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</div></div><br/><br/>Sometime in the early 2000’s (nobody quite remembered the year) the Casa Marianella staff were faced with a practical problem. The shelter, which housed around 40 people and served dinner daily, was overstretched by the amount of former residents who had returned to spend their days socializing and eating meals at Casa Marianella. So staff member Kelsey Hall and executive director Jennifer Long settled on a uniquely appropriate solution.<br/><br/>Rather than simply creating new rules and limitations, they channeled the returning residents into a single day every month of concentrated hospitality. They called it<i>Convivio</i>, and everyone who had passed through Casa Marianella was encouraged to come, hang out, and feast with one another. A fairly typical Convivio began with a Spanish language mass by<i> St. James Episcopal Church.</i><br/><br/>Throughout the day, participants and Casa Marianella residents shared stories of endurance and salvation, sang songs, and offered prayers for everyone’s struggles. A line of volunteers, almost one per dish, served the meal, as conversation warmed and expanded through the groups seated at the table. In attendance was a mix of Casa Staff and ex-staff, residents and ex-residents, volunteers, and many community members with a broad array of connections to the shelter.<br/><br/>Convivio had changed over the time Amadan had been a part of Casa Marianella.<br/><br/>In fact, it didn't even serve its original purpose anymore, since Casa now had no issues with former residents’ use of the space. Instead, Convivio grew into a broad community event, flush with attendees and volunteers, with music and dancing playing a central role in the festivities. As the service concluded, willing hands set up long serving tables and brought the food that had been prepared out from the kitchen. Hopefully, Tony had arrived at Casa Marianella dressed down for dinner and to partake in the social events this evening.<br/><br/>Showing up at with a holstered gun and badge representing the Austin Police Department would definitely worry the male and female immigrants, asylum seekers, and families that were being sheltered by Casa Marianella because it fueled their distrust of the police that they felt could deport them. When Amadan invited Tony to come hear him play the violin and spend some time at the shelter, it was because he wanted to see him in a less than official capacity, and for Tony to see him not as a criminal but as a law-abiding citizen.<br/><br/>All eyes were on the newcomer to Casa Marianella, including Amadan's.<br/><br/>Kelsey encouraged Detective Deschenes to come in and join the festivities, but it was Amadan that said,<i>"Bienvenido,</i>An-tony." he replied with a grin.<br/><br/>"New Orleans? I've always wanted to go there to see Mardi Gras. Perhaps next time you can bring us something from your home. Our residents and ex-residents really enjoy learning and experiencing new things." Kelsey replied, as she put on some salsa music, at low volume.<br/><br/>"Amadan has already got you Anthony. Thanks Amadan. You're quite fortunate Anthony, Amadan is one of our Resident Ambassadors, because he embraces the community spirit of Casa Marianella. Plus, he's also quite a talented violinist,"<br/><br/>Kelsey offered her compliment and joined others at the table. "Now, for the food!"<br/><br/><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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Kelsey</div>
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</div><br/>A little girl wearing a sari and had a red dot in the center of her forehead, tapped Tony on the sleeve lightly. "Hello. My name Samira. I have a plate, a fork, kn..ife, spoon and nap..kin for you." she spoke painstakingly slow as she handed him the items, but was understandable, despite fighting a terrible case of shyness.<br/><br/><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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Samira Jatti</div>
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</div><br/>Others residents and non-residents seated at the table, laughed at her comment about the food. They were busy chowing down. Fortunately, those who had made the food were still serving the dishes so Tony could at least find out what he was eating before it was spooned onto his plate.<br/><br/>Amadan paused while eating to grab an extra chair from the back to add to the table so Tony could sit down.<b> "Please sit and eat with us, Ton-ee."</b><br/><br/>Then four other people chimed in.<i> "Welcome An-tony. Is this your first time at Convivio? We happy to have you here in our home!" </i>Each of the four were immigrants from Central America, all in different stages of learning English as their second language, and eager to practice on a willing native speaker in order to become better at communicating in the American language.<br/><br/>There was a woman wearing a orange and white saree who was nursing her six month old baby in a easy chair in one corner of the room, "My name is Chanda and this my son, Kesin, my daughter is Samira. We come from Bangalore, India. Thank you for coming to Convivio! It nice to see you here."<br/><br/><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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Chanda and Kesin Jatti</div>
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</div><br/>Another one of the immigrants spoke up, this time a middle-aged man, who cleared his throat as he introduced himself, his wife and 14 year old son. "Hello to you Antony. I am Mohammed. This my wife, Haya, and my son, Ahmed." he replied, lifting his hand to point to the other side of the table.<br/><br/>"At end of table is my daughter, Fatima, and sons Hassan and Tariq. We come here for asylum from Assad regime in Syria for my family to be safe."<br/><br/><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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Mohammed, Haya, Ahmed, Fatima, Hassan and Tariq Farhi</div>
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</div><br/>Last but not least, Fernando reached over to shake Tony's hand, and introduce himself. "I'm Fernando Martínez, and I come from Mexico. Nice you come here to hang out with us," he shook hands with a strong, yet sincere grip.<br/><br/><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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Fernando Martínez

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<div class="bbCodeBlock-content">While everyone was talking to Tony, or asking him questions, Mohammed asked his daughter, Fatima, to fix Tony a plate of food. It gave the 13 year old an opportunity to practice her English too. She wore a blue scarf called a hijab, that covered her hair and wrapped around her neck.<br/>
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"Here is plate Meester Tony. I bring for you dish from a Spain that Amadan make, its call...ffff." she paused, embarrassed because she was nervous and turned to look in Amadan's direction for help.<br/>
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Almost as if on cue, Amadan looked at Fatima and added, <i>"Fabada</i><b>, is name of the dish. It is a stew made with beans, ham and vegetable. It is made often in Sevilla, Spain where I was born."</b><br/>
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"Fabada!" remarked Fatima. "That is what it is, and you have grilled<i> Suya</i> from Africa, <i>naan bread </i>from India, and my mother's <i>Fattoush</i> from Syria, where we come from. Please eat, you will like. Then <i>flan</i> for dessert!"<br/>
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A man had been sitting in the corner where Chandra had been feeding her baby boy, with skin the color of eggplant who was feeding his little boy from a dessert plate.<br/>
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"Mmmmmmm...and the flan is good! Greetings to you Tony. I am Nnaji Osunkoya, from Nigeria. This is my son Jabari, and my wife, Imani is over there with my little girl, Jalila. Welcome to Casa Marianella!" he replied, and went back to consuming his portion of dessert.<br/>
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Nnaji and Jabari Osunkoya</div>
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Imani and Jalila Osunkoya</div>
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"I hope you enjoy your visit at Casa Marianella, An-tonio,"</b> Amadan replied from across the table as he continued enjoying the meal. It was easier to add the o at the end of the name, for him.<br/>
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<b>"This is where I stay most of time, when I want private time, I live in my wagon. It a tiny home, I move from place to place. I help fix broken things, play music for church, and tonight for</b> <i>Convivio." </i>he smiled, agreeing with Tony.<br/>
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Anything was better than their first meeting. Amadan had been wrongly accused of doing something he didn't do, and would never do because it wasn't in his human nature to do it. The spider within him was watching from within, being reclusive tonight. It was well aware of Tony's presence though, and it knew that Tony was curious about what happened in the interrogation room. Nothing out of the ordinary would manifest itself tonight, the spider and the human vessel that carried it from place to place were well sated by the food and drink.<br/>
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"So what is this New Orl-in-ans? This where you from? You said you bring next time food from there. What kind of foods are in that place?" Amadan asked, wanting to know more about the cuisine of the New Orleans native, than eating him.<br/>
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Amadan had a big slice of flan on his dessert plate too, he was saving it for after he finishing eating dinner. After dessert, Amadan played an upbeat Romani song on his violin, while everyone danced that was called <a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DRqBJnBU6Pkg&amp;hash=84726e09914e342a64faa2a661bcc34f" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqBJnBU6Pkg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Monti Csárdás</a> that made everyone stand up and applaud. Kelsey wasn't kidding when she said Amadan was talented, but the jury was out until Tony spoke to him again after he sat back down and placed his violin back inside its case.<br/>
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"Did you like my song, An-tony?" asked Amadan, with a grin.</div>
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