Book Review: The Middle of Everywhere

Austin, Texas is a refugee resettlement community. So my friend Angela gave me a great book to learn more about how I could “get involved” with refugees here in my hometown. The book, “The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community” by Mary Pipher, was so helpful! It was fascinating because it was chalk full of story after story from refugees who’ve fled their homeland, lived in refugee camps, and then been placed here in our country. The book was also full of tips, guides, advice, and inspiration. I highly recommend it.

Garrison Keillor wrote that, “If we knew the stories of refugees, they would break our hearts.” Refugee stories are powerful and moving. They HAVE broken my heart. And they inspire me to love, serve, and befriend the refugees who now call Austin home.

In her own words, Pipher describes her book this way: “This book is not an academic tome or an in-depth analysis of our policies toward refugees. It doesn’t tackle many systematic issues, such as root causes of the worldwide displacement of people or the political, economic, and social issues that come with this displacement. Rather, I attempt to show, by telling the stories of real people, the effects of our current policies (towards refugees). My goal is to increase the interest of ordinary Americans in refugee issues with the hopes that they will then dig deeper...

“The United Nations defines a refugee as a person who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country because of a well-founded fear of persecution. These claims of persecution must be based on race, religion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group or political party. Refugees are resettled in a third country when they are unable to return home and cannot stay in the camp or country in which they were granted asylum.

“My hope is this presentation will give readers a glimpse of worlds they didn’t even know existed in their hometowns (as many American towns are refugee resettlement locations) and motivate them to discover more about these worlds themselves (by getting to know refugees first hand).” (excerpts from pg. 18-20)