27 June

First Night, Refugee Retreat: By The Campfire

by Jon Katz
First Night

The first night of the Refugee Kids Retreat at the Pompanuck Farm Institute was sweet and beautiful and easy. They arrived in the early afternoon, got a tour and safety talk, then played soccer, went swimming in the pond, shot some basketball and sat quietly near their yurt. They were not quiet for long.

Fate morphed into one of the boys and raced around happily and madly, Gus was coddled and held and ran around for hours until he just ran into his crate and collapsed. Red sat quietly and kept everybody company.

Then we had dinner in the Round House, a delicious meal of rice, green beans and ginger chicken. Afterwards, we all cleaned up and Scott Carrino lit a fire and we had the nicest times. Ali (Amjad Abdullah Mohammed) sat by the fire and sang the softest and most gentle and mournful love songs – not what I expected, and then Maria and I told scary stories by the fire.

The kids are all  students who take classes at RISSE, the refugee and immigrant center based in Albany. Ali is there teacher, and he is so important to them, he is devoted to helping them deal with life in America, he is always there for them, seven days a week, day and night.

I have to add it to my small collection of evenings I shall never forget. I think the kids loved every moment of it and we have a neat day planned for tomorrow. Maria and I are going over to help with breakfast and meals during the day, she’s leading a hike into the woods, then our community is joining us to help with the retreat.

Gordon McQuerry is coming to teach music and sing with the children, I’m teaching a story-telling workshop, Mandy Meyer-Hill, a healer and massage therapist, is coming to show the kids stretching and relaxing and trust exercises. It was, as always, lovely to watch Ali and see his great love for these children, and their love for him.

Thursday, art and drawing lessons from Rachel Barlow, a popular Vermont artist.

Such a man as Ali  is really quite rare in my experience, and we are brothers to one another now.  He is spending the night in the yurt with the children. Scott and Lisa Carrino are wonderfully open and generous hosts, they seem thrilled to have these kids at Pompanuck.

These children are wonderful people – courteous, polite, thoughtful, and they have been through a great deal. Over the next few days, I  hope they see the real America, something many have not yet seen. Welcoming, generous, loving. They are no threat to our country.

It was special for me that this was a family affair. Maria and I joined together, and Red, Fate and even young Gus seemed to get into the spirit of the night, they were an essential part of the retreat, the kids just loved them and they seemed to love being there. Gus, who is tiny and only eight weeks old, ran around with the kids until she literally dropped, and the kids begged me to let the dogs sleep in the Yurt. I was  tempted, but said no. They needed to rest.

Can’t wait to get up in the morning and get back to Pompanuck.

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