Refugee Resettlement in Madison

When John Paul Harerimana came to Zambia as a refugee from Burundi, he was familiar with lots of Christian churches, but he never saw them work together. “In Africa, churches were very strict,” Harerimana said. “Churches helping people from other churches is different.”

That’s why he was impressed with what he saw in the parking lot of Good Shepherd’s Madison Campus Saturday.

Dozens of volunteers from Good Shepherd gathered to collect donations to help a refugee family from Burundi. Some of these volunteers helped the family move into a home in the Meadowood neighborhood last Tuesday, just like Harerimana did a few months ago.

The initiative to start a refugee assistance program at Good Shepherd came from long time member Ross Lyman, who helped aid refugees at a church he belonged to in the Chicago area a few years ago. When he and his wife Cathy moved to Madison, Good Shepherd impressed them with their efforts at outreach — except for helping refugees. “I was surprised we weren’t doing more,” Lyman said.

Lyman started investigating the possibility of starting a program at Good Shepherd, especially since many refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan were moving into the church’s Meadowood neighborhood. He learned all refugee resettlement in the Madison area was run by Jewish Social Services (JSS), whom he had never worked with before. Yet he realized that Good Shepherd and JSS shared a common goal – helping refugees integrate into the community.

“We always want to come at things from an interfaith perspective,” the Housing and Community Outreach Coordinator for Jewish Social Services Autumn Yael Fearing-Kabler said. “I think it’s been incredibly smooth so far. It feels like a collaborative, open experience for everyone.”

Starting a program from scratch, however, would require someone with a ton of organizational skills. That’s where Jennifer Herdina enters the picture.

She and her family joined Good Shepherd last November because of the church’s openness and willing to welcome all to God’s table, but believes the refugee resettlement is where she’s making an initial impact. Herdina served as the major organizer in Madison this winter when Lyman was in Arizona. “There’s a part of me that feels a need to give back,” said Herdina. “And it’s filling my bucket more than I can ever say.”

The group hopes to increase their efforts, so they become a reliable group to help JSS do more for refugees. “The needs are only going to continue to increase,” said Herdina. “I hope we get to helping a family every couple months and be able to sustain it.”

Harerimana hopes Good Shepherd’s group can maintain this pace as well. He still hopes to get two of his nephews to America. If they make it to Madison, Harerimana says there are people waiting to help. “If you have someone to stand by you…that’s amazing to me.”