News

Viator House Update From Father Corey

I Can’t Imagine…

• Leaving all I know and love at 17.
• Fleeing from Africa to South America.
• Spending months traveling north to the U.S. border.
• Waiting years to know if I’ll be sent back to the danger I fled.
• But then WINNING Asylum and realizing I’m safe and can follow my dreams!

But Abdoulaye from Guinea can. He made that journey and last week learned that he had won that victory.

A Shared Victory

And that victory, with all the peace of mind it must bring, is a victory shared by everyone at Viator House of Hospitality, from our case managers and house coordinators to Abdoulaye’s tutors and mentors, according to attorney Alexandra Fung, who has represented minors seeking asylum and who now serves as the chair of our board of trustees.

She recently wrote fellow board members that “not only does VHH offer these young people an opportunity to continue pursuing their cases, the support and stability they have there makes a huge difference to the strength of their case and chances of winning, not only because of increased access to attorneys, but also because the healing they can experience allows them to share more of the details that make up their claim – with their attorneys and the decision-makers – (and) that often make all the difference between a grant of asylum or a denial.”

More Victories To Come – With Us Together

Thank you for your commitment to Abdoulaye and all the men at Viator House (now 20 men from 13 nations). Please stay close, especially during our Taste of Viator House 2020 Fall Campaign, where your donation (click here) allows us to maintain a community of hope, healing and opportunity that leads to asylum victories.

Abdoulaye is one of the several men now attending high school online. So we need more tutors in the house as men navigate online high school and college classes due to the pandemic. Are you interested in helping two or three hours in the morning or afternoon any day Monday-Friday? We also need some English writing tutors during the day or evening.

Please Keep Learning

Br. Michael Gosch, C.S.V., director of programs and housing, whose dream of supporting young people seeking asylum BECAME Viator House, and Sr. Rayo Cuaya-Castillo, S.H., our first case manager, will discuss their Viator House experiences during a national online program sponsored by NETWORK, the national Catholic social justice lobbying organization. The online event can be viewed here.

God bless you and peace,

Fr. Corey Brost, C.S.V.
Executive Director
Viator House of Hospitality