African Refugees Find New Life In Mobile

African Refugees Find New Life In Mobile

Chad Petri

 

MOBILE, Alabama - It may look like an average church service, but the sound is different. Listen long enough and you’ll heard the words and songs of the Swahili language.

“All we know we can pray in any language and God can still hear us,” says Murphy High School junior and African refugee Rubin Ndayikengurukiye. Swahili’s a common language among these Burundi refugees.

“This is a very determined community that's ready to fight its way to a better living,” says Lemech Change. He’s an immigrant from Kenya who’s befriended many of the refugees. His knowledge of both English and Swahili makes him an ideal translator for the refugees. They were relocated to Mobile in 2007. Since then some 60 families worship at the Government Street United Methodist Church every Sunday, in their native tongue.

“They have lived a hard scrabble life as refugees and when they come here there's a diligence and a quality to their labors,” says church pastor Rob Gulledge. He helped direct the refugees to worship at the Government Street church when they began coming in to the port city. The families share a common bond through this weekly gathering. Some have been fleeing conflicts in Africa since childhood like Swahili-speaking Pastor Noel Sunzu.

“I praise god because the government had saved me very well, everyone who is here is very good,” says Sunzu. The service isn't just important to the refugees; it's also helped the regular members of this church.

“Our worldview has been broadened greatly, we see a life quite different from our own and yet we see what we share in common,” says Gulledge. Many of the refugees marvel at how much easier some aspects of life are in the United States. They say getting food and housing is often a struggle in their native land. Swahili worship service is at 2pm every Sunday here.