Serve Like a Superhero: Season 3, Episode 10
Batman once said: “Our scars can destroy us, even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure, and the strength to fight.”
Batman knew what he was talking about, having transformed the trauma he endured as 10-year-old Bruce Wayne of seeing his parents murdered in front of him. In becoming Batman, he took that suffering and shaped it into a motivation to bring justice to his city.
Asylum seekers, one of the main groups of people Serve the City supports around the world, have by definition suffered trauma in their home countries—and they may continue to suffer in their journey toward safety and assure status. But we believe that as we build relationships with refugees—not out of pity but recognizing they also have something to give—we can invite them into our community as volunteers, allowing them to transform that suffering into successful serving.
In this episode, we visit STC Cork in Ireland, on the very first project of their city relaunch! There, in an accommodation centre for asylum seekers, volunteers begin the process of befriending residents, while inviting them to share their talents in cooking food from their home cultures. We also meet Abdul and Safi, two Serve the City employees who also happen to be refugees! They share how serving has transformed them, and is transforming other refugees around them.
Listen to this episode here:
We were privileged to be at the very first project initiated by STC Cork in Ireland this November! Pictured here are City Leaders Ernie and Brandon Treu (in the gray STC sweatshirts). From the right are Ronan Coffey (STC Ireland director), Shannon Deal (Serving Stories producer) and Leontine Mastenbroek (Ronan’s wife and longtime STCI board member).
And in the middle of the picture is a surprise guest at the project: Cork’s Deputy Lord Mayor, Honore Kamegni! This was particularly significant because the project took place at an accommodation centre for asylum seekers… and Counsellor Kamegni first came to Ireland as an asylum seeker himself, 22 years ago. Now he is the first person of colour to serve on Cork City Council. It was a great honor for Serve the City Cork to be recognized by this man who has transformed his own suffering from persecution in Cameroon into service for his adopted country of Ireland.
(Unfortunately, our audio of this visit did not turn out well, so we did not include it in the episode… but we wanted to include it here!)
Brandon and Ernie Treu, the Cork City Leaders, are experienced children/youth workers, and they had planned all sorts of games and fun activities for the children at the centre. Their teenage kids, Silas and Ethan, accompanied them as volunteers on the project. Brandon is also a professional puppeteer, and in his alternate persona as “Andy,” he and Ernie helped kids think about what it means to be a friend. This was the theme of the evening, as volunteers and residents got to know one another and began to make friends.
Below is a little taste of “Andy” and Ernie’s presentation about being friends!
We do not have any photos of the residents, as the centre’s rules prohibited us from taking any pictures of them (even from the back). So you will have to just imagine the crowd, and the smells of delicious food the residents made to share—food representing the countries they came from! Inviting residents to share their food was a good way to start out by recognizing that they also have something to share! Transformation takes place as people are given the opportunity to give!
Meet Abdul Assaad, a Syrian refugee who now works for Serve the City Luxembourg. We talked to Abdul at the European Forum and found out that he found STC because he was looking for a way to give back to his new country. Abdul talked to us about how he has seen love build bridges that cross dividing lines.
Here you can see Abdul leading two STC Luxembourg projects transforming lives in the city: working with children at a refugee centre and street kindness to people living homeless. These are just two of the projects that he mentioned he has partnered with; you can also hear about some of the environmental projects he has been part of in our episode called Environment: Gotta Clean Up This City!
Here is Abdul at the European Forum in Berlin with his City Leader Nicolas Duprey (at left) and Florent Brunet (middle), the STC Lux treasurer. Unfortunately, due to the current European political backlash against refugees and immigrants, the government program that helped support Abdul to work full-time for STC Luxembourg has ended since our interview with him. Nonetheless, he remains a team leader there and he is now spending more time studying to improve his facility with local languages. Let’s hope things change and people start to realize how much people like Abdul has to offer to society!
I believe that if I want to love this country and start to have it like a real home, I need to give back. We love who we give to. So I start to give first, and it’s not a secret that I start to love the country.
Abdul Assaad
Find out more about Serve the City Luxembourg HERE.
This is Safi Taha, pictured at our European Forum in Berlin. Safi is an Afghan refugee who now works for Serve the City Paris, seeking to create programs and partnerships that will transform the lives of other asylum seekers and refugees. We first met Safi a year ago when he told us his story in “Compassion: Nourishing Change through Kindness.”
Two ways Safi seeks to transform the lives of asylum seekers are: 1) inviting them to join a weekly Language and Culture Exchange hosted by Serve the City Paris (at left), and 2) inviting them to become a regular part of the STC volunteer community by joining a food outreach project (right). After three months of regular attendance at these programs, asylum seekers are given a recommendation letter that can help with their appeal… and Safi says that 90% of the guys who complete the program are granted refugee status!
But that is not all… many of the guys continue to join in the projects because they now feel they belong to a new community in France. Safi here represents STC Paris at the Town Hall at an event concerning the city’s winter plan for people on the streets. Safi’s own life was transformed through volunteering, and he works hard to transform the lives of others like himself!
Disadvantaged people, they think maybe they think that they don’t have money, so they have no value in the society. But when they come to volunteer, they feel they have value in the society. They have the ability, they find their capacity, and unconsciously they become happy when they feel that they did something nice that day.
Safi Taha
See more about Serve the City Paris HERE.
