Day 2: May 9

At 8:30am, the group (minus Avery and the Halvorsons, who caught an early flight) headed out to Refuge Coffee, a startup that employs refugees for one year at a time. The workers learn basic working skills, as well as the essentials of being a barista. We had the privilege of hearing from Frai, a barista, about her experiences coming to the United States with her family to join to her brother-in-law.

Meredith and Madi at Refuge Coffee

Afterwards, Susan McDaniel gave us a tour of the church that Friends of Refugees uses as its home base. She explained the various employment assistance programs that Friends of Refugees manages, including an Internet Cafe where volunteers aid refugees in finding job openings, writing cover letters, creating resumes, and preparing for interviews. Additionally, Friends of Refugees hosts a sewing society that employs refugee women to make a variety of handmade goods. The sewing society serves as not only an employment opportunity for refugee women but also as a place for them to come and develop relationships with other women in Clarkston. (Check out their Etsy store, at www.etsy.com/shop/RefugeeSewingSociety)

At the Refugee Sewing Society

We then toured the community garden that Friends of Refugees manages. Each individual who registers is rented a plot of land on which they grow whatever they wish. Many refugees choose to grow foods native to their home country. Susan also explained to us the technology used to save large quantities of water exclusively for gardening, such as reservoir trenches under the plots.

At the community garden

Following the garden tour, we stopped for lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant called Madina and bid farewell to Susan, thanking her for the valuable time she spent with our group. We then left for the Atlanta airport, which we departed at 5pm. We touched down in Paris 8 hours later, 8am in Paris’ time zone.