Tri-Cities is about to celebrate World Refugee Day and everyone is invited | Opinion

On June 20 the world recognizes World Refugee Day. Is it a day to be celebrated? Not for the millions of displaced people who have been forced to flee from the country they identify as home — forced to flee to escape war or persecution. But it is a day to celebrate with the thousands of people here in the Tri-Cities who found refuge in our community, to honor the strength and courage of these people, to recognize and appreciate the cultural diversity that they add to the Tri-Cities, and to consider our role in helping those who get the opportunity to rebuild their lives in our community.

In 2009 I helped my church turn a small apartment in central Kennewick into a school so we could help the Karen people, a persecuted ethnic group from Myanmar, as they learned how to live in the Tri-Cities. Fourteen years later, our space has grown and so has the work. Today we serve displaced people resettled here from countries and refugee camps around the world.

In an average year, 225 people come here at the invitation of the United States government. Some, like our Karen friends, lived in refugee camps for years before resettling. Others, like the Ukrainians and Afghans who came recently, were very abruptly uprooted. All can attest to the truth expressed by British-Somali poet Warsan Shire in her poem “Home” when she says, “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.”

At B5 (the 501c3 that grew from that first apartment) we’ve been privileged to welcome and walk alongside these resilient families as they create new homes and learn to navigate the complex systems of our culture. They have to be resilient if they are to overcome the language and cultural barriers that could keep them from thriving. Adults get the opportunity to enroll in English classes to prepare them for employment, and our classes are overflowing, but the need to become self-sufficient doesn’t provide enough time to master the language.

Many people have told me “America is hard,” but they’re willing to live with hard in order to give their children a hopeful future.

If you were to come to B5 after school, you would experience that hopeful future. Kids come to play games, read with volunteers, water the plants, and even make robots dance. Later, high school students come to do their homework together. Partnering with Kennewick School District and Educational Service District 123, we are doing our part to honor the hopes of the parents. It is a picture of the promise of our great country — where people from all corners of the world come together to live in freedom and safety, and pursue their own version of the American dream.

Those of us who’ve lived all our lives in the U.S. have had that opportunity to live the American dream. It can be made more real for us when we share that opportunity with these newcomers, fellow image-bearers of God who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. At B5 we believe that our community can be stronger when we help them become part of it. You can join us in this work. Check out our website, thriveatb5.org, to learn more and volunteer.

Join our celebration of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, June 20 at 5:30 PM at the Tierra Vida Rec Center Gym — 3525 East A St. in Pasco.

Embrace our vision to see the Tri-Cities become a community of open hearts, helping hands and supportive systems where strangers become friends and we all thrive.

This story was originally published June 19, 2023 at 6:41 PM.