Nothing about a grocery store, a school registration packet, or a DMV line is obvious the first time. One person who walks through it beside you turns a wall into an errand.
Be a New Family's Cultural Navigator
Take one newly arrived family through the first errands nobody warns them about — the grocery run, school enrollment, and the DMV.
What you'll need
- A resettlement agency or church that can pair you with one family
- Your car and an afternoon that isn't rushed
- A translation app, and the patience to use it badly
Pitfalls
- Go with them, don't go for them. The second visit they should lead and you ride along.
- Six months, not six weeks. The first month is easy help; month five is when everyone else has moved on.
- They're not helpless. They ran households and businesses before this. Ask what they already know.
When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. — Leviticus 19:33