Craig and I recently watched the documentary film "God Grew Tired of Us", which chronicles the journey of several Sudanese "Lost Boy" refugees from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to the United states, where they were resettled. It was a very interesting movie. Although the young men were very excited to leave the refugee camp and come to America, their learning curve was huge. They had never before "used electricity" and wondered if it would be difficult. The escalator at the airport as totally foreign to them, and each almost fell as he stepped onto it. When they got to their apartment in the United States, someone had to show them how to turn on the lights, and how to use the bathroom fixtures. When they first saw a single twin bed, they thought that three of them would be sharing it, and they were happy with that. When they learned that they would each have their own bed, they were amazed. Everything was just so far outside their realm of experience.
Craig and I had always thought that maybe one day we would volunteer overseas, but we hadn't realized just how much support refugees need when they move to the U.S. I decided to look into opportunities to volunteer here, and discovered the International Rescue Committee website. This is a non-profit agency who actually participated in the resettlement of the Lost Boys in the film, and they have a resettlement office in Boston.
Browsing their web site I saw that they were in need of a volunteer child development assistant. I went to the Boston office for an interview, and learned that there was a population of Somali Bantu refugees who had been resettled in Lynn. They had been here for approximately three years, but were having a harder time integrating into society here than other refugees because the Bantu are a pre-literate society. They have no written language of their own, so learning English has been especially challenging.
While the fathers have gotten entry-level jobs and the school-aged children have started school, the mothers have been isolated at home with their young children.
The North Star Program in Lynn has been set up to provide support to the women and children. Mothers take literacy classes while children are introduced to an American pre-school environment.
My bosses were quite supportive and allowed me to shift my schedule so that I can help with the children one morning a week. This past Thursday was my first day. As the mothers and children showed up, it was apparent that the mothers hadn't yet adjusted to this climate. Although it was a sunny day in the 60's, the children were bundled up, as if for winter. One arrived in a full-on snowsuit!
The children ranged in age from around 6 months old to around 3 years. The older children were a bit standoffish, as I was a new face. In general, the children were much more low-key than American toddlers. They were very quiet, never really speaking much in English or their native tongue. This was probably the only place that they ever played with actual toys, and we demonstrated how to use certain things and got them engaged in play. I spent most of my time playing with a baby named Ameena. She was very sweet and content, eventually falling asleep on my shoulder.
By the end of the two hour session, some of the older kids were warming up to me. After an hour and a half of free play, the kids ate snack and then we did circle time with a story and some songs. A couple older kids really got into the songs and Ring-Around-The-Rosey.
Carla, the director of the program, told me some interesting facts, such as the fact that birth dates and even birth years are not culturally significant to the Bantu, so none of the refugees knew how old they were. When they were screened for their entry into the U.S., they went through an age analysis, where their ages were estimated based on knowledge of events during their lives (wars, seasons, governments in place, etc). They are all assigned a Jan 1 birthday, and each year on New Year's Day, IRC holds a birthday party for all of the refugees in the area.
I am very proud to be involved with this organization, and I look forward to seeing the kids again next week!
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