From Client to Advocate: Samuel’s inspiring JourneyMay 30 2023 Samuel arrived in Harrisonburg on January 23, 2020, but it was not a direct journey. Samuel was born in Eritrea. In 2015 at 13 years old, Samuel and four friends travelled from Eritrea to Ethiopia where they were met and welcomed by his uncle. He lived in Ethiopia for four years …
Alexa’s StoryAug 8 2023Alexa works as an ECAR (Every Campus a Refuge) intern at CWS. ECAR in a nutshell is “a program that partners universities with their local resettlement agencies to help them offset the resources and services that are needed during the resettlement process,” Alexa said. She has various tasks, making everyday look completely different. While Alexa helps with …
Alexis’ StoryJul 28 2023Alexis works as a case manager here at CWS Harrisonburg. He’s from Burundi, which he describes as “a small country in east Africa” where he grew up in a small rural village, and “spent a lot of time watching cows and goats” Alexis recalled. As a case manager, his work stretches from filling out applications prior to …
Ukrainian Women’s SeminarMay 26 2023Last Saturday, May 20th, CWS case managers, Beth Good of the EMU nursing department, and a few of our female Ukrainian clients joined us for our 2nd Women’s Health Seminar. The seminars are completely run and attended by women. Saturday’s seminar topic was trauma, mental health, and resilience, led by Beth Good. The seminar focused on …
Radical Roots Farm TourJun 5 2023Last Thursday was a beautiful day for CWS Staff and organizations in our community to enjoy a delicious brunch and fantastic tour of Radical Roots Farm! Through our partnership with Vine & Fig, CWS Harrisonburg receives fresh vegetables from Radical Roots every week to share with clients and staff. This partnership began when Vine & …
Computer Science CampJun 12 2023This week, JMU’s Computer Science (CS) and Information Technologies (IT) departments will kick off their 5th Annual Computing Camp for high school age refugee youth. The camp takes place on the JMU campus and is run by faculty members and teaching assistants from both departments. For a number of these students, the camp is pivotal in …
Bikes for NeighborsJuly 25 2023At CWS Harrisonburg, we are privileged to partner with other amazing nonprofit organizations in the community. One of them is the Shenandoah Valley Bike Coalition (SVBC), with their program Bikes for Neighbors. According to the SVBC Bikes for Neighbors website, the program began in November 2015 when a group of refugees in Harrisonburg identified transportation as …
Library Field TripJuly 6 2023Saturday, June 17th, refugee families in the community went on a tour of Massanutten Regional Library. Deborah, CWS Harrisonburg’s School Liaison, helped organize the tour. She’s planning multiple field trips in the coming months to introduce refugee families to fun activities in the Harrisonburg community. The library field trip was the 2nd event, following their trip …
Gulala’s StoryJun 22 2023Gulala is our Adult Education ESL (English as a Second Language) Specialist at CWS Harrisonburg. In this position, Gulala works during the initial period of welcome and throughout the first five years after arrival to help newcomers develop proficiency in English. She does this by connecting adult clients to English tutors or ESL classes. Gulala has always …
Connecting Culture: A trip to the Frontier Culture Museum!July 26 2023About two weeks ago, CWS Harrisonburg’s Integration Specialist Jean Claude led the cultural orientation class on a field trip to the Frontier Culture Museum. Every other week of the four-week long cultural orientation program, the class goes on a trip outside of the classroom. “We want refugees to adapt in …