Showing category "Response" (Show all posts)

Because You Can Make a Difference

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, February 5, 2019, In : Response 
When people hear that we moved to Philly to foster refugee kids they are generally pretty blown away. I truly appreciate this, as we know it is not common to pick up and move in order to take in someone else’s kids. But, honestly, what seems to impact folks is the heart behind our decision. That’s the part we see folks connect with as many quickly want to know how they too can help. So, here’s a not so big secret….no one has to move in order to help these kiddos who’ve lost family, ...
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What Can One Church Do?

Posted by John K on Monday, April 2, 2018, In : Response 
As 2017 came to an end, I sensed that I should schedule time early in 2018 with The Sanctuary, a church-run ministry for refugees in Newport, Wales. Kaylee and I first visited last summer and the director, Mark, participates in our MUM Network. My goal was to be a help, but also to witness what one church can do as they go about their day-to-day work with refugees.


I arrived in Newport after my overnight flight and three-hour bus ride from London. Mark met me at the bus stop and we walked the ...
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Responding to the Biblical Call

Posted by Kaylee K on Thursday, February 22, 2018, In : Response 


With almost 2 months behind us in 2018, not much has changed for the situation of unaccompanied youth in Europe. It doesn't seem 2018 will be much different than 2017 as borders remain closed and governments seem more focused on ways to reject asylum claims rather than help people in desperate need. However, we do recognize that the call to help "the least of these" or "the orphan and the widow" or "the foreigner" is a Biblical one not a political one. This is why we continue to focus on the ...
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2018 Goal? Shine On!

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, In : Response 

It's been a very difficult year for the youth in Europe who arrived alone, i.e., without parents, seeking asylum. As borders closed, asylum procedures were drawn out, and care was withheld, many lost hope and some resorted to drugs, self harm and even suicide. When our network members share about some of these situations or I read another report of the horrific conditions in some of the camps and shelters, at times I'm brought to tears. However, I also get to hear from the folks we work with ...

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To App or Not to App, That Was the Question

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, October 31, 2017, In : Response 
One of the objectives of our summer visits with ministries in Europe was to vet out the smartphone app that we had been hoping to develop with a goal of connecting unaccompanied youth with ministries that could help them along their travels. We achieved this, but with different results than we expected as we realized that this is not the timing for such an app.
Unfortunately, as many countries across Europe have closed their borders, movement between countries has dropped down to just a trick...
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Job Creation to Combat Trafficking

Posted by Kaylee K on Thursday, September 21, 2017, In : Response 
This is an interview with John after we spent three months in Europe focused on collaboration and partnership building with refugee ministries and individuals.



Q, When you headed to Europe, what did you know about the impact of trafficking on unaccompanied refugee youth?
A. When we started our journey in May,
I sensed that trauma and the vulnerability to being trafficked were the issues I should focus on and learn about over the summer. I had contacted some global anti-trafficking organizatio...

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What Does the Future Look Like?

Posted by Kaylee K on Thursday, August 10, 2017, In : Response 


As we sit in a flat in Paris watching the rain and listening to the sounds of the city, we're struck by the ups and downs of our travels this summer. We have met with a variety of ministries and individuals who are helping unaccompanied asylum-seeking youth as well as refugees. We’ve had some opportunities to spend time with the youth themselves. And, we’ve continued to learn about their ongoing challenges, the heartache for those left behind and the trauma resulting from awful situations...
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Welcome

Posted by Kaylee K on Friday, June 2, 2017, In : Response 
"Welcome." A single word that can transform an experience.

When we arrived at the For Refugees offices on Tuesday a sign awaited us, “Welcome John & Kaylee”. In this one act, the organization that is hosting us this summer in London made it clear: we want you here; you have a place.


And I felt that. Not just in the sign. But also in the smiles that greeted us. In the words shared. In the attitudes of hospitality. And in the considerate acts such as a teammate showing us around the office ...

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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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A Refugee Tale: The Impact of the Church

Posted by Kaylee K on Thursday, March 3, 2016, In : Response 
During our time in Italy we were humbled and encouraged by our encounters with refugees who were willing to share some of their journey with us. Over and over, we learned of the impact that Christians and churches have had. We heard first-hand testimony from refugees about Christians who cared for them and led them to Christ. We heard from churches about the power they saw just by welcoming refugees into their community. And we learned that when a Christ-follower serves a refugee at one point...
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Quotes Worth Pondering

Posted by Kaylee K on Monday, February 15, 2016, In : Response 

Here are some quotes that deserve our consideration, which I gathered during our time at the Refugee Highway Partnership European Roundtable and in our meetings with the Italian Evangelical Alliance and a church in Pescara:
  • “If God put these kind of people here, then the Lord is telling us who our neighbor is.” – Giacomo, our host in Pescara as he talked about helping refugees in Italy.
  • “Building relationships and becoming part of the local community shrinks time to normalcy [for the re...

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Just Shut Up (and listen...)

Posted by Kaylee K on Monday, February 8, 2016, In : Response 
Our realization last week was that to answer God’s call we “just need to show up.” Now that we have (we’ve spent a few days in Rome and are now at the European Refugee Roundtable in Sicily), I’m realizing this week’s lesson is that I have two ears and one mouth for a reason and I need to respect that ratio. John and I have so much to learn and it is necessary to keep our American world view to ourselves while we listen to the perspectives and insights of those native to Europe as ...

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"Mommy, Is It OK to Be Friends with a Muslim?"

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, December 8, 2015, In : Response 
This is what I suppose our children are soon to be asking… if we’re lucky. The conversation might go something like: “There’s a new boy in my class. His name is different. It’s Mohammed. Is it ok to be his friend?” or perhaps, “This new girl in my class looks different. She wears a scarf on her head. Can I talk to her?” If we are lucky, they’ll at least ask us. And, if we’re following Jesus’s teaching our answer must be: “Yes.”

But what if they don’t even ask? That...

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When Children are Being Harmed, We Must Respond

Posted by Kaylee K on Friday, September 18, 2015, In : Response 
My heart is breaking. I just watched a video newscast on what equates to child slavery and trafficking in Italy, which is being fueled by the migrant crisis and the EU’s inability to decide on how to respond. As a human, I cannot tolerate this. As a Christian, I am called to respond.

 
But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the k...

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Six Biblically-Based Steps Churches Can Take to Respond to the Refugee Crisis

Posted by Kaylee K on Thursday, September 17, 2015, In : Response 
(edited version of post from IAFR site: http://bit.ly/1KTOlNu)

1. Get informed/Stay informed: Here are some helpful resources:

o   Twitter: https://twitter.com/Refugees, https://twitter.com/WEAnews, https://twitter.com/WEA_UN, https://twitter.com/RefugeesMedia, https://twitter.com/IAFRhttps://twitter.com/RefuGmin 

o   Facebook: www.facebook.com/refu...


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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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