It all started with bleach. We were assisting a gentleman who came to America as a resettled refugee from Burma. He asked us to help him get his landlord to fix several broken items in his apartment. Before we left, he motioned us to his kitchen. Pulling out a bottle of bleach, he pointed to the stove, which was covered in stuck-on grease. “Do you know what I can use to get the grease off?” he asked via the interpreter.

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“Every week, I go to the store and pick a new cleaning product to try to get the grease off. This week, I bought this bottle.” He demonstrated how he tried pouring bleach on his stove, but it wasn’t working. “No one taught me what to use when I came to America. Do you know what I can use?”

 

Out of that moment sparked the idea of creating classes to teach the knowledge and skills needed to take care of a home in America. A program that would provide hands-on teaching for people who are resettled as refugees in our city. We called it the Welcome Home Program.