Showing Tag: " youth" (Show all posts)

Hope and Community for Refugee Youth

Posted by John K on Friday, March 30, 2018, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 


Last month, during my week volunteering with our MUM network partner, The Sanctuary, in Newport, South Wales, I had opportunities to work with a variety of youth – who are in this case all boys. These young guys come to the center after arriving in Wales – many under 18, with no or limited English, and having traveled without family across many miles and sometimes many years. At times helping them is quite serious work, as they try to learn language, access services or prepare for their a...
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The Power of Prayer

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, October 31, 2017, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 

9:36 Prayer Initiative for Unaccompanied Refugee Children


November focus:
For the week of the 12th-18th of November, will you join people around the globe in daily prayer for the 200,000+ unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and youth who are traveling alone through Europe? Simply set a daily calendar reminder for 9:36 a.m. and p.m. to remind you to pray for twice each day for these children.

Why 9:36 a.m./p.m.? In the Bible, the book of Mark, chapter 9, verse 36 tells us that “[Jesus] took...
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Love Europe

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, In : Refugee Stories 


This sand art video is a beautiful look at a challenging journey. Wonder why "they" leave home? Who they are? What happens when they get here? Take a few minutes to experience this view into the world of the refugee journey created by the technology folks who created the Love Europe app. We are honored and humbled to work with this team as we determine how to use this technology to also help unaccompanied refugee children and youth traveling alone in Europe.



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Mobilized for Unaccompanied Minors

Posted by Kaylee K on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 


It was an honor to share about unaccompanied refugee children and youth at this year’s Refugee Highway Partnership’s European Roundtable in Budapest last month. An honor, because while the news continues to be filled with horrific stories about abuses against these children and updates on governments that are reneging on commitments to help them, for a few days John and I got to be among people who are giving of themselves in remarkable ways for refugees. And, we got to hear stories of ho...

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A Vision to Help 100,000 Children

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, August 23, 2016, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 


As we prepare for our work in Europe, we’ve become aware of the dire situation faced by refugee youth as nearly 100,000 travel alone to and through Europe. Our hearts are burdened for these children, some as young as 7, who are alone and scared, and often living in over-filled shelters or on the streets where they are targeted for sex trafficking and slave labor. Because of this, over these last many months we have refined our focus to that of helping the church in Europe to help these chil...

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Blog Authors


John and Kaylee Kolditz Kaylee founded Refugee Connect in 2008. John joined the work in 2011 as we investigated the refugee situation in Europe. But our faith and cross-cultural journeys have been a work-in-progress for many years. Much of this blog reflects that. ************************************************ We met in Austin, TX, while volunteering at a serving event at Gateway Church and have been married since 2002. Marriage, parenting and ministry all require a great deal of intentionality, humility and true reliance on God for strength, wisdom, and grace. It is a journey we are grateful to be on together. Ultimately, what matters to us is building into meaningful relationships in ways that, to the best of our ability and by God's grace, demonstrate the love and hope Jesus freely offers to us all. ************************************************ We bring both business and ministry backgrounds into our current work. John started a business in his 20's and helped build several other businesses. He has also served with churches in a variety of roles including as an assistant pastor, director of community development, and missions board member. Kaylee left her marketing career to become the global missions director for our home church in Austin, TX, then founded a local refugee ministry, and became TEFL certified (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in order to prepare for our work overseas. We have led short-term teams domestically and internationally, and served with a variety of cross-cultural ministries. In 2008, we sensed a call to build into the church in Europe, which was also around the time when God broke Kaylee’s heart for refugees. Since then, God has continued to weave together this heart for refugees, desire to serve alongside the church, and focus on His call to Europe.

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