Amanda Masterson and David Ingold are married and both are members of St. Luke’s on the Lake Episcopal Church in Austin. Among other things, she is a seminarian at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest and he is a twice-a-week volunteer in the Austin office of Refugee Services of Texas.
It's easy to see what huge transformations occur in the lives of refugees from Liberia, Iran, Cuba, and elsewhere who are resettling in Austin, Texas. Less obvious to us are the changes that we too have undergone as a result of befriending refugees we've met through Episcopal Migration Ministries and its local affiliate, Refugee Services of Texas.
Having never before met a refugee, we were completely unprepared for what to expect. We did not anticipate how our hearts would open, and sometimes ache, because of the past and present difficulties that refugees endure. After meeting Liberian refugees Patience and Amos and their dad, for example, we understood how hard it was for them to be separated from their homeland and their mother, and for their dad to undertake single fatherhood in an entirely new country. Another Liberian refugee, Abraham Williams, helped us to understand the experience of being in a refugee camp and the complexities of being accepted into the U.S. resettlement program. Abraham has also shared with us the persistent frustration of being here acclimating to a new culture, starting a new job, and undertaking higher education — all while anxiously waiting to be reunited with his wife, Hagar, and young son, Alvin, who are still in a Cote d'Ivoire refugee camp.
These stories have helped us to more deeply appreciate the freedom and abundance we are blessed to enjoy as Americans. Yet through our encounters, we also find ourselves observing the American experience from a different perspective: as a fast-paced, complicated, and often inexplicable society, one centered more on individuals and immediate families rather than on the village-community from which our new neighbors come.
We are overcome with gratitude for the generosity of parishioners of St. Luke's on the Lake Episcopal Church, our co-workers, and many friends and “friends of friends” who continually respond to our frequent appeals for household items for newly arriving refugees. We are touched to find that, even more than the goods and services they receive, our refugees want, need, and treasure us, their “American friends,” just for the company we keep.
