The “Food For Thought” monthly dinner. Photo: James F. Palka
Food has a unique way of bringing people together. Sometimes the people that come together are from very different walks of life. The Iskashitaa Refugee Network, which takes its name from the Somali Bantu concept of working cooperatively, lives true to this bond of food and community.
The Iskashitaa Refugee Network in Tuscon, Arizona, serves refugees from around the world including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Burundi, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Liberia, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. The network also works to bring these refugees together with local United Methodist congregations to build community over a shared meal.
The program, which is appropriately titled “Food For Thought,” is a monthly potluck dinner hosted by a different congregation each month. Support from an UMCOR refugee ministry grant helps make the program possible.
“How do you become an American if you don’t know any Americans?” reflects Barbara Eiswerth. “Food For Thought promotes integration and acculturation. While we share food together from all over the world, we also build understanding across religions. This might sound silly, but it’s true: without knowing our neighbors we will never have world peace.”
Iskashitaa seeks to empower refugees by creating opportunities for integration with the larger Tucson community. The Food for Thought program is just one of several programs that aims to unite refugees and the community. The programs also emphasize sharing, and language practice for refugees learning English.
The “Food For Thought” dinner includes refugees from around the world. Photo: James F. Palka
The organization began in 2003 when Dr. Barbara Eiswerth, the founder and director, recruited refugee students to participate in a project identifying empty plots of land that could be transformed into community gardens. Refugees and volunteers would then work to cultivate the once vacant land and harvest the produce to share with the local community.
In the first year of working with refugee Somali Bantu youth, Eiswerth was taught the word iskashitaa. As the organization continued to grow, no other name seemed to better capture the burgeoning spirit of the community. Since that time, Iskashitaa has expanded to work with various refugee populations in Arizona, weaving the ideal of togetherness through the fabric of Tucson communities.
“Iskashitaa does two things remarkably well,” remarks Pastor Jim Wiltbank of Saint Francis in the Foothills UMC. “They provide a chance for us to really see, and get to know, refugees by name and build sustained relationships; and they provide an opportunity to expand our worldview. As we share food from all over the world, our values expand beyond what we know. Our world actually gets bigger.” In addition to Food for Thought, Saint Francis works with Iskashitaa to provide fresh fruit to grade school children weekly in backpacks.
In addition to Saint Francis, many local United Methodist congregations help sustain the work of Iskashitaa. They work with First UMC in its harvesting program, they use space at Catalina UMC for volunteer orientation training and they donate produce to the food bank of Christ UMC, which goes to support the broader Tucson community.
“If you want to respond to local needs, working with the local faith community is the way to go,” remarks Eiswerth. “United Methodist congregations have proven to be wonderful partners in this work.”