Refugees around the world flee environments of poverty, xenophobia, political instability, and outright violence. Many are separated from their families – even spouses and young children. And many, when they are finally resettled in a new area, don’t know the language and end up in low-quality housing. Without continued help, these refugees can be alienated from their new communities. Enter Project Dignity, one woman’s solution to help organizations such as Catholic Charities provide refugees with resources and, what’s more, true friendship. Bridget Donohue has lived for almost 37 years in South Bend. While she has been volunteering for the local Catholic Charities for a while, the South Bend side of the organization launched a refugee resettlement program only three years ago. Provided by Catholic CharitiesCatholic Charities staff member Chan Haime Aung teaches a cultural orientation class in Fort Wayne as part of the refugee resettlement program. According to Dan Florin, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the legal documented refugee resettlement program operates under the guidelines of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the leadership of Bishop Rhoades and a local board. Florin explained to Today’s Catholic the goals of the program for refugees: “First, to achieve economic self-sufficiency within the first year, largely tied to gaining employment so [refugees] go from being dependents on the public system to independent of the public system. … Second, effective integration with the community, so 10 years down the road they love being in the South Bend area and are contributing to the community.” The seeds of Project Dignity were sown in 2022 when Donohue agreed to host a refugee in her home for the first time. The refugee Donohue welcomed was Margo Kalenga, a 22-year-old whose path led her away from her native Democratic Republic of the Congo due to political unrest. She came to South Bend by way of South Africa, where xenophobia makes it nearly impossible for non-natives to find employment. Provided by Bridget DonohueBridget Donohue, the woman behind the nonprofit Project Dignity, poses with her dog, Miss Maudie. “I learned so much from Margo in the year that she lived with me,” Donohue said. “Her elegance, brains, and impeccable English – she had a very cool British accent – put me to shame.” Kalenga speaks five languages and holds a degree in audiology from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. However, her degree did not transfer into the United States, meaning she had to start all over again with schooling and entry-level jobs. And before that, she had to wait for documentation to work. “I remember just getting to the U.S. so fired up, I wanted to get to work that week,” Kalenga told Today’s Catholic. She added with a laugh, “We don’t come here to hang out. People have families behind – we need to get to it and start helping.” Eventually, instead of working in health care where her background is, Kalenga decided to work as a refugee case manager for Catholic Charities, walking other refugees like herself through their new lives in the United States. When she first got the job, Kalenga was still waiting for her driver’s license, relying on city buses and co-workers to drive her around South Bend. “I could waste an hour and a half getting to a client,” Kalenga remembered. Inconveniences like this, she said, gave her “understanding” for her refugee clients. “I felt like my experience just enabled me to serve them the best way possible,” she said. Provided by Bridget DonohueMarco and Alma, a couple from Guatemala, visit Lake Michigan for the first time. It was during Kalenga’s days as case manager that Donohue began to think about her nonprofit seriously, taking the project from “random acts of service to a more structured plan,” as Kalenga put it. One day, Kalenga was helping settle a large family from Kenya – parents, 6 children, and a grandmother – but there were not enough resources available to house them all together. The family ended up separated, placed in apartments in a less-than-ideal part of town. When Kalenga told Donohue, the situation made Donohue “sad and angry.” “I quickly learned that, unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence,” Donohue said. “Sometimes the resettlement agencies have very little notice as to the arrival times of refugees. It’s difficult to find adequate homes in one or two days. I vowed to myself then that I was going to remedy this situation.” Marco, a refugee from Guatemala, is on cloud nine after passing his driver’s test. These realizations coincided with Donohue leaving her 35-year career as a high school Scripture teacher. Instead of resting on her laurels, Donohue jumped straight into grant-writing workshops, called up people with knowledge of nonprofits, and began building a network of resources to help Catholic Charities care for local refugees. Donohue learned about refugee life not only from Kalenga’s own experiences but also from other clients she met through Kalenga and Catholic Charities. Like Kalenga, many refugees had to wait weeks for work documentation, with families waiting in their home countries for financial support and immigration documentation of their own. Finding a particular job is another challenge, as many refugees such as Kalenga don’t come here with cars or licenses, meaning job options are limited to walking or biking distance. Additionally, Kalenga noticed that many jobs in South Bend, even custodial or basic tasks, require English proficiency to even obtain an interview – another hurdle for refugees who are still learning English. However, some of the biggest challenges refugees face are not material. Kalenga remembers being a continent away from her parents and siblings, which is a common occurrence for refugees. “It takes a toll psychologically,” Kalenga said. Alma, a refugee from Guatemala, after biking home from work. While Alma couldn’t ride a bicycle when she first arrived in the States, she can now bike ten miles without a problem. After getting to know one of Kalenga’s clients, Donohue said: “He said that the demon that haunts him the most since he moved to the U.S. is that of isolation. It’s not that he didn’t have people who were helping him out. It’s more that few were willing or able to understand [his] complicated interior life.” While material needs are important, Donohue intends for Project Dignity to train volunteers to listen to and befriend refugees, person to person, helping to fight that “demon of isolation.” Alma holds Donohue’s dog Miss Maudie. “It’s more than just about providing housing or resources; it’s about building lasting, meaningful connections that enrich both the lives of refugees and those who welcome them,” Donohue said. Kalenga has since moved to Iowa to be with her family, who were placed in Des Moines a couple months after Kalenga came to the U.S. Kalenga is now back in medical school. She still stays in touch with Donohue, who has visited Kalenga’s family in Iowa and keeps them updated on her dog, Miss Maudie. Kalenga is happy to have played at least a little part in Project Dignity’s founding. “I want people to know that Bridget’s doing it from a pure place of genuine service to other human beings, instead of a business,” Kalenga said. “She was able to do this when no one was clapping, when no one could see. … Genuineness and kindness, just being the best human to other humans, ensure her longevity and success in this business.” Donohue now hosts a refugee couple, Marco and Alma, from Guatemala. While at first Marco and Alma only knew Spanish, and Donohue only knew English, they’re teaching one another their respective languages. Marco and Alma also take English lessons from a neighbor to whom Donohue connected them. Before getting their driver’s licenses and saving up for a car, the couple biked to their daily jobs at 5 a.m. (always making sure to arrive 15 minutes early). And they worry about what Donohue will do without them when their situation changes, as they become more financially independent. “They asked me, ‘When we aren’t here, who will take out your trash on Wednesday night? Who will mow the lawn? Who will do the dishes?’” Donohue said. “Basically, they are wondering how in the world I’ll be able to take care of myself when they’re not with me. This might seem funny, and in a way, I guess it is. But if I’m honest, I’m wondering the same thing. When I holler upstairs, ‘Alma, donde esta mi telefono?’ she won’t be there to scramble down the stairs, point to the coffee table and say, ‘aqui!’ And I’ll have to go back to buying 10-pound bags of salt for the water softener at Martin’s instead of the 25-pounders I now buy at Costco, because Marco won’t be there to carry them from the car to the basement for me. I will be sad when this day comes. But our shared life – the simple moments of laughter, learning, and mutual care – has become a model for what I hope all volunteers with Project Dignity will experience with refugees. It’s not just about offering help – it’s about building friendships, where both parties grow and support one another.” While refugee Margo Kalenga was at first unsure about dogs, she and Donohue’s dog Miss Maudie became the best of friends. Donohue added that she is often struck by the gratitude and generosity of her refugee friends. One of her friends, Pablo, moved with his wife Ana and daughter Elizabeth from El Salvador, where sometimes they survived on $5 for two days at a time. He now works as a driver for Amazon, helping to support his family in the U.S. and his extended family in his home country. Because he is bilingual, Pablo has given back by helping other refugees pass their driver’s tests or understand things like the tax system. When Pablo looked into buying a house, one of Donohue’s contacts in real estate took him around to potential homes, some of which were very small or in dubious neighborhoods. Despite that, Pablo assured the agent, “In my country, El Salvador, I lived in a shack with a dirt floor. I love all of the houses you showed me, and I would be so grateful to own any of them.” As Pablo told Donohue: “Nothing is lost here, there is hope here. In my country, I would never have been able to have two cars. Here, in less than a year, I achieved it. It’s incredible. … I am happy to be here. It is an opportunity that I asked God for so much.” Mae Cheung, a longtime friend of Donohue’s, has worked for decades in the nonprofit world and now serves as chair of the board for Project Dignity. Cheung says Donohue is just the person to be behind a nonprofit like Project Dignity, calling her “very tenacious” and “visionary.” “There’s something about the way she builds relationships with people that people say, ‘Of course I want to help,’” Cheung said. She added that Donohue is skilled at “making those kinds of connections that some of these larger organizations don’t have the bandwidth to do. … [Project Dignity] fills a gap in South Bend in the refugee community that will only enhance the work other organizations are doing.” Donohue has several practical ideas for continuing to build community through Project Dignity’s network, from providing language-teaching internships so college students and refugees can connect, to buying real estate so refugee families can live together in respectable housing. And Project Dignity’s work will be needed more than ever in the local area, as Florin noted that the resettlement agency expects as many as 100 individuals to come to South Bend in the next year. “We really need community and volunteers to augment our staff,” Florin said. Additionally, Florin noted, most official requirements and programming happen in the first nine months a refugee is in the U.S. After that, Catholic Charities relies even more heavily on the local community – churches such as St. Pius X in Granger and groups like Project Dignity – to help new citizens long term. Florin called Project Dignity “a beautiful vision, a vision that will make a profound difference in the lives of our new neighbors who will be coming through the refugee resettlement program.” In November, Project Dignity finally received its official 501 nonprofit status. Since then, Donohue has been busy with tasks such as working with developers to set up a website, helping a refugee friend find prescription glasses, and trying to learn how to make homemade tortillas like Alma’s. She has also written her first blog post for the incipient website: reflections on the dignity of work after visiting Alma and Marco’s workplace. “It’s hard to fathom what they’ve been through,” Donohue said of the refugees. “One of the first questions I ask Marco and Alma each morning is, ‘Dormiste bien?’ – ‘Did you sleep well?’ Only recently have they begun to answer, ‘Sí, dormí bien.’ For many refugees, sleep is plagued by nightmares – of persecution, arrest, and even death.” Donohue recalls one moment in particular when the scope of the refugee problem hit home for her, after talking on the phone with a refugee’s spouse who was still in their home country. “This is so much bigger than me, and I realize I can’t solve all refugees’ problems,” Donohue said. “But I know that Project Dignity can make a dent. We can begin to help refugees feel supported, seen, and loved.” You can read more about Project Dignity, including more refugee stories, and volunteer or donate at projectdignityindiana.org. The post Project Dignity Helps Refugees Build Local Community appeared first on Today's Catholic.