A month ago, Dahn Gandell, a friend and an Episcopal minister in Rochester, New York contacted me and said she was bringing some refugee kids from the Rochester area – soccer lovers and players – to Pompanuck Farms right after Christmas, she wanted to challenge the RISSE soccer team to a match.
I called Ali and we accepted, the Bedlam Farm Warriors planned to come and to win – Dahn and I had a lunch bet over it. Most of her soccer players got sick this week, so six or seven refugee kids came and Ali brought most of the RISSE soccer team – he only had a small van and had to leave some behind.
It turned out to be 8 degrees this afternoon and much snow on the ground. No soccer, but soup and cake.
It was touching to see the kids meet one another. The boys are painfully shy, so the boys and girls sat on opposite sides of the lunch table for an hour or so, and they everybody began to open up and talk about their lives and experiences.
A few brave souls went outside and sledded down a nearby hill, others played soccer outside until their feet froze.
I had to leave early, but I loved what I saw, these kids clearly relished being with one another, they talk all the time about the pressure and frequent insults and jabs from the American kids they go to school with (the kids are always teasing that they eat “dogs and cats” for lunch and dinner.)
And they can’t afford to keep up with American kids and their designer clothes and shoes and devices. It is an enormous adjustment to be a refugee child in America right now, it is hard to hear some of the things the other kids say to them. That’ s a major reason why these kids are so important to one another.
None of the refugee kids had winter clothes or boots or hats and scarves. We’re working on that.
Tomorrow Ali is taking the RISSE kids to see either “Jumanji” or “Star Wars” and Dahn – and the Rochester kids are staying overnight at Pompanuck – is bring her Rochester kids to meet them. The RISSE kids have also entered a soccer tournament which begins at 5:30 p.m near Albany, and I hope to be there.
The kids love Pompanuck, and Scott Carrino, the co-owner, suggested we plan a weekend retreat for them either in the winter or the Spring. They love the idea, we are working on it.