As a friend to refugees here in the United States, I have a unique privilege: I get to "travel" to multiple cultures in one day!
I live in an apartment complex (and greater area) composed of many refugee families, so a day in the life of my ministry placement here in Phoenix, AZ, looks like going from home to home, doing life with people from Iraq one hour only to be invited to a Syrian, Afghan, or Rohingya (minority Muslim people group from Burma) home the next. Some days, I get to experience life within at least four different cultures! (I wish I could get a passport stamp for each one.)
Really though, although there are many differences between each culture (for example, when I greet an Iraqi friend, we kiss each other on the cheeks, while greeting an Afghan friend usually looks more like a handshake), most of my friends are from Muslim people groups and have many cultural simularities. Here are some across-the-board moments that I encounter in my daily life:
Firstly, food. Usually from the moment I step inside a refugee home, I am greeted with the smells of curry, onions, or some other strong scent coming from the kitchen. I will 100% be served food and/or drinks during my visit, no matter how long or short my my time there is. Hospitality is a high cultural value for them, meaning that the first thing that most people will do when I enter their home is make sure that I am comfortable and have something to sip or snack on. Oftentimes, it will be served on the floor (where they eat) surrounded by the chaos of children running, other friends and family coming in and out, and conversations happening in languages I don't understand. I've learned to love and embrace these moments where I just get to sit and connect with the culture of whoever I'm visiting, utilizing the opportunity to learn more about their favorite foods, phrases in their languages, and their life stories.
Secondly, time. No matter how hard I may fight this particular fact, schedules are impossible to keep while visiting refugee friends. Time commitments that were made previously are off the table the moment I step into the home of a refugee family. And, believe it or not, I've learned (and am sometimes still learning) to be okay with this! It's usually impossible to get a straight answer about future plans from anyone from the cultures I am in community with—the Arabic phrase "inshallah," which translates to "if God wills" is used as a response to most of my plans and invitations. Sometimes this is difficult, especially when I arrive at someone's home in order to take them to a necessary appointment and find them out and about, but I've learned that relationships are SUCH a high value to them that all other plans are put aside the moment an opportunity to connect with a friend arises. I find this a beautiful reflection of God's desire to be in relationship and am honored when I get to be the recipient of their relational enthusiasm and generosity.
Thirdly, Islam. As stated previously, most of my refugee friends are Muslim, and visiting Muslims means that I will always be expected to take my shoes off at their door in order to keep their floor (where they pray) clean. Along those same lines, the Muslim call to prayer goes off five times a day, at dawn, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall, on the phones of those I am spending time with (which made me jump everytime at first but has slowly faded into background noise over the past couple of years). I have realized that I'm usually just expected to continue conversations as normal when it does. I have also learned to expect pictures of the Arabic word for God (Allah) and passages from their holy book (the Quran) to be covering the walls of all of the homes I visit. When I encounter the religious practices of my friends, I come face-to-face with Islam and I view these moments as opportunities to have conversations about our beliefs and the differences between and similarites within following Jesus and practicing Islam. I am grateful for these experiences that promote dialogue and can lead to me sharing stories of Truth in gentle ways when prompted by the Holy Spirit.
There is so much more I could write about what a day in the life of being in community with refugees looks like, but to keep things short and sweet, I'll end with this: living life with refugee friends is always an adventure! Although I have an idea of some things I might encounter, the only thing I can ever fully expect is to encounter something unexpected! I've learned to love new foods, phrases, and ways of going about life in the process, and can't imagine going back to how my life was before doing life with my sweet friends from other cultures.