Site Mission:

At LSG, Candler students will offer support and cultural translation for newly arrived as well as more established refugee families, tutor and mentor children and youth in after-school programs, and assist with literacy programs for adults.

About the Site:

• Lutheran (Refugee Resettlement) Services of Georgia (LSG) resettles newly arrived refugee families. It helps prepare the refugee family’s first home, helps them to secure the documents they and their children need for work and school, develops work opportunities for them, and guides them through their first experiences in a new culture. Its ultimate goal is to help the refugee family achieve economic self-sufficiency and successful integration into their new community and new country. This organization is based in Atlanta, GA on Edgewood Drive.

A Student's Perspective:

Ashley says,
"I took great care in choosing my Con Ed I site. I chose working with refugees because it was a population of people that I had little to no experience working alongside. Metro Atlanta contains one of the largest condensed communities of refugees in the U.S. I learned that LSG worked alongside families, adolescents and children from a multiplicity of countries. After I went through orientation as LSG, I started tutoring English. I was assigned a lovely couple from Iran. It was incredibly exciting to hear them learn a language that enabled them to communicate and express themselves in a new land. I learned that displaced people, or refugees, have usually experienced trauma and great loss of possessions, loved ones, safety and identity. Working at RFS allowed me to live out the Gospel of love and allowed me to develop as a minister. My placement there exceeded the simple expectation I had of gaining ministry experience. Most of all, I was blessed beyond measure to develop a heart for those whom I encountered there."

Haley says,
"I first worked with the refugee populations through the ESL and job orientation classes through Lutheran Services of Georgia (LSG). This program serves adult refugees who have recently arrived in the U.S. As I learned about the lives of the students, I began to notice the number of displaced persons, or refugees, in the biblical text. I hope to continue to recognize the blessedness of the 'stranger' not just in refugees, but in all of my ministry. LSG offer an after-school tutoring program in Clarkston, GA. Reflecting on my contextual education experience with after-school tutoring through LSG, I believe that I have seen a glimpse of God's kingdom. The students came from a wonderful mix of backgrounds and from all over the globe. The kids got along with simplicity and joy in the messy, beautiful world of elementary school tutoring. AS I go forward in ministry, I cannot help but look back to the lessons from the children. In my future ministry, I hope to carry their examples of accepting difference, efforts to get along, and ready forgiveness."