives them to the super- market, showing them how to shop. She gets them to doctors’ appoint- ments, helps them learn to use appli- ances and makes them feel welcome and comfortable. The first refugee Tobin worked with was Eyob from Eritrea. “He came by himself. Then his brother and his wife, other sisters and broth- ers joined him—eight altogether,” she said. “In their homeland they could be arrested for carrying a Bible or wearing a cross. So they came on religious asylum.” The congregation and many in the community fell in love with their new Eritrean neighbors, she said. For her part, Tobin was finding new life in this ministry. But not everyone has approved of the refugee ministry. “A woman once said to me, ‘You have to stop working with those Eritreans,’ ” said Tobin, who told the woman: “You have no business telling me what to do.” The woman later apologized after learning about the ministry. Tobin knows that many people
fear immigrants will take jobs from Americans. “But my family came from Germany ...,” she said. “I don’t know of anyone here who doesn’t
have an immigrant history.” When Tobin hears of refugees who’ve fled their homelands with their children, she doesn’t know how else the church should respond but with hospitality. “My credentials for this ministry are those of a housewife, a mom (of three children) and a grandmother,” she said. “We go to church and read lessons about Jesus and the way he cared for the poor. How can we listen to these lessons and not reach out? We don’t go to church just to dress up and throw 20 bucks in the collection plate so we can feel good. I feel alive doing this ministry.”
And a first-call pastor
When Krey talks about the church’s growing ministry with refugees he isn’t without concerns. The lease on the Welcome Home house expires in March 2013. “I hope we can sustain this work,” he said. “We probably can’t afford the house we are using now. We will need to find another property ....” Krey, in his first call after gradu-
ating from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, said he is influenced by his father, Andy, an ELCA pastor who ministers to seafarers along the U.S. southeastern coast. Krey said a Greek family was generous to his forebears when they first arrived in America. He also references Matthew 25 as a backdrop for a ministry to refu- gees: “For I was a stranger and you welcomed me. … Truly as you did this for one of the least of these … you did it to me.”
And Hassabo is deeply grateful for the church’s help. He and his family “feel safe and secure in our new place … but we are looking over our shoul- der toward our relatives back home (his mother and oldest sons) who are in danger,” he said, adding, “Please pray for the people of Darfur.”
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