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Zumbe’s Story: “I Don’t Know What to Do”

By Vicar Lisa Rygiel

Global Refuge, formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, is a nonprofit serving newcomers seeking safety, support, and a share in the American dream. For 85 years, they have welcomed those seeking refuge, upholding a legacy of compassion and grace for people in crisis. They walk alongside individuals, families, and children as they begin their new lives in the United States through our work in refugee resettlement, welcome and respite services for asylum seekers, economic empowerment and employment, and family unification for unaccompanied children. To date, they have served over 750,000 people from around the globe.

Our 5th Sunday blessing that will be collected this upcoming Sunday will be dedicated to their work. The following story was taken from the Global Refuge website.

Global Refuge Staff

March 24, 2025

Zumbe had just begun preparations for his wife and children’s arrival in the United States. After nearly two years apart, they were finally slated to join him at his new home in South Carolina—and though their separation had been extremely difficult, he had stayed motivated by the thought of finally welcoming his family to a place where they could be safe and free.

Zumbe was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but had spent much of his life in the same refugee camp in Tanzania where his family now languished.

“Life is difficult there,” he explains. “The Tanzanian government does not allow refugees to leave the camp to seek food or engage in business. It is as if they are prisoners, living there just in the camp and eating the same food provided to them by UNHCR [every day]. That’s all. It’s a life of imprisonment.”

When he came to the United States as a refugee in 2023, Zumbe was determined to build a better life for his family. He got a steady job in manufacturing and lived with a roommate, learning how to navigate his new community with help from Global Refuge affiliate Lutheran Services Carolinas. Though he had not yet begun looking for a house for his family, he was thinking ahead to when his wife and children—ages 6, 5, and 2—would once again be under the same roof.

But that all came crashing down on January 20, 2025, when the Trump administration issued an executive order immediately suspending all refugee resettlement.

“After the government announced that the admission of refugees to the United States had been suspended for the time being, I spoke with my case manager, Lesya, who said that the reunification process is currently on hold,” he remembers.

Across the world, his wife and children were being told the same thing.

“In the camp, my family was notified that everyone who had a case to travel to the United States had been suspended,” he said.

When he spoke to them on the phone later that day, his wife and children just cried.

“They felt so hurt and very disappointed,” he says. “My wife said, ‘Let’s pray to God that His will be done,’ but she and the children were really sad.”

Now, with the administration’s additional actions to decimate the resettlement system and no end in sight, Zumbe doesn’t know where to turn.

“I don’t know what to do right now,” he says. “I don’t know where to start, nor where to end. I don’t know what to do right now to keep their process going. After the government intervened, I don’t know what else I can do as a person.”

When asked what he would say to the administration about his situation and those of other refugee families in limbo around the world, however, Zumbe was certain.

“I would ask the government to help our families get here, to reunite us with our families,” he says. “Because when we get here, we also help—we work so hard, we work in companies where other people are not working, we help the families we left behind.”

“People are suffering,” he adds. “Open the way for them. Continue accepting refugees into the United States.”

Global Refuge is advocating for the immediate restoration of the refugee resettlement system and working to fill in the gaps for families like Zumbe’s.

Learn how you can help by visiting the Action Hub.

March 30 -- 10 a.m. Sunday Worship with Communion

Announcements

Flowers: During the six Sundays of Lent, simplicity is the order of the day. During Lent we use only green foliage to reflect the Lenten season of austerity and simple reflection.

  • Fellowship Time: Join us after worship in the Fellowship Hall for coffee and conversation as we Get to Know the Vicar. All are welcome.
  • Sunday Study: The Rev. Dr. Janet Everhart is leading a discussion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, “Life Together”. The study will continue at noon on this Sunday March 30, as well as Sundays April 6 and 13 in the Fellowship Hall. A soup lunch will accompany the study.
  • Children’s Choir: The Trinidad Music Association (TMA) children’s choir (ages 8-12) practice is at 3 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. To participate or to get more information, contact choir director Vinnie Gumlich at 719-680-0851 or email Trinidad.music.association@gmail.com.
  • Lenten Soup Suppers: Our Lenten Soup Suppers continue at 6 p.m. each Wednesday in Lent. Join us on Wednesday, March 26, in the Fellowship Hall for food, fellowship, and a brief Lenten study. Sign-up sheets to provide food (soup, bread, dessert) are in the Fellowship Hall.
  • Volunteers Needed: If you can help with 5-Loaves preparation and/or delivery next Friday and Saturday, let Norine Hazen, Terri Watson or Jo Moss know.
  • Prayer List Updates: We are updating the prayer list on April 1, if you have corrections, additions, or other changes, please let Vicar Lisa or Jo Moss know. Realize that as we update the list, God knows of our prayers and concerns, and that we begin each prayer list with the reminder that we pray, “for those on our prayer list and those named in our hearts.”

E-formation – Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 30

We are halfway to the feast of Pascha, the Three Days, but also on Sunday we share in God’s banquet of mercy. We remember our baptismal white robe as we celebrate the new creation that God has brought about through Christ. In Lent, even as we are still feeding the pigs and grumping in the fields, we are already in the Promised Land. Every Sunday, Easter comes out to meet us, like the father running out to welcome his son.

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The two sons are each of us: we are all the foolish runaway who wastes what God has provided, and we are all the smug good guy who condemns the outsider. So it is that Augustine, and Luther after him, taught that all humans are sinful, all need the forgiveness that God offers. The description of a celebrative feast symbolizes the communal nature of the individual’s forgiven life. Christians have interpreted this feast as a picture of holy communion.

Joshua 5:9-12

The excerpt from Joshua is tied to the parable of the prodigal son because like the prodigal son, the Israelites have arrived safely in what becomes their homeland. No longer sustained by meager food, they enjoy the produce of the land. Thus, throughout history God has brought the people out of distress and into a land of plenty.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

In this passage Paul speaks of people who are worried because they are not reconciled with God. It is difficult to judge for how many contemporary people is this the case. The passage is tied to the parable of the prodigal son because both brothers needed reconciliation, either with God or with the community. The new cosmic situation in which such bonds are possible was effected by Christ’s resurrection.

Zion's Lutheran Church

A Reconciling in Christ Community

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785