Embroidered Sheets.
Approximately two months before my second birthday, and seven years after their initial application, my family was granted permission to leave the Soviet Union. They had already been in contact with HIAS - an international refugee resettlement organization. HIAS’s pipeline out of Russia involved an initial stop in Vienna where we officially declared our intention to resettle in America and applied for refugee status. One month later we were ushered out of Austria and to Italy. There, HIAS had more “permanent” accommodations for displaced peoples. The three of us were given a modestly furnished apartment managed by a lovely grandmother. She gave me her granddaughter’s crib to sleep in, complete with delicately embroidered sheets. My mother still weaves these sheets into stories about our migration, describing the intricate little gnomes sewn into the white linen. In that moment of empathy, the label of refugee was peeled away, and the manager saw my mother as just that - a mom. And she saw me as a little girl who deserved no less comfort than her own. May we all shelter the stranger on delicately embroidered sheets.
We stayed in that apartment for approximately four months. HIAS gave us an allowance for food and paid our living expenses. I can’t imagine what we would have done without their generosity. The Soviet government had deemed all possessions of monetary worth, and anything referring to the communist regime, ineligible for relocation. We left behind generations of photographs, jewelry, letters, and all but $100. We had turned our backs on the Soviet Union, and didn’t yet have an adopted nationality. If not for HIAS we literally would have been alone in this world, as are so many today.
It seems only fitting that HIAS be the first beneficiary of First Generation Motherhood. HIAS stands for a world in which refugees find welcome, safety, and opportunity. Deeply rooted in Jewish values and history, HIAS is the oldest resettlement organization in the world. Today, HIAS supports refugees from a myriad of faiths, ethnicities, and homelands. To learn more about their groundbreaking work, click here. Unfortunately, HIAS does not have a local chapter in Colorado. To learn more about the International Rescue Committee (a similarly beautiful organization with a chapter in Colorado), click here.
The Webster Dictionary defines refugee as “a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution.” This term has been used in reference to those experiencing painful but livable circumstances (as was our situation) and those fleeing for their lives. Mainstream media often portrays refugees as worthless, dangerous, and demonstrably different from Americans. As if their values and way of life are so unrecognizable, that they can’t possibly contribute to our society. But my family is educated, middle-class, and even monotheistic, so we’re the “good” kind of refugees [said with sarcasm]. Most days I blend in just fine, so I hear the vitriol, the fear, and the assumptions people make when they presume like-minded company. It turns out that refugees are no more monolithic than… oh, I don’t know… Americans? A label tells you relatively little about the individual, but it can be used to wash away their humanity if we let it. That manager in Italy - she didn’t let it. She looked past the label, and saw her own granddaughter reflected in my eyes. May the bonds of motherhood extend past our own, and tie us to the children of the world.
May we all shelter the stranger on delicately embroidered sheets.
