Mekonen Gebrenegus Wube
Photo: Exodus Refugee Ministries |
CWS Refugee Stories from Across the Decades:
Mekonen Gebrenegus Wube, Eritrea -- 2005
Northminster Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, cosponsored Mekonen Gebrenegus Wube and his family, who resettled in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2005 under the auspices of Church World Service and Exodus Refugee Ministries.
Commented Northminster member Jack Wineman, a retired pastor, “Helping a refugee family resettle truly puts a face on the headlines. It gives people a chance to touch that part of the world. Relationships develop, and horizons are broadened.”
Northminster’s Associate Pastor, Ruth Moore, added, “It is amazing to me how busy people have taken time out of their lives to help the family. We had less than two weeks to prepare for the arrival of this mom, dad, and two young boys.
“The congregation provided everything the family needed to furnish their home and meet basic needs,” she said, and children of church families, like the Hill family, quickly befriended the Wube children. “They were laughing and playing card games on the floor within 15 minutes.”
This spring, at a dinner hosted by the Wube family, Moore asked Mekonen if there was anything the church or volunteers hadn’t done that the family needed. He responded, “You have done more for me than my birth parents. Since we came to the United States, we have felt born again!”
Read more stories from 2005: