Weekend at El Refugio: a song and a full house

JoAnn Weiss recently visited a man from Honduras who is a well known singer of corridos (ballads). He was detained in Atlanta when his band was on tour in February. “We talked about his experience at SDC,” JoAnn said. “He even wrote a song about it, which he sang for me. His voice is beautiful!”

I am a prisoner here.

Here I am a prisoner.

“It was an emotional visit,” JoAnn said. “He told me it was the first time he had sung since he had been there.”

JoAnn, board chair emeritus and longtime volunteer, was serving as house coordinator for the weekend and the only volunteer. (We are working on strategies for recruiting more volunteers! Thank you to those who have already signed up. If you signed up and have not heard from us, please contact Johanna Garcia at johanna@elrefugioministry.org.) Despite going solo, JoAnn managed to do two visits, host six overnight guests, and welcome six drop-in guests. She also squeezed in some yoga! 

JoAnn’s other visit was with a woman who lives in Gwinnett County and has been in the U.S. since she was two years old. The woman is facing deportation to Mexico, a country that is completely foreign to her. She shared that she has two children who are living with her grandmother and she was nervous about her upcoming court date. 

Later, back at the hospitality house, a family of three from Raleigh stopped by to wait for their visit. JoAnn made them sandwiches and gave them a gas card. A family of three from South Carolina then arrived, having been turned away at SDC because they had visited the previous Sunday. JoAnn welcomed them to spend the night and visit their loved one on Sunday. They ate sandwiches and worked on puzzles before heading to Columbus. They later returned with pizza to share! 

Three Honduran men stopped by as well, having just visited a friend at SDC. JoAnn gave them a gas card and some bottled water and snacks for their trip back to North Carolina. In the early evening, a woman and her two-year-old daughter arrived from North Carolina to visit their husband/father. They decided to spend the night so they could visit him again on Sunday. 

While 287g contracts with ICE, in which local police agree to turn in people who may be undocumented, have been terminated in some Georgia counties, these contracts are still in full force in many parts of North Carolina. 

JoAnn then received a call from a woman driving up from Orlando who inquired about staying at the house. JoAnn assured her there was plenty of room, and the woman arrived near midnight. Having brought only a frozen lasagna, salad supplies, and fruit, JoAnn was grateful for the pizzas! There was plenty of food for all. 

Because she had to leave early on Sunday, JoAnn wasn’t able to tend to the mammoth task of post-weekend laundry, but thankfully our wonderful interns, Maria and Ximena, were able to take care of it.

We appreciate JoAnn and other longtime house coordinators who do so much when the house is busy. We need more coordinators and volunteers to ensure our hospitality house is open every weekend and able to provide a place of rest and support for anyone who is visiting a loved one at SDC. Go here to volunteer, and go here to donate. 

JoAnn gets up early to do yoga on the back porch of our hospitality house.