The End of a Journey with a Brand New Beginning

Having a less than a week in Washington D.C. is something that I couldn’t believe was true and at the same time I couldn’t deny because it was the end of the of July. The time seemed to move faster than the usual speed—has been two months but still seems like yesterday when I came to Washington D.C. C. JoyBell C. once said, “Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin. And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin again in a new way. Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending.” During my time in Washington D.C. I have learned a lot and enough, although I am calling an end to this wonderful journey which I started in two months ago, I believe that is not really an end but simply a beginning of a new journey in my life.

 I am grateful to every second I spent with my fellow interns, I really enjoyed having them as my fellow interns as well as my new friend. We were a diverse group from different backgrounds, different cultures, different places and we all have different stories, but we came together as one people and live in a community like brother and sister, that was not only a part of our community covenant but also it was a commitment of each one of us in this group. One thing we all had in common is that we all believed in God, and we were involved in church activities before coming to D.C. I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to meet with these amazing people. I could not ask for a better friendship this summer than the one I had from my fellow interns.

 although the week was very short I still had a lot to do, I had the privilege to speak at the seminar about my experience as a refugee, where I shared my refugee’s background and following we look into the read some of the verses just to see the Bible's perspective on global migration, the participants were from Minnesota. As interns, we had the opportunity to lead the worship service on Wednesday, and to share our summer experience which was great. I also had the opportunity to meet with some of my legislators last week. I met with Representative Emanuel Cleaver and Senator Claire MacCaskill. I took that opportunity of meeting representative Cleaver to talk about the three-key point about the refugee’s crisis which was federal funding for refugee program, consultation for presidential determination and opposing the DHS to house the bureau of population, Refugees and migration, because the current administration wants to move the PRM to be a part of the DHS and that would bring a negative impact to both refugees and the agencies that serving them. Rep. Cleaver was very supportive. He attended the World Refugee Day as well as hosting town hall meetings discussing the refugees in Kansas City, Missouri.

            I really appreciated for having the opportunity to experience life outside of my community and living in Washington D.C., especially during a controversial time in American politics. It was just Amazing to be on the field for the first time. I want to thank everyone who supported me including my church and my mentors—I also want to thank our Coordinator, Katie Monforte for the hard work she is doing to make this happen, including Kendal McBroom our Chaplin, thank you for your facilitation, and sharing your knowledge with us.

 Engoma

GBCS Intern 2017

Church World Service.