Building Community Around the Table

Tea with friends from Morocco

It’s Monday. It’s drizzly and cool. We just changed our clocks forward last week, so the sun is just barely starting to rise as the school day rush begins. For our newest neighbors in town, their school rush started at least an hour before ours because they must walk their children in to town for school – in the dark, in the drizzle, in the cold, carrying backpacks and babies for 6 kilometers one way. Back in The States, I remember paying good money for the opportunity to do 5K walks on the weekends. But my new friends do this every day, one way, because it’s a privilege to have a home and food and a new chance at life and education.  After they drop their children off at school, they walk some more. Not back to their temporary housing, but around and around town, trying to find a warm, dry place to sit for a few hours until school gets out and they can pick up the kids and start the walk back to the center for lunch at 3pm.  With little to no disposable income to spend on a coffee or a drink, they are not welcome to spend time in a warm café or shop. And until they receive employment status (6 months or more), they cannot find work.
 
This is what daily life looks like for many of our refugee friends in Antequera. New arrivals are placed in one of two relocation housing centers to await processing of their paperwork and be given refugee or asylum status. These centers are strictly housing and meal centers – there is no community space or activities and nothing for the residents to do. The largest center for our town is located in the industrial park, in between storage buildings and warehouses, factories and car dealerships and mechanic workshops. It’s not exactly where you want to raise your children, but it’s better than where they came from and they are more than pleased with the bedroom and meals and safety that is now a luxury.
 
In the past several months, our TMS Global team in Antequera has become more and more involved with the refugee community here in Spain. As routes shift and situations continue in war-torn and high-conflict areas, Spain has become the number one European entry point for refugees and asylum seekers in the past year. We have new friends from Russia, Georgia, Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, Morocco, Pakistan, Mali, Venezuela, and many others. While the Spanish government and the EU are scrambling to meet basic needs, our team and church are reaching out to fill in gaps and help welcome people in to our community, in to relationships, and in to a new “normal”. As we walk alongside our new neighbors, we are listening and watching and the main need and desire is the same for all… acceptance, belonging, relationship, and a place to call ‘home’.
 
Enter “La Mesa Turquesa” Community Center!
Concept:

• a community center space (1075 sq ft), centrally located, where displaced peoples can come and hang out, enjoy a coffee or a cup of tea (self-serve), practice language skills, play table games, and build relationships. Think of a large living room / coffee shop atmosphere.
• A place to connect people to each other, to connect them to services and opportunities and people of peace in our town. A place to meet friends. A place where people can feel welcome. A place that feels like “home”, or at least a new place to call home. A place to share culture. A place where natural conversations can happen. A safe place.
• Open 9am-2pm, with some afternoons and evenings open for special classes, tutoring, or events.
• A space that can be used for workshops, classes, study, cultural dinners, game nights, art, and music. A place to celebrate birthdays or cultural events with new family in a new place.

Bottom line: A place where The Kingdom can be lived out among our new neighbors in very tangible and relational ways. #loveyourneighbor

Atmosphere:

• A very large turquoise table (La Mesa Turquesa) in the center of the room for games, group conversations, craft projects, study groups, classes, large group meals, etc.
• Mismatched sofas and armchairs and small sitting areas around the room for more intimate conversation areas. Small tea tables. Comfy pillows and textiles.
• Wi-Fi!  Refugees and displaced people thrive on Wi-Fi as it is their only way of communicating with family and friends left behind or those who made it to other countries.
• Country and culture décor… a huge world map on one wall, with a smattering of country maps all around it to help people connect to countries of origin, sense of pride, memory. A photo gallery wall or photo art project (collaborative project with the refugees themselves helping design it) that showcases their photos that they submit for display.
• Shelves, boxes, baskets, tables scattered around with books and games.
• A music corner – a place set up with instruments for people who wish to create and connect via music. A cajon, guitar, keyboard, djembe, and other instruments from various cultures.

 
La Mesa Turquesa Community Center directly reaches diaspora people, connects locals to diaspora people and culture and the reality of global issues, gives opportunity for community members and the church to serve and connect in a variety of ways, breaks out of traditional outreach and church circles and integrates daily life with community, brings various city / community / and church entities together to work on a single initiative, connects newcomers to our community in positive ways… AND YOU CAN BE A PART OF THIS PROJECT!

La Mesa Turquesa Community Center gives our USA partners a way to connect to refugee outreach and effect real neighboring initiatives and change in a global way.
 
Our team feels very strongly about joining both local AND international forces in this effort. Our local connections are getting on-board and joining with us via volunteers and support. But we want this to truly be a GLOBAL effort to love our neighbors!
 
How can you get involved and be a part of La Mesa Turquesa Community Center?

• Help fund this special project. We have monthly overhead of $650. Our immediate start-up cost to open the doors is $5600.  You can help cover those costs by giving monthly to our Special Project account at www.tms-global.org/partners-and-projects/details/refugee-community-center .   Or you can give a one-time gift to help us get off the ground and open by May 1.
• We have an Amazon wish list!  Go to our list on Amazon Spain (https://www.amazon.es/hz/wishlist/ls/VXXONQZT0EUH?&sort=default ) and choose to help with any of the ongoing needs and items we use for the center.  This is where we will keep a list of supplies we need for classes and activities that we provide through the center. It will ship directly to our team for La Mesa Turquesa.
• BIG GOD-SIZED WISH… We would love to eventually have the funds to give employment to a refugee who has received full residency status and has full paperwork for employment. This is a huge hurdle for them as finding employment is very difficult. To have a former refugee running La Mesa Turquesa would be perfect! This cost would be $966/month to pay someone full time legal minimum wage.

We hope you’ll join our TMS Global team and our local community and invest in La Mesa Turquesa Community Center. 

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