CAIF

Today we helped set up an apartment with KindWorks for a refugee family coming from Afghanistan. Furniture and bedding and kitchen supplies and everything to prepare the apartment were collected through donations and then a few dozen volunteers came in to set it up. In only a few hours, the empty apartment was ready for the family. Then volunteers will cook an Afghan meal to put in the fridge to welcome the family. Hopefully their transition to the US can be made a little bit less stressful by this work.

https://www.facebook.com/1544641135789679/posts/2923165921270520/?d=n" target="_blank">See photos of CAIF helping set up the apartment!

https://www.facebook.com/1544641135789679/posts/2926524364268009/?d=n" target="_blank">See photos of the finished apartment here!

This year for Eid we were allowed to socially distant gather for our celebrations. We invited two families over and prayed, ate traditional food, and enjoyed our holiday together for the first time in a while! 

Our Catholic CAIF members via zoom celebrations shared about their previous experiences of going to mass on Christmas Eve. The Protestant members shared their traditions and practices and explained the religious meaning of the 12 days of Christmas. 

This year we learned about the festival of lights called Diwali from our Hindu CAIF members. They shared about how they wear new clothes, eat sweet indian treats (matai), and do pooja (praying) at home to the Godess Lakshmi. Diwali is a symbolic event that celebrates the victory of Lord Ram and uses light to protect them from the darkness. Our friends told us they decorate their homes with rangoli (colored chalk). 

This year we had to bypass our in-person Eid celebrations. Intsead we had online zoom celebrations! We all celebrated Eid at home and did our prayers with our families. This year due to COVID we could not go to the mosque but we had interfaith celebrations online!  

Due to the ongoing pandemic we have decided to halt all in-person meetings for the leaders of CAIF. We have also decided that all of our future events will be held virtually to the best of our ability. We hope everybody is staying safe at home! We will be intouch with our members directly for any future events.  

Normally we would prepare a meal and serve it at Calvary and eat with the women. Due to social distancing, we each prepared part in our own home, and one person delivered it to staff outside (at a social distance). We are looking forward to a time when we can share a meal together again. In the meantime, Calvary relies on volunteers and donations for all weekend meals so if you want to help, go to https://www.calvaryservices.org/meal-volunteer/

CAIF had a great time participating in the MLK Day of Service at Washington Hebrew Congregation. CAIF led a project for kids to make  and decorate activity bags for kids at hospitals and shelters and aslo packed trail mix bags for the homeless. We made over 650 activity bags and packed over 1000 snack bags. 

CAIF worked with a Girl Scout Tropp from the ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society) Center to set up a KindWorks Refugee Apartment.  It was done in record time!