Cedars, April 2018

April 2018 14 THE GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS: DIVERSITY “Prayer is never a last resort; it is the most powerful thing we can do to help the refugees here in the states and also over- seas,” she said. “This is something you don’t realize until you face something that truly is so much bigger than you can handle.” Team leader Timothy Mattackal had spent the summer of 2017 in Clarkston as an intern with CIBC, where he lived live in the community for several months. “The internship allowed me to do much more than is possible during a one week missions trip,” he said. “I was able to build relationships with many of the people there, and [...] be involved in advocacy work rais- ing awareness, mobilizing people and teach- ing people about issues concerning refugees and refugee resettlement.” Mattackal believes that getting to know refugees in the community is the best way to really understand their stories. “There are many myths and a great deal of misinformation surrounding the topic of refugees,” he said. “A key way to dispel these myths is just to spend time with real-life people. Meeting individual people and get- ting to know them and hear their stories ... makes it easy to understand that they are simply normal people just like you and me trying to survive and take care of their fam- ilies.” A common sentiment among team members was that they learned far more than they were expecting about refugees, their lives and their stories. “God taught me that to serve him we just need to be available to be used,” Mat- tackal said. “Whether that just means being available to help a refugee find a job or being willing to go out and share the gospel with people regardless of the circumstances.” O’Keefe mentioned that she learned several things about community and fellow- ship in Clarkston that she wants to bring back to her home church. “There’s so many cultures, people and languages [in Clarkston], and they’re all very accepting of learning from each oth- er and being proud of where they’ve come from and learning other cultures,” she said. “Anyone is welcome there because everyone is different. That’s something to share.” *These names were changed to pre- serve their safety and privacy. Alexandria Hentschel is a sophomore In- ternational Studies and Spanish double major and the Off-Campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys old books, strong coffee, and honest debate. “To serve [God], we just need to be available to be used, whether that means being available to help a refugee find a job, or being willing to go out and share the gospel.” Timothy Mattackal team leader Photo provided by Jason Lee The Atlanta Global Outreach team visited a local mosque to observe community traditions and fellowship with Muslims