Back to School

This is a post that has been rolling around in my head for a while. It has been difficult to write about and I'm sure it still won't convey what I'm thinking/feeling in its entirety. Thanks for bearing with the stuff and fluff the past few posts have been while I process this.

A few months ago, I was blessed beyond measure to work with a community of Bhutanese refugees during the Houston Project. I wasn't the only one who was significantly touched by these people. The other people in my class were also affected and we have decided that the one week was not enough. In order to truly make a difference for the Lord, we have to be in there, building relationships and serving them in love. And they are SO easy to love! So far we have done two follow ups. Both had to do with school. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say that it has completely changed my world view.

For most people, back to school time is fun. New supplies, new clothes, seeing old friends and making new ones. For those families we have been working with, I am seeing this experience in a completely different way. I am scared to death for them. We have adopted a few families but my experiences have really focused on two specifically. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Most of the families we have been working with have been here for one to four months.
• The families we work with have escaped intense political and religious persecution.
• The parents speak minimal to no English.
• The fathers cannot get jobs - These men were farmers, shop keepers, and business men in Nepal and Bhutan. Now they are unable to find work. Language in a barrier and they don't know how to look for jobs here. On top of that....well, you know the state of the job market.
• Since there is no job, there is no income. That means: no money for uniforms or supplies, no money for a car.
• Since they don't have a car, how do the kids get to school? They live 1.6 miles from the school so they don't qualify for the school bus. Their choices are to either pay $1.25 a day to get to and from school on the Metro bus or they walk. The $1.25 a day doesn't sound like much but remember, no job. So they have to decide by tomorrow morning how to get to school.
• The school district where these kids will attend hands out vouchers for one free uniform to those in need. But....they ran out last week so we have to hope that they can get one - IF they kid can figure out who to ask and how to ask for it. The parents can't help because of the language barrier.
• They don't speak English so today we helped them fill out free and reduced lunch forms, emergency information cards, and employment surveys.
• For the older kids, they not only have to get to school, they have to learn how to navigate in an American school. In Nepal, they stayed in one room all day and sat on the carpeted floor. Not so here.
• We taught a girl how to open a dial lock for her locker. That is hard enough with English speakers!
• These children will have to translate everything for their parents if they can remember it all. I'm not even going to go into the whole homework thing right now!

So tomorrow as I spend the morning getting ready to begin my seventh year teaching, I'm already thankful that I don't have a group of little ones to corral. My mind will not be on them. It will be on dozens of little ones who will hopefully be stepping foot into a new school tomorrow. Overwhelmed and having no clue what is going on, they are the bravest souls, eager and ready to get going. I honestly wish I didn't have to work tomorrow so I could just take them to their schools.

Pray, y'all.....Pray hard!