By Mao Hashio, The Seattle Medium
Gastao Lusakueno, 51, came to the U.S. from Angola with his wife and five children in December 2023, seeking freedom and liberty. His youngest son was born in the spring of this year after they arrived at the Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila, making him the father of six children.
The family of eight lives in two small hotel rooms.
“I appreciate we can live in a hotel, but the two hotel rooms are too small,” Lusakueno said recently through a translator.
Augusto Jesuino Rodriguez Zavala, 32, arrived at the church two months ago after his long journey from Venezuela to give his family back home a better quality of life. He is sleeping inside the church, waiting for his work permit to be approved.
The Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila began providing shelter to asylum seekers in December 2022. This number continued to grow and the church is now over capacity. Pastor Jan Bolerjack had no choice but to start turning new families away in March. According to an article in The Seattle Times in October, she said she wasn’t sure how folks were finding her church, but that word of the camp seemed to be spreading by word-of-mouth.
Bolerjack said a lot of asylum seekers carry the address for the church from their home countries. She doesn’t know where these families they can’t accommodate end up.
“We wish we had options to refer them to but everything is full,” Bolerjack said. “They are so traumatized, tired and disappointed. I hope the solution comes soon. These folks deserve so much more than a door closed at the end of their long journey.”
Some asylum seekers are from central Africa, including Angola and Congo, while the rest are from Venezuela. Some of them live in hotels provided by King County and private donors, and others live inside the church or in a large industrial tent outside the church. Some people sleep in a hallway at night inside the church.
Under the current immigration law, asylum seekers have to wait months to receive work permits after they file their asylum applications. The delay keeps asylum seekers from becoming financially independent and forces them to live at the church and hotels. Meanwhile, more families and individuals arrive at the church daily.
Despite all of this, asylum seekers are improving their living situation by volunteering and preparing for work in the U.S.
Lusakueno, for example, goes to Foster High School in Tukwila, one mile away from the church, with his kids to study English several days a week. When he does not go to school, Lusakueno works at the South King County Response Center, located on the first floor of the church, as a volunteer. In return for his volunteer work he receives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).
TANF is a time-limited program that provides financial support to families when parents or other relatives cannot meet their basic needs. Through Puget Sound Training Center, asylum seekers can join volunteering programs and receive benefits that include food stamps and temporary cash. Many asylum seekers volunteer in various ways, including helping at the response center and the Tukwila Pantry Food Bank, which is behind the Riverton Park United Methodist Church.
According to South King County Response Center Manager Kim Parks, the response center provides household items, such as clothing, shoes, toiletries and bedding to asylum seekers both living at the church and in hotels. Some asylum seekers, including Lusakueno, volunteer at the center, sorting through donated clothing, organizing the donation space and helping other asylum seekers find what they need. Popular items include pillows, socks and baby diapers.
Currently, about 12 asylum seekers volunteer at the response center, and 45 asylum seekers volunteer at Tukwila Pantry Food Bank, according to Fred Fernow, operation supervisor at Tukwila Pantry Food Bank.
Tukwila Pantry Food Bank is open three days a week and serves more than 1,500 people during the three days. The pantry distributes not only food, but also diapers, kitchen supplies and bedding.
Rodriguez works with other volunteers at the food bank for about five to seven hours a week. “I like to help people and feel useful to others,” he said through a translator.
According to Bolerjack, many adult asylum seekers are eager to learn English and attend English classes at schools in the area. To help meet the need, retired ESL teachers visit the church every Monday and teach English to around 15 to 20 students weekly.
“I wish the English class was more than once a week. It’s not enough,” said Eric Salomão, who is from Angola and has lived at the church for two months. Salomão said he wants to improve his English skills before he starts working in the U.S. and hopes to go to a university someday.
Mike Janecke, a retired English teacher from the Catholic and public school systems in King and Snohomish counties, started teaching English to asylum seekers at the church in February. Janecke says the differences between the asylum seekers at the church and students from other schools where he taught are their courage, grit, and desire to learn a challenging new language and create a new life for their families in America.
“Many of the adults already know two to three languages and have an extremely strong desire to learn more,” Janecke said. “I’m inspired by their sense of community and their graciousness.”
Recently, King County awarded the Refugee Women’s Alliance $750,000 to provide housing, case management, legal assistance and emergency shelter for asylum seekers, according to Bolerjack.
“I want people to know that someone cares even if the solutions aren’t readily available,” said Bolerjack. “And the kids–their smiles, their happy voices, even their unhappy cries–remind me of the need to love one another and that they are all children with potential and possibility.”
Although Rodriguez cannot wait to get a work permit and become financially independent, he said:
“Here they have given me a lot of help and I am always grateful to them.”