Noke Co-Sponsor Case Study

Noke, focused on validating his ability to serve as our sponsor, was constantly preoccupied on his mission. Inasmuch, the INS required Noke to prove financial responsibility for six adults and two children, unfortunately, this required the collaborative effort of a co-sponsor, which Noke eventually found through the Wereldraad van Kerken (the World Council of Churches), who directed him to the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church located in Menlo Park, California. The church, experienced in co-sponsoring refugees from around the world since 1951, accepted the challenge and agreed to serve as our primary sponsor with Noke serving as our co-sponsor. The signed affidavit of the sponsor’s and co-sponsor’s responsibility was legally enforceable until the family member became an American citizen, or accrued forty quarters of employment; the approximate equivalent of working …show more content…
Inclusive of the cost of transporting a selection of our belongings, some which Mom and Oma brought from Indonesia, we could not afford to purchase four one-way airplane tickets from Amsterdam to San Francisco. The next best mode of transportation was a transatlantic passage per boat from the Port of Rotterdam to the New York Harbor, continuing on our journey via a train to San Francisco, where Noke would meet us upon our arrival.

Eventually, it was time to leave the Dutch home, we had known for ten years, Mom ordered a taxi ride to the Port of Rotterdam. Waiting outside for the cab to arrive, the entire neighborhood gathered in front of our apartment building to pose for a few parting photos of our last moments together; a group photo of the kids, one of the adults and another one of the friends who travelled to Overschie to wish us farewell, it was a bittersweet and sentimental