Practice hospitality......part of my verse for 2016....for such a time as this!!!!!

-
Ok folks.  I'm fuming a bit here.....Can you hear the hiss?  Can you see the steam coming from my ears?  Righteous indignation has visited my Wednesday.  Let me explain.  Tonight, Roger took the majority of the Kredit clan to church and typically, on Wednesday evenings Grace and Josiah and I hang out for a couple of hours in a quieter space.  He eats whatever sounds good for supper....I munch....and Grace makes Korean food that satisfies her body and soul.....and sometimes the house gets rather aromatic and that's ok.....but the other Kredits aren't used to the strong smells of garlic, sesame and fish and so I diffuse oils, clean up and smile as she eats the things she loves.  I am happy to accommodate her with food and try to find local things that she can make that are familiar.

Tonight I commented on her very Asian dish she prepared and she said that she knows many, many students around the country who live with host families as she does.  Often, the students are not allowed near the refrigerator.  Say what?  Yep.  They may not go near the food or prepare anything themselves and definitely no Korean food.  What the heck?  Additionally, she told me that many students have to do the dishes and clean the house regularly or they are not allowed to spend time with friends.  In the USA.  In 2016.  What is wrong with people?!

This is not in Sioux Center, Iowa, mind you, but around our country, host families are blatantly and very wrongly taking advantage of foreign exchange students.  It is common knowledge among the students.  I am appalled and disgusted and down right pissed off right now.  How do people get away with that?!

Practice.....hospitality.  It is biblical.  It is humane.  Invite a student into your home if you can and open up your world to them, as you inquire and explore their world in yours.  Learn and grow and share the journey.  Do not capitalize on someone else's vulnerability.

I have no idea how to go about advocating for this population, and executing justice on the selfish, pathetic creatures who are behaving this way to their guest students, but if anyone out there has ideas, let me know.

Unacceptable.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Superbowl musings, Niki-style

-
 Last week I walked dogs in unexpectedly warm late winter afternoons.  I realized that when I don't walk regularly it matters.  This week I wanted to walk again but I am such a wimp and if it is cold or windy or rainy or all of those things put together, I don't want to walk outside.  I spend my work days in and out and in and out and cold and warm and cold and warm.....but today I needed to walk.  It was cold and windy and rainy.   I started my walking app that tells me when to walk slow, speed up, slow down, speed up and eventually cool down.  In my home office space in front of a cooking competition.  I looked ridiculous walking in place, dancing and prancing, moving foward and backward and working up a sweat but I got it done.  I sure did.   I got groceries because we were out of milk and I got food for "superbowl Sunday" which is not that different from any other Sunday evening.  My parents come over and we have snacks and drinks and then we eat together and clea
Read more

Family

-
Image
  These are my people.  My big kids gifted me for Mother's Day with a photo shoot organized and paid for.  It has always been hard for me to schedule family photos so this gift is extra special.  We did the photos late summer/early fall.  Our smiles do not reveal how hot or windy it was that day.  Yet and still we managed to get some really great pictures, thanks to our sweet and competent photographer...Cassie Beth.   Here is the thing.  This photo tells so many stories...so so many stories.  Each of the 9 of us could be a story, a novel on our own.  Then if you pair up any of the 9 with another, there are more stories to tell, and in groups of guys or girls still other stories to tell.  Looking at Roger and I....chapters and chapters of stories...and separate us out each of us is also a story.  Our lives are stories. I have told my kids over and over that their lives matter.  They were created by God to do something in this life that will expand His kingdom, give Him Glory and ma
Read more

mid-summer check in on being Aware

-
 I remembered today that I had been doing a monthly reflection since January.  I missed June...and apparently July.  Here we are on the second day of August and I find myself aware of it...aware of how June flew by and July slipped by and now I'm settling into August....aware.  June was a full month of ball games and volleyball competition and vacation.  It was also the last month of my fiscal year of my work as a public health nurse and that means there are lots of reports due and documentation needed to make sure we get funded again.  June was a lot and it was awesome...and hot....and busy.   July slowed down a bit with more nights at home, more lazy pool afternoons and a break from the heat.  We caught fireflies and we cooked more meals at home.  We decided to tackle a huge project long overdue and tore out carpetting in our main living area.  This carpet has been there for over 40 years.  It was gross and disgusting....suffice it to say that I am very, very aware of how unsettl
Read more