This is Joan, and here’s the ASAP video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQbcohzT_U0
***************************
Joan Hodges Wu is an amazing person — a bundle of intellectual power, creativity, endless optimism, energy, inspiration, common sense, compassion, and understanding. She literally “electrifies” any room she enters — a natural leader and role model.
Her organization, ASAP, which I have personally visited to have lunch with the group, is equally amazing. First, there are the amazing community volunteers, of all ages and from all walks of life. And then, the amazing asylum seekers: Impressively accomplished people like the Ethiopian gentleman in the video.
They were successful businesspeople, teachers, students, agriculturists, merchants, government officials, scientists, computer engineers, health care professionals, and many others, from many different countries and cultures, who were making good lives in their home countries but were forced to flee by powers over which they had no control. Now, they want to contribute their skills and become integral parts of our communities and help insure that they, their children, and all members of the American community will continue to flourish in the future.
Often, all that is standing in the way is the need for “cultural translation” — the ability to understand how to approach employers, neighbors, government officials, teachers and others in the community and to understand how their skills and experiences might best be used. They also seek to understand the resources available to help them fit in and contribute. No government agency or NGO currently provides this information. That’s where Joan and her network of volunteers, religious groups, and other volunteers come in. They fill the gap and create success stories.
ASAP does all of this on a shoestring budget. A dollar seems to go further when it is used to unleash human kindness and caring and when the grateful “target group” is willing to contribute and give back to others themselves.
Imagine what our world and our communities could be like if we spent more on projects like ASAP? What if we recognized, valued, and utilized the humanity of all people, not just a selected few? What if we worked together to solve problems rather than attempting to impose futile non-solutions on one segment of our society?
Read more about Joan, ASAP, how you can volunteer, and how you can contribute to the effort here:
https://www.asylumprojectdc.org/
I think it is a real shame that our Government expends so much time and so many resources in a futile attempt to divide us and to punish, de-humanize, and discourage asylum seekers and other migrants. In other words, intentionally creating “lose-lose” situations.
There are lots of good folks out there whose lives we could save and who also could make great contributions to our country. Seems like we’re letting bias and myths blind us to the many “win-wins” there for the taking under wiser, more foresighted, and more humane national leadership.
Perhaps, the “New Due Process Army” will take us to the better places that our generation failed to reach.
PWS
08-08-18