We had gathered to set up an apartment for a newly arriving Syrian refugee family. We assembled a beautiful Pakistani hand carved dining table, arranged a dollhouse with tiny furniture, put together bunk beds, and left backpacks filled with school supplies from a teen heading off to college; filled the kitchen pantry with Arab spices, lined the bathroom shelves with toiletries, hung up paintings, and put a bowl of fresh fruit on the dining table – all the things we would do if we were setting up our own home. Then we tucked “welcome” signs in every corner—on the bathroom mirror, inside the fridge, under the pillows—and left welcome cards from 6th graders on the coffee table.
As we were setting up, Syrian neighbors for whom we had previously set up an apartment brought cardamom infused coffee and homemade baklava; they insisted we stay and have lunch that they had prepared for us. Then they asked what they could do to express their gratitude for our help. We asked if they would teach us Syrian cooking.
So a month later we gathered in my kitchen and we broke into team kabsa, team fattoush salad, team baklava—and chopped and laughed, stirred and shared stories, and got to know each other a little bit better.
This is the essence of “humanKIND”—sharing small kindnesses that reveal and celebrate our human connections.
It was a beautiful evening so we decided to sit outside—people from different cultures, religions, countries, ages all gathered around one table enjoying each other’s hospitality.
It captures the sentiment of why we need to build a longer table, and not a higher fence.
