It is very rare that I get to accompany a client starting from their arrival in the US and then taking them through the entire resettlement process of finding an apartment, delivering the home supplies kit, going to the furniture bank and going to Franklin County, but this week was the closest I have come. Unfortunately I had a doctor’s appointment on Friday and was unable to help with the airport pickup, but everything else I have been able to do. I worked closely with the new arrival’s US tie named Fadumo. Fadumo’s brother and his family are the arrivals coming from Ethiopia and she wanted EVERYTHING to be ready by the time her brother, his wife, and his 7 children arrived. Fadumo has been in the US for more than 15 years and her family and her sons have been quite successful, so she was dead set on making sure her brother’s family living standards matched hers. She is a strong woman who knows wheat she wants and when she wants it done and was a pleasure to work with this past week. She wants to get an apartment for her brother’s family in Blacklick, but in the mean time she spruced up the temporary two apartments that they would be living in, working throughout the day bringing in rugs, curtains, and picking out furniture from the Furniture Bank that met her standards all while fasting for Ramadan! Here are some pics of the apartment:

Fadumo’s brother Abdihamid and his family are extremely lucky to have this kind of support before arriving in America. Most of our clients either don’t have any family or if they do they don’t have enough money to deck out their rented apartment or find them a new living space in a nice area of town. This arrival is about as perfect as they come, especially when it is a large family of nine. Next week the whole family will be taken for health screenings and to apply for social security at Franklin County.