Where Refuge Happens: welcome, safety, belonging

God called us. The scriptures speak over and over about caring for the least among us - the fatherless, widows and now, we embrace the foreigner in our midst. Through “Refuge Happens Here” and a partnership like-minded organizations, AtL has become a landing place for those who want to serve, donate and pray for asylum seekers and refugees who are fleeing persecution.

Refuge is a place of safety for people who need warm welcome. Our goal is to welcome those who are legally seeking safety from significant oppression due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or particular social group. Many endure harrowing journeys overwhelmed with danger, abuses, trafficking, and hunger. Many have spent months to years fleeing constant dangers only to find overcrowded, under-resourced camps or detention centers.

We offer:

1. A host family to provide a haven for healing.

2. A thoughtful team of Jesus followers to walk with our guests as they navigate life in a new country.

3. Legal serves through an Accredited Representative with the Department of Justice. To date we have helped Afghan Evacuees with Asylum Status, Procured a Trafficking Visa for a person who was trafficked to US by US citizens. Networked with Refugees from Burma, Venezuela, Turkey and Ukraine. We also volunteer with a non-profit to reunite families seperated at the US southern border.

Supporting this ministry with your tax-deductible gift provides: transportation, legal fees, health services and personal care.

Please reach out to mlthauger@gmail.com for more information.

Water

Just turn on the tap and bingo – fresh water, the kind that drips cold from the glass and drains in one long swig, a drop trickles down your chin. Or that chilled bottle, plucked from the cooler at a sporting event on a hot afternoon; frosty condensation moistens your palm while soothing wet fills your mouth. Slug it down. Yeah. Water.  Most of us might pay dearly for it, but its available, easily accessible and clean – very clean.

So, you might ask – “What about water?”

 Globally speaking, here are the facts:

• 70% of the earth is water but less than 1% is drinkable.345 million people are without water access.

• 780 million people are without access to potable water. (That’s more than twice the population of USA.)

• 3.4 million people die yearly from water borne disease. (That’s about the entire size of Los Angeles.)

• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.

• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

• An average American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day.

• More people have a mobile phone than regular access to safe drinking water.

• Women and children use billions of hours collectively hauling water and finding fuel to use for boiling, valuable time that keeps them from school and income-generating work. This daily chore takes them into unsafe environments, making them vulnerable to assault. Even after the water is collected, precious energy is used to try and make it clean – sometimes the dirty water must be consumed as is, resulting in life-threatening diseases.

        (Information collected from WHO, UNICEF, ITU, UNFPA, UNDP.)

A new opportunity to fund your ethical adoption!

@ProjectGoodsPreserveandGrow

Zingira Njema-Good Earth

A new partnership is beginning between our dear friends in Kisumu that offers beautiful handcrafted goods from recycled items and offers fair-trade prices to the Kenyan artisans.