Dear friends,
This message is from Suzanne Johnson, the leader of our refugee team. Our official engagement with the Kombete family is finished, but friendships endure. Suzanne beautifully tells the story of the past year in their lives, and what it has meant to St. Dunstan’s. Enjoy
Tricia
One year ago, the Kombete family arrived in Atlanta with little more than the clothes on their back. After waiting 17 years as refugees initially from the Central African Republic, they had less than a week’s notice to prepare for their move from Cameroon. Overjoyed finally to be moving, they were also torn to be leaving other family and friends there. They only knew there would be one case manager from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) meeting them in Atlanta. To their surprise, a team from St. Dunstan’s greeted them at the airport with many hugs, welcome signs, warm clothes, flowers and soccer balls and then provided lots of food and toys during their temporary stay in a hotel.
St. Dunstan’s had had more time to prepare for what we thought would be a family of 4-8 people. During the “Shower of Love” in early January, we filled tables in the parish hall with essential household goods, crowded the narthex with bags of warm clothes, and collected furniture from all over metro-Atlanta. We too had to scurry at the last minute when we agreed t0 welcome an extended family of eleven.
Our partnership with the IRC changed drastically on January 20th, four days after the family’s arrival, because the Trump administration immediately cut all refugee resettlement funds greatly reducing both the financial support and resettlement services the IRC could provide. Without knowing what that would mean, Tricia said that St. Dunstan’s would stand with the family and provide what they needed. The 2025 Lenten Offering in support of the family eventually raised double our goal of $25,000.
Because of the urgency of finding housing before all rental assistance funds were frozen by the new administration, the family moved into two three-bedroom townhouses in Jonesboro. Not only is that a very inconvenient location for St. Dunstan’s members, Clayton is an under-resourced county lacking the welcoming resources and expertise in DeKalb where most IRC refugees had been settled. The Jonesboro location makes the family’s resettlement much more difficult.
The last year has been filled with great love, courage and determination on the part of the family and by the team and St. Dunstan’s more broadly. The four young adults have jobs that can support the family at a very basic level. Baby Sarah was born safely in March. The other children are enrolled in school and making progress. Knowing no English when they arrived, the young adults and children have made great strides. With St. Dunstan’s help, they have weathered some significant health issues. Two of the young adults are in the process of getting their driver’s licenses; there is a good used car waiting for them. They are actively involved in a nearby church.
The original members of the St. Dunstan team (Mimi Gold, Steve Hauser, Susan Hauser, Peg Maloney, Jessica Peoples Orozco) have been loving encouragers, patient teachers, persistent advocates, and fierce champions for the family. Deborah Silver, Katie Pierre, and Elizabeth Wong-Mark later joined the team. Other parishioners have stepped up with creative experiences for the family. We’ve celebrated birthdays and, with a recent outpouring of generosity, helped the family have a very festive Christmas.
Now, at the one year mark, St. Dunstan’s involvement with the family is changing. It is important that they manage independently, depending on their own resources, financial and otherwise. We are committed to ongoing friendship with the family and look forward to celebrating milestones, including, hopefully, citizenship in about four years. Thanks to St. Dunstan’s generosity we are able to add a sizeable final gift to the savings account they have already established.
The family is so very grateful to St. Dunstan’s. Please continue to keep them in your prayers, especially in these very dangerous times for all refugees, even those with permanent legal status such as our family.
Suzanne Johnson
Refugee Team Leader
