Last September, I had no idea what I was in for. I went through a training to mentor a refugee family from Burma. I can tell you that no training can prepare someone adequately. This family fled from political persecution, waited in a refugee camp in Thailand for 5 years while experiencing mistreatment, all to come to the United States... a new, scary place, where they don't know the language, and can't get a job due to the current economic situation, and they don't get their food stamps in time because the system is so backed up, they don't know where to go to reapply for Medicaid because their case worker doesn't call them back because she works with 200 other families... At refugee camps, America is viewed as this Treasure, where there is opportunity and money. This is true.. there is wealth and opportunity in America, but no one told them that it is not equally distributed.. and it was going to be this Hard!
This family has been a blessing to me. The kids have this innocence about them that makes them so precious. Life hasn't been easy for them, but they don't know anything different. They embrace life. They continue living life.. and they smile doing it.
Today we went to the park. Something I took for granted growing up in the suburbs... For them it was a totally new experience. They were interacting with new people in a new environment.
My hope for them would be that America would be about opportunity for them. They are already getting an education. My hope is that they feel loved and cared about in a world that sometimes forgets the importance of that.
Sometimes I wonder if I am helping this family at all. I feel just as clueless in this world. I do know that I am a changed person from 6 months ago. I have learned about culture, about the world, about poverty, about governmental systems, about life, about religions, about health care, ..... And I have learned what a blessed life I live. I am grateful.
Last September, I had no idea what I was in for. I went through a training to mentor a refugee family from Burma. I can tell you that no training can prepare someone adequately. This family fled from political persecution, waited in a refugee camp in Thailand for 5 years while experiencing mistreatment, all to come to the United States... a new, scary place, where they don't know the language, and can't get a job due to the current economic situation, and they don't get their food stamps in time because the system is so backed up, they don't know where to go to reapply for Medicaid because their case worker doesn't call them back because she works with 200 other families... At refugee camps, America is viewed as this Treasure, where there is opportunity and money. This is true.. there is wealth and opportunity in America, but no one told them that it is not equally distributed.. and it was going to be this Hard!
This family has been a blessing to me. The kids have this innocence about them that makes them so precious. Life hasn't been easy for them, but they don't know anything different. They embrace life. They continue living life.. and they smile doing it.
Today we went to the park. Something I took for granted growing up in the suburbs... For them it was a totally new experience. They were interacting with new people in a new environment.
My hope for them would be that America would be about opportunity for them. They are already getting an education. My hope is that they feel loved and cared about in a world that sometimes forgets the importance of that.
Sometimes I wonder if I am helping this family at all. I feel just as clueless in this world. I do know that I am a changed person from 6 months ago. I have learned about culture, about the world, about poverty, about governmental systems, about life, about religions, about health care, ..... And I have learned what a blessed life I live. I am grateful.
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the crazies of the world wide web!!!
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