Browsing Archive: March, 2017

The shoes. The tree. The cemetery.

Posted by Kaylee K on Thursday, March 2, 2017, In : Response 

The shoes. The tree. The cemetery. These are some of my most vivid memories of our time in Budapest. Though the conference was terrific and our visits in the city were great, I was tremendously impacted by the many ways that the history of the Holocaust and the memory of the Hungarian Jews who were exterminated was marked. The bronze cast shoes along the Danube marked the place where men, women and children were shot so their bodies would fall into the river and float away. The tree was a bea...

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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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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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