“I love this book! It is filled with moving stories of encounters with people from other cultures. The stories and deep insights shared here will have a far reaching impact in our lives, neighbourhoods, towns and cities. A small seed of welcome planted, holds the potential for a world transformed. Read this book slowly. It will change you.”
Kelly Hughes
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“After working with many NGOs in Africa for more than 8 years, I feel the insights within this book are invaluable. Anika writes out of a deeply reflective lived experience of sharing a homespace and daily life with people in transition between countries, who are often dealing with great trauma, loss and vulnerabilityo. The values coalesced from within that experience provide a foundational orientation for welcoming that is very rare. They invite us into opening ourselves to the vulnerability of mutual transformation instead of adopting a posture of “helper”, “hero”, the one with resources, answers, and status. They entail a recognition that we are all humans together, with gifts to be given and received on all sides, growth, connection and healing possible for everyone involved, though we in the west often don’t see our own deep need for it. If individuals and organizations alike take up this invitation, such goodness is possible. I highly recommend this humble pearl of wisdom to any and all who connect with folks in transition and who have the courage to begin the adventure of mutual transformation, connectedness, and a larger, truer life.”
Bev, former Mennonite Central Committee country rep, retired teacher, University of the Fraser Valley
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“Anika Bauman is a gifted writer and she uses her personal stories to share Kinbrace’s five core values of welcome, trust, mutual transformation, celebration, and prayer. This clever book presents the work of Kinbrace Community Society while demonstrating the value and simplicity of practicing hospitality. Each chapter tells a unique and beautiful story with practical applications for the reader. Reading this short book educated me about outreach with refugee claimants and challenged me to think about how I share my life with others and I hope that it helps me be a better listener and a source of solace for people who are suffering.”
Dr. Craig Kraft, Executive Director of Outreach Canada
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“This thought-provoking little book speaks graciously about welcoming the stranger. It will guide many people on their journey to revise what they have taken for granted and consider new possibilities of deeper connection.”
Marlae Vermeer
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“It was such a gift to read Anika’s book, which is so beautifully written. She’s such a gifted storyteller. But more than that, her stories of growing in relationship with her neighbours will warm your heart and touch you deeply. Her book affirms my own aspirations to pursue loving neighbours and even more challenging, to love strangers. The mutual transformations of both Anika and her neighbours are finger-printed all over her stories as she shares her experience in loving the stranger. I have had the pleasure of reading her blogs as well, which has deepened my own understanding of where to encounter Jesus… in the stranger. As Anika writes in her blog of Sept 29, 2020, ‘Jesus is not only with the stranger; he IS the stranger.'”
Barry Jung, community convener, social connector, curator of Neighbours on Purpose
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“Becoming Neighbours has heartwarming stories of how people from different cultures find their common humanity and need for each other in the context of resettlement in Canada. I would recommend it for all who desire to work locally with newly arrived immigrants.”
Deb Penney, nurse-midwife, researcher on refugees and health, University of Utah
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“I read Becoming Neighbours on a rainy Vancouver morning, grateful to be in a warm home with blankets and a hot cup of coffee. It was after a very (very) long week – where living and working in community had felt particularly difficult and painful. Reading Anika’s words was a balm for my spirit. She encouraged me, challenged me, made me laugh, and made me cry – all the things! If you’re a person who needs a pep talk or encouragement to continue to show up, and walk along the road towards deep community with the people around you, read this book.”
Jeanette Moss, Team Lead & Director of Strategy and Development, Salsbury Community Society
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“Becoming Neighbours is a beautifully written book. Bauman’s ability to walk readers through her own welcome and orientation to the Kinbrace community and then in turn her ability to welcome neighbours is beautiful. I appreciate the book’s accessibility and ability to cater to both newcomers to Canada and those desiring to work directly with newcomers. I appreciate Bauman’s deep thoughtfulness about her own personal experiences and the honest ways in which they overlap, but also differ, from some of the neighbours she introduces us to in the book.”
Samia, Doctoral Student