Just before Thanksgiving, an East African woman asked me how I would be spending the holiday. I told her that my family would be getting together at my brother’s home and we would share a turkey dinner. The young refugee woman looked at me without speaking, her eyes brimming a bit with tears, and then said quietly, “Family all gathered around one table. I can imagine how that would be….”

I did not know what to say to her. Most of us have not lived through war or displacement or forcible separation from immediate family. For us, holiday challenges might involve airport hassles or cold weather or makeshift sleeping arrangements for all the relatives who are landing on our doorstep. For refugees, such challenges would be nothing—in fact they would be warmly welcomed, if only the refugees could reunite with their own family around one table.