Imagine arriving in a country where you do not understand the language, know no one, and carry everything you own in a backpack. That is how many Venezuelan, Haitian, and Ukrainian families arrive in Brazil. They do not need pity. They need someone to say: "You are welcome here."
Your Club can be that someone. Not with a giant, expensive, impossible project. With simple, organized, and constant gestures: a welcome kit, a Portuguese class on Saturday afternoon, help filling out a form, a child received with a hug in the Unit. That changes a life.
This guide shows how to build this project from scratch, with cultural sensitivity, safety, and the support of ADRA. And it shows why, for the Christian, welcoming the foreigner is not an option: it is a commandment.
Why welcoming the foreigner is God's business
The Bible is not neutral about this. It repeats the theme so many times that it becomes impossible to ignore. In Leviticus 19:34, God commands his people: "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (NIV). Notice: it is not "tolerate" the foreigner. It is "love" the foreigner, the same way you love yourself.
The reason is beautiful. God reminds his people that they too were once foreigners, slaves in Egypt, without land and without rights. Those who have suffered far from home should be the first to welcome those who suffer now. Exodus 22:21 reinforces it: "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt" (NIV).
Jesus went even further. In Matthew 25:35, he says that when we welcome the foreigner, it is he himself we welcome: "I was a stranger and you invited me in" (NIV). And Hebrews 13:2 adds a beautiful mystery: "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it" (NIV). When you receive a refugee family, you never know whom God has placed before you.
The welcome kit: start small and concrete
Do not wait until you have money for a big project. Start with a welcome kit, the simplest and most powerful tool. It is a bag or box handed to the family as soon as they arrive, with the essentials for the first days. Every Pathfinder can help put one together. It is real service, with your own hands.
What to include? Hygiene items (soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, sanitary pads, a diaper if there is a baby), water and food that does not spoil (rice, beans, crackers, powdered milk), a blanket, and a printed sheet with useful information: where the health clinic is, the list of emergency phone numbers (your local emergency number; in Brazil, SAMU 192; Fire Department 193), and the address of the church or the Club. If possible, translate that sheet into Spanish or Haitian Creole.
One detail changes everything: write a handwritten note. Something short, like "Your family is welcome. We are here." A family that fled hunger and violence does not forget the first gesture of care it receives. Ask each Unit to adopt a family and keep in touch in the following weeks. The kit opens the door; friendship is what truly welcomes.
Portuguese classes: the key that opens every door
Without the language, a person cannot look for a job, go to the doctor, enroll their child in school, or ask for help. Teaching Portuguese is perhaps the most transformative service your Club can offer. And you do not need to be a trained teacher to begin.
Set up a simple class, once a week, at a fixed time (Saturday afternoon works well). Do not try to teach difficult grammar. Teach what the person needs today: how to introduce themselves, ask for directions on the street, say the numbers, read a label, write their name on a form. Use pictures, real objects, and lots of repetition. A teenage Pathfinder can be a mentor to an immigrant child, and the two learn together.
For Venezuelans, Spanish helps: the languages are similar and progress is fast. For Haitians, who speak Creole and French, the road is longer, so be patient and celebrate every small victory. Ask at church if anyone speaks Spanish or French to help as a bridge in the first classes. And remember: the goal is not perfect fluency, it is autonomy. When the person can get by on their own in daily life, you have won.
Read alsoADRA and your club: how to take partDocuments and jobs: helping without doing it for the person
Whoever arrives in Brazil needs to regularize their status to have rights: an asylum or residency request, a CPF, a work permit. The maze of paperwork frightens even Brazilians. Your Club can help the family navigate it, but with an important caution: help the person do it, do not do it for them. The goal is for them to gain independence, not to depend on you forever.
In practice, this means: accompanying the family to the Federal Police or the service center, helping them understand the forms, explaining what each document is for, teaching them to book an appointment online. A responsible adult from the Club should lead this effort, never a child alone. And be careful with sensitive data: never ask for passwords or keep the family's original documents.
When it comes to jobs, the church network is worth gold. Many refugees are qualified professionals, bricklayers, seamstresses, cooks, teachers, who only need a first opportunity. Let the community know there are people looking for honest work. A good referral, a simple resume typed up together, a ride to the interview: these are bridges that lift a family out of destitution. And make it clear to the Pathfinders: welcoming is not giving fish forever, it is helping the person learn to fish again.
The children in the Unit: real integration
The immigrant child wants what every child wants: to play, to have friends, to belong. And the Club is the perfect place for that to happen. Receive refugee children into your Unit the way you receive any other. No price, no bureaucracy, no making the family feel like a charity case. Just: "Come, there is a place for you here."
At first, the language barrier and shyness are great. Here the Counselor makes all the difference. Choose games that do not depend much on speech, such as sports, group activities, pitching a tent together, learning a knot. Action builds friendship faster than conversation. Ask two or three Pathfinders to be "sponsors" of the newcomer, showing them everything and sitting alongside them.
Watch out for bullying. A different accent, different clothes, different food: children can be cruel toward what is new. The leader needs to cut this off at the root, with firmness and love, teaching the whole Unit that difference is richness, not a reason to mock. If you need tools to deal with this, it is worth reading our guide on bullying in the Club. A child welcomed in the Club takes that welcome home, and the whole family feels it.
Cultural sensitivity: welcoming without erasing who the person is
Welcoming is not turning the other person into you. The family that arrived has a culture, a food, a music, a faith, and all of that is part of their dignity. The most common mistake made by those who want to help is treating the immigrant as a project to be corrected, and not as a person to be respected. Avoid this mistake.
In practice: ask before assuming. Not every family celebrates the same dates, eats the same things, or has the same customs. A Venezuelan is not the same as a Haitian, and neither of them wants to be treated as a "poor thing." Invite, do not impose. If you offer a Bible study, let it be a gentle invitation, never a condition to receive help. Love with a price is not love, it is a trade.
A beautiful way to show respect is to give their culture a stage. Ask a Venezuelan mother to teach a recipe on a Club night. Let a Haitian child show a game from their country. When the family sees that its culture is valued and not hidden, it relaxes, trusts, and truly integrates. Welcoming well is saying, through actions: "You are welcome just as you are."
The role of ADRA and how not to do it alone
You do not need to, and should not, carry this project alone. ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) is the official humanitarian arm of the Adventist Church and works in more than 120 countries. It has worked with refugees for decades, integrating health, education, and income generation, and has held consultative status with the UN since 1997.
In Brazil, ADRA acted directly in welcoming Venezuelans in Roraima, within the federal government's Operation Welcome, in partnership with the Army and UN agencies such as UNHCR. It distributed mattresses, blankets, and food and organized teams of volunteers. In other words: there is a serious structure ready to guide your Club. Do not reinvent the wheel.
Reach out to ADRA in your region, or talk to your pastor and the Club Director to find the way. A partnership with ADRA provides training, avoids mistakes, and connects you to other projects. Want to understand this alliance better? Read our guide on ADRA and the Club. Welcoming refugees is teamwork: your passion adds to the experience of those who have been doing this for a long time.