Day: March 13, 2018

Speaking only for myself, I feel I am doing the holiest of work when I try to support the refugee children, whether they be shy girls from the Congo. or the soccer boys from Myanmar. There is something powerfully raw and vivid about the life of the refugee.

I sometimes feel that every great and spiritual human is standing over my shoulder, and I humbly try to walk in their great shoes: Gandhi, Christ, Dr. King, The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Pope Francis, Thomas Merton, Abraham Lincoln are all hovering above me or standing behind me, and even though I am a fly next to them, I know they would embrace these children and welcome them.

They all preached caring for the vulnerable. These are the vulnerable.

They have known terror, loss, endless anxiety, despair, loneliness and isolation. Like many of us, they are searching for dignity, for their place in the world. They are the innocents, they never sought to flee their homes, or come to  ours.

They seek only to fit in and live the ordinary lives of children. They and their families want to rebuild their lives, that’s all. Most of them have lost a mother or father, a grandma or grandpa, friends and aunts and cousins, sometimes in the most brutal way.

They are walking uphill here, amidst growing hostility, with little support, their school is a haven and a refuge. They have not come here to harm us, they are not our enemies, they do not seek to take our jobs.

Thanks for supporting them. The RISSE Amazon Wish List has transformed their school, and hopefully, will transform it further.

I am working alongside RISSE, but on different things. This year, I hope to get the RISSE soccer team to the Powell House, a Quaker Youth Retreat in Old Chatham, N.Y. I am seeking to raise money for the $2,100 food and board fee.  I hope to raise money or seek funding aid so that these children can get out of the city for a week this summer, when there is no school, and get out to the Powell House summer camp for a week.

I am seeking to support and equip the soccer team from RISSE, an integral part of the community forming there, and an activity that brings together kids who speak different languages and come from different countries. If you can or wish to support my work, you can send a contribution to me at P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Please mark the payment “refugees.”

And thanks. I believe this is sacred work for me. I am committed to it. We are doing a great thing here.

She was drawing and looking at the English learning cards bought from the RISSE Amazon Wish List. She is learning English rapidly, thanks in part to these cards, said her teacher. She gave me the warmest smile.

I’m not sure there are many things more satisfying in life than seeing once traumatized children smile so readily and completely. It stuns me every time, it renders me speechless. I honestly don’t know what to say. This girl loves puzzles, and was poring over a stack of puzzles sent her from the Amazon RISSE Wish List.

These children know suffering, loss, trauma and dislocation in a particular way, you have strengthened their gentle fort, brightened their refuge, given them some of the tools they desperately need to grow and learn and live in America.

And I believe they know, it those faces don’t like, they are saying thank you, your gifts are making a profound difference i their lives. I’m not sure any of them really know what an Amazon RISSE Gift List is, but they know there is love and generosity and acceptance out there, they drink it up, it fills their hearts

The RISSE school girls have very different ideas about photography than the RISSE boys. One after another, the girls so shy and turn away, they tell me in their countries girls don’t have their pictures taken, it’s sometimes considered bad luck or as a sign of shamelessness.

The boys, on the other hand, demand to have their pictures taken and ham and pose and demand to see how they look. Most of the  girls do not like to play sports with boys, or go on outings with them. The teachers tell me that is changing, if slowly.

I ask the girls if I can take their photos – their teachers and parents have given me permission. When I tell them it’s for the people who have sent them all these gifts for the school, and for the refugee and immigrant families, they laugh and smile and then turn their eyes to the camera.

I decide not to use their names, just to make sure they are comfortable.

They have the  most wonderful faces. They love learning, and revels in the books and paint kits and learning and music software and musical instruments they are receiving. New worlds are opening up to them, and they are learning the power of creativity.

Me too.

:

“We wonder who these people are who send us these beautiful things, they must be Gods up in the sky. I thank everyone for this painting kit, and for the program that teaches me how to do division and multiplication. And for the bright lights so we can read…”

I  tried to explain to her what the RISSE Amazon Wist List  was, but she just nodded and beamed at me. Yes, maybe  you are right, I said, it might be the gods.