A party became an act of resilience. As immigration enforcement ramped up across Minnesota, the Kasongo family and the Good Neighbor volunteer team from Emmaus Road paused to celebrate something quietly defiant: one year of genuine friendship.
The gathering featured Congolese-style fish, American mac and cheese, and a flag-decorated cake. Dorcas, the family’s adult daughter, had sewn formal attire which many wore for the occasion, and the family led the group in song to mark the milestone.
“It was such a sweet time together in the midst of such hardship,” said Kristen, one of the volunteer team leaders. “We asked them to sing like they would at the refugee camp in Zimbabwe, and they sang beautiful a cappella worship songs.”
Their year of friendship wove together the mundane and the memorable — trips to the zoo and ice cream outings alongside dentist appointments and setting up online bill pay. It culminated, unfortunately, in two terrifying months of sheltering in place during ICE enforcement activity in the area.
For Kristen, the emotional weight of the relationship is real. “It’s one more person on a bad day to worry about. In a thunderstorm, I’m wondering if they know about tornado warnings; in a snowstorm, I make sure they know about street parking rules,” she said. “But when I rest in the Lord, which I am learning to do, it’s one more person to love and care about.”
Kristen says the volunteer team has felt most impactful in providing social capital and advocacy as the family navigates life in a new country. “We advise them on how to be assertive but respectful to help their family get what they need. It’s easy to get swept up in this nasty business of survival, so my favorite interactions with the family are scooping up the four little kids and doing something fun together.”
The volunteers say the relationships have shaped them just as much.
“Compassion needs to be played out in a relationship,” Kristen said. “The Good Neighbor program is about caring about people — getting to know them, appreciating them, loving people by coming alongside them.”
In a season of struggle, it turns out, showing up is its own form of joyful defiance.
*Kasongo is a pseudonym
