A Family Mentor Outing

Going on family outings has been tricky for the eleven-member Odolla family, who arrived in Baltimore 8 months ago from Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, the world’s largest with almost 400,000 displaced people. Not only are they an unusually large family; most refugees arriving in Baltimore can rely on a close network of community members to show them around, but the Odollas are the first Anuak-speakers – from the Gambella region on the Sudan-Ethiopia border – to arrive Baltimore.

Emily Fishbein, an IRC youth case worker, has been volunteering with the Odolla family as their family mentor for several months. The Odolla family has been eager to share their culture and traditions with her during weekly home visits and Emily wanted to return the favor.

In June, Emily enlisted the help of three other IRC staff volunteers to accompany the Odollas to go strawberry picking at a local farm and then swimming at Gunpowder State Park. The Odolla’s got their first experience playing Marco Polo and burying people in the sand and taught their new American friends an Anuak game. The Odollas went home with 30 pounds of strawberries-- enough to indulge in some all-American lunch of strawberry shortcake, strawberry-banana smoothies, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

There are currently 18 refugee families waiting for a family mentor. If you are interested in becoming a family mentor, please visit our volunteer page.