I met Ignal at RISSE, the refugee and immigrant support center in Albany. She is an immigrant, new to the United States from the Sudan. I am publishing a series of portraits of male and female refugees studying english and literacy at RISSE.
I am mesmerized by the distinctive faces and stories i hear from these quite brave and determined people. They are very American, at least to me, in their love of freedom and pursuit of a better life for them and their children. She belongs here. Please consider supporting RISSE. You can do so here.
I will be writing more about Ignal and the other people I have met there, one at a time.
Art was talking to me about the Bible and his ideas about baptism and Christianity, and he asked me why I was helping him. I said it was my job, I’m a hospice and elderly care volunteer who does therapy work with dogs and in other ways.
I saw his loneliness and passion, and I my purpose was to help him fill some of the holes in his life if I could.
“You know, Art,” I said, after I heard one of his thunderous condemnations of sinners, “you are teaching me to be a good Christian.” That seemed to shock him, he just looked at me for awhile, but did not respond.
You’ve inspired me to brush up on my St. Augustine again, and some of the preachings of Christ, calling us to help the poor and weak.
“I especially like one quote where St. Augustine says the very perfection of a man is to find his own perfections,” I said.
One difference between you and me, I told him, is that I try to practice humility. I don’t know enough to tell other people how to worship, I am not wise enough to tell everyone how they must live and love. I practice freedom, where people are free to make their own choices, as long as their choices are not about harming other people.
I don’t tell other people what to do because I barely know what to do myself. You are always telling other people what to do and who to love, and all in the name of Christianity. I shake my head in wonder at the people who call themselves Christians, and neglect Mother Earth and worship the rich and the powerful, not the poor and the vulnerable.
I guess there are different kinds of Christians, and I know which kind of Christian I would be if I were one. I would follow the true preachings of Jesus, not of all the political Christians running around pretending to love Jesus.
I do not believe what you believe, or worship the part of Christianity that you worship. That doesn’t make me right, but it makes me feel like a good Christian, you are teaching me to understand my own faith.
My Mansion work is generally free of politics or controversy, but my friend Art is a controversial man by choice, he wishes to prod and challenge people into following the New Testament Bible in every way. Non-believers are doomed to Hell, simple as that.
To help him is to automatically be controversial in our angry and polarized culture. He has helped me to celebrate the ethics of the sincere volunteer and seeker of good. I am called to feel empathy and compassion for Art, rather than anger and judgment.
I do not call him names or close my heart to him. He is alone and vulnerable and poor, and deserves to be treated like a human being and in a human way.
So this is an ironic kind of post. Because Art is actually teaching me to be a good Christian, in heart if not in formal practice. If Christians practiced true Christianity, our world would be a better and more peaceful and just place.
A woman called Art a “bigoted jerk” the other day on my Facebook page for his positions on homosexuality – or “the homosexual’ as he puts it. Several people have criticized me sharply for writing about him, helping him, and tolerating his belief that homosexuality is evil. They refuse to donate money for the Mansion residents – which is their perfect right – or read my writing any longer.
I do know how they feel.
Art lives for provocation, seeks it out in the name of his God, sees it as his calling, and he has ordered, wears and sells shirts with the infamous quotes from Romans 1 declaring that men’s lust for one another is wicked, unnatural and and evil.
Art sells them were he can, and wears them around the Mansion, or on his visits to the outside. He is a man on a mission, and has found a nearby Church that supports him.
He understands that those are not my views, but calls me a friend and is good to me, he hopes to save me one day from damnation, where he believes I am headed. I think there are many who agree with him.
The irony is that Art will have trouble turning me to the good side of Christianity as he sees it. I find I believe the very opposite of him, in almost all matters of faith and Christian teachings.
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels,” I told Art today. St. Augustine said that. He also said: “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lat first the foundation of humility'”
I have told him right to his face in his quiet and dark room that I think sometimes he is making me a better Christian than he is, and his eyes widen and he fears that I am lost.
I have been lost, I told him, and now can see, but along the way, I have never condemned anyone to Hell for disagreeing with me, the world would be a barren and empty place if I had.
He knows that I am not a real Christian.
Jesus Christ is someone I greatly admire, and have studied for much of my life, but he is not my God. I do not have a God, and no God speaks to me, as he may be so busy speaking to so many other people.
I think I knew where Jesus would stand in our conflicted world, and who wish. I would be honored to stand alongside of him.
The Jesus I have read about stood with the poor and the vulnerable, not the angry and the rich and corrupt.
We live in a black and white world, but I see many hues and a lot of gray. Some people argue that I should not be helping Art or working to make him more comfortable or buying him things. (We got him a CD collection of the Bible, a CD player, an air conditioner and a new lift reclining chair. I’ve ordered some books of Bible stories for him.)
I am pleased to work with Art and happy he enjoys speaking with me. I think he is showing me in his own way how to be a good Christian, and that is, for me, a good thing to be.
Last night, Ali (Amjad Abdalla) sent me the first photos of the Bedlam Farm Warriors, the RISSE soccer team, in their new uniforms (the kids picked the name, I didn’t), and they looked snappy and powerful.
I did not ever imagine a sports team with uniforms that say “Bedlam Farm Warriors,” but it did lift my heart.
The kids play some wealthy suburban teams, outmanned and with snazzy uniforms, expensive equipment, and the latest sneakers. So for the soccer team – students at RISSE, the immigrant and refugee center in Albany – the Army of Good bought new uniforms, complete with numbers and the team choose black and white as their colors.
I am unnerved at seeing the name of the farm on a sports team, but Ali was adamant, it was what they wanted. I am humbled by that.
We are looking for some indoor spaces for the team to practice in now that the season is ending.
We will help with that, this is a team of truly great spirits, loving and brave and kind to one another. They are a community within a community, and the team give these young people a safe and meaningful activity while they struggle with school and the arduous process of acclimation.
The soccer team is a pathway into America for these kids, they offer them the support and encouragement of their friends, while also teaching them confidence and leadership skills. Ali says the team also keeps them off of the streets. And these friendships will carry them into life.
Most of these young men (there is one woman on the team) are the children of refugees, they have been through a great deal and their lives are difficult. Their parents are often poor and hold more than one job.
The soccer team has great meaning for them. And Ali is completely devoted to them. Me too. I will do everything I can to support Ali and his work with these young people. I have come to know and love them myself.
They didn’t need to call themselves the “Bedlam Farm Warriors,” I am so glad they did. I loved seeing the photos Ali sent me, it make me proud of the work we are doing, and thanks to you for supporting the team.
(Note. Several people (some angry) have asked why there are not more women on the team. Two accused me of enabling or supporting sexism.)
Here’s the reality: women are welcome to join the RISSE soccer team and several have. But there are enormous cultural differences between Americans and many refugees. They are not at ease playing sports with men. Over time, that will almost surely change. These kids love computing, for example, but computers were new to them when they came here.
I do appreciate the concern, especially these days, but I will not be a party to forcing my own cultural values on people who are new to America, and are adjusting to us. The women at RISSE are strong and powerful, they can and should make their own choices about their activities. RISSE does not prohibit women from any of its many activities.
The young women I have spoken with with say they and many of their parents are not yet comfortable in close contact sports involving males.
They are welcome to join the team anytime, but most prefer to form their own team, or follow their own interests. RISSE is considering a women’s soccer team if there is interest. The women I have spoken with are not at ease with uniforms and competitions.
The Army of Good supports refugee and immigrant women in many ways, we help purchase household and individual needs, offer scholarships for classes and tutoring, sometimes help with clothes or toys or educational mater.
We have supported a score of women at RISSE buy insurance, manage loans, go on outings, pay tuition for their children. I photograph them and write about them, they are quite visible in this work here on the blog.
If you read the blog, you have seen and will see many women from RISSE.
I will continue to support the soccer team in any way possible, and I don’t expect many more women on the team.
If you wish to help support the refugees and immigrants from RISSE, young and old, male and female, you can donate to Jon Katz/Refugee Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected] Thanks)
