Open Our Eyes

Day 1: A Call to Love More Deeply, in recognizing the challenges newcomers have in adapting to life in Canada. 

Adam House celebrated Refugee Day earlier this week with an open house at their main location in Toronto. Lucy Chaimiti (nee Hill) has been director of this organization for many years as well as a recognized Global Worker with World Partners for many years. Lucy is on a well-earned sabbatical, so we reached out to the Program Director, Astar, to hear more about their Refugee Day open house. Astar has served at Adam House for three years now but has served asylum seekers and new residents in Canada for almost two decades.

“God gave us perfect weather," Astar said. The activities were planned for outside so they were very thankful for a warm day with no rain in sight. People were relaxed – connecting and chatting with each other. They began with a traditional coffee ceremony in Ethiopian tradition. Current residents at the multiple Adam House locations prepared different ethnic foods to share – Indian, Nigerian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Afghan, Pakistani cuisine and more. It was diverse. Residents performed a skit about the challenges newcomers face. It was nice to have a number of former residents coming for the occasion. Residents at Adam House can typically stay up to 16 months, and then hopefully they are able to find a place to call their own. Even though they move on, many still come for assistance with filing documents or with finding a job, so the interactions continue for a while. They are so grateful for the relationships that were established while living at one of the Adam House locations and they want to support the next residents in finding their way in Canada as well.

Adam House relies on many volunteers and the support of churches. "The connection we have with the volunteers who work with us, who belong to various churches is enormous. They are the ones who are like the face of Adam House. Wherever they go they advocate for the refugees…. We pray together with them. We have weekly meetings, and we bring our issues. The volunteers have been the link to the churches that they belong to…. They have stood with the refugees still. We don't rely on any other source [of income]. So the churches have been supporting us. Individuals who have been donating, like the direct deposit for many years. Though they are struggling, they have still continued to sustain this program. So we are really grateful for those kinds of people. No matter how much they give, is not what counts, what counts is. They are still standing with the refugees, even if they give whatever – $20 every month. That's a huge contribution because of the heart. They give it out of their heart, not out of their abundance."

Here is Astar's challenge to us: "Sometimes I feel like compassion is really dwindling in the hearts of people. But as Christians, I think we have to keep that recharged, because we have been commanded to care for the stranger among us – the widows and the orphans. That's our command. So we have to rekindle that. You love, just as we were loved by the Lord…. It has to come from, not our comfort, or interest, but it has to come from knowing that we were loved. Really loved, and we have to love freely…. And who is our neighbour? Our neighbors may not be the people of the same color, the same language, the same background. [When we think of the parable of the Good Samaritan, he] was actually the one that was always being despised but [he] cared for a member of the community that looks down on him. So I think the bar is high for us. It's not like we have a choice to select whom we want to love. We have to love our neighbor. Our neighbor can be anybody, including enemy or including someone who has been looking down on us or despising us."