Renee Gehman, Salfordreneegehman@gmail.com
Entering the room, my eyes rest on the small gathering around the sofa. At the center sits 20-year-old Lenard Geiser of Switzerland, lap strewn with multicolored baby hats and scarves and gloves, all hand-knitted. I smile, as tall, jockish-looking Lenard proudly displays the wintry garments he has learned to craft in the knitting circle at Dock Woods Retirement Community. These items will be donated to Stitches of Love, who will give them to families where babies have been born into difficult circumstances.Albert Hörsch, 21, of Germany, leads me to the kitchen to show me a spread of snacks and drinks, gesturing also to a spot where I can lay my coat. I smile again, confronted with the irony of this gesture…In July, I returned from a yearlong term in Vietnam with Mennonite Central Committee’s SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program. While it stands out in my mind as a great experience, fresh in my memory too is the discomfort of being a foreigner; the loneliness, isolation, confusion, and a yearning for connections. In Vietnam I started to think about the ethnic minorities or foreign visitors I must have encountered at home in Pennsylvania without ever considering what life in the US might feel like for them.I returned home determined to reach out and be hospitable to foreigners, yet now I was finding myself struck by the realization that here I was being welcomed in and made to feel at home by Albert, a guest on my own home turf! A wonderful thing about international relations is their tendency to squash your assumptions and keep life pleasantly full of surprises.Lenard and Albert represent two programs that have placed six international volunteers in our community for a year. Lenard, along with John Meage (Indonesia), Laura Gonzales (Honduras), and Sokun Khoek (Cambodia), is here with Mennonite Central Committee’s International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP). Both Albert and Alex Lischinski have come after choosing to register as conscientious objectors and do alternative service rather than serve the nine months in the military that is required of Germany’s male citizens. Albert came through Russian-German Mennonite mission Logos-International and Alex through the German MennoniteChurch service Christliche Dienste.
The volunteers each live with their own host families and serve in various roles around the community. Lenard works at Dock Meadows and Dock Woods, where his activities extend beyond the knitting circle to helping with exercises and games, teaching classes about Switzerland, and assisting at the childcare center. Sokun, Albert, and Alex all work for Peaceful Living; Sokun as an office assistant and Albert and Alex as caregiversfor teenagers and young adults with mental disabilities. They drive to the clients’ homes and spend time with them, playing games, taking them out, and working toward goals from proper table behavior to traffic safety. Laura works at Ten Thousand Villages and John works at Crossroads Thrift Shop. John also volunteers in community service projects like the St. John’s Soup Kitchen, Precious Life Day Care, and Habitat for Humanity.This group comes together Thursday evenings at Larry and Loretta Moyer’s house in Telford, Pa, where Albert is staying, usually for a Bible study. Their text is Paul Miller’s “The Person of Jesus: A Story of Love.” Each week someone is selected to lead the study, and this week, it is Lenard. We read the story of Jesus healing the blind man, and discuss the Pharisees’ and disciples’ reactions to the healing.John sits quietly focused in a corner, open Bible in his lap. John is interested in learning English so that he can return to West Papua and become a tour guide for those interested in the tribal peoples and cultures of his region. He studies English two nights a week at a class in Norristown, Pa. Alex, 19, who is also living in Norristown, reclines quietly in the easy chair opposite John, wearing a cross pendant and a look of serenity. He didn’t study English in school, so he mostly just listens in on the Bible study, but later I will find that he is eager to open up and try to communicate with people outside the formal group setting. Sokun, 26, sits beside me, recalling to my mind how large I feel in the presence of the generally petite frames of Asians. Sokun has completed two years of university study in Cambodia, and hopes to finish with a degree in business when she returns home.We close the Bible study with a prayer, and the option of praying in one’s own language is given. As I listen to Sokun praying beside me in Khmer, I am fascinated at how different it sounds from the language of Vietnam, which borders Cambodia. I point this out after the prayer, and soon we are all talking about language. Sokun shares a story about a program at work where one of the staff was in charge of “icebreakers.” After the program was over, Sokun asked the woman why, if she was the icebreaker, she did not bring any ice and break it! Later, Albert revealed his struggles with navigating local roads in his first weeks, and voiced his disturbance at the misleading name of “Turnpike”, since you cannot turn wherever you want. I think he makes a good point.A week after the Bible Study, I have the opportunity to shadow Albert at one of his client’s homes. Except I don’t actually end up doing much shadowing, since the client’s mother cannot seem to say enough about how grateful she is to Peaceful Living for connecting Albert and Alex with her son. It astounds her that not only are there young adults who would volunteer to serve like this, but also that they would then be so good at it. She goes on to lament about how guilty she feels as the typical American who only knows one language, when the rest of the world tends to know at least two. I nod in understanding. It’s not, after all, just Lenard’s knitting that’s to be appreciated here.
Lenard Geiser, 20, of Bruegg, Switzerland works at Dock Meadows and Dock Woods Retirement Community. He loves unihockey, a sport we don’t have here, and will talk about it in great detail if you bring it up. He also loves music and plays a few instruments, including the trombone, drums, and the recorder. He attends Plains Mennonite Church in Hatfield, Pa.
Laura Gonzales, 27, of La Ceiba, Honduras works at 10,000 Villages. She worked for a project of the Honduras Evangelical Mennonite Church called Project Peace and Justice. She likes watching movies, shopping, and most of all to watch soccer. She attends Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton, Pa.
Albert Hörsch, 21 of Delmenhorst, Germany works at Peaceful Living. Albert likes to play chess and violin. His favorite book is “The Little Prince.” What he misses most from home are his four sisters, as well as German bread and chocolate. Both his real father and host father are pastors. He attends Rockhill Mennonite Church in Souderton, Pa.
Sokun Khoek, 26, of Cambodia works at Peaceful Living. Sokun loves to travel and to learn new things. She was really surprised to see how beautiful and green it is in Pennsylvania. She attends Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, Pa.
Alex Lischinski, 19, of Germany works at Peaceful Living. Alex likes camping and anything active. In the future Alex wants to work more in the church. He has visited a variety of congregations, including Grace Community Church in Souderton, Pa., and Nueva VIda Norristown (Pa.) New Life Mennonite Church.
John Meage, 30, of West Papua, Indonesia works mainly at Crossroads Thrift Shop, but also St. John’s Soup Kitchen, Precious Life Day Care, and Habitat for Humanity. John enjoys playing guitar. He values his experience in the store because of all the things he is learning about people and how to run a store. He attends Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa.) New Life Mennonite Church.photos provided by volunteers and Franconia Conference staff
