Many have asked, “So have you met with the refugee families?” “How are they doing?” “Are they adjusting to American life?”
The answer is that they are all doing incredibly well! June 20th was World Refugee Day and World Relief Spokane had their first ever picnic to celebrate, with games, songs and displaced people joining in from countries all around the world! The potluck was an adventure for the eyes as well as for the taste buds and if you missed it, I can honestly say, I ate enough for your share too!
Pictured above is the second Karen refugee family that was only briefly shown in our movie, “The Difference.” They also arrived on the same delayed flight and our class also gathered materials and supplies to assist in setting up their apartment as well, although we were not able to physically prepare it as you saw in our movie.
I talked briefly, using hand motions, lots of smiling and simple English with the mom, since she spent over 10 years in refugee camps on the Thai border (and spent much of that time studying English) and she said that they are doing well, although adjustment has been difficult.
Many of my students will remember Hsay, the Karen cultural informant, who visited our class and answered a variety of questions we had as we learned all we could early in our research. Hsay explained how he has been really busy trying to help each of the new families learn about stores, how to get food, getting them used to houses and everything they need to know about work and school. I think I heard that 80-90% of refugees quickly find jobs, but as Moonlight, one of the very first refugees to Spokane explained to me said, “I didn’t get treated very well at my job. They would yell at me. And instead of saying, please or thank you, just yell.”
For people who have come from a place that has attempted to strip them of not only their lives but their dignity as well, I can easily see why Moonlight made the tough decision to leave his job, despite having small kids. Moonlight stuck it out for a long time, but it’s a matter of principle.
On a different matter but same topic, several people continued to recommend that I see Rambo. Thinking it was some remake of the original movie, “Rambo: First Blood” I thought, “Why?” However, I soon learned, Sylvester Stallone’s movie, while completely not appropriate content-wise for elementary school, is based on the horrific events happening in Burma right now.
I’ve since seen it and it was far more graphic than anything I’d seen so far on the subject. Yet I can’t help but think that events like it must be happening. Very disturbing.
Our video is now currently being hosted at Spokane Public Schools at:
(Under ONGOING-> Cooper Class Project)
For those wondering about the family you DID see in our movie, they are doing VERY well! I saw each of the children playing, the teenage girls could easily be mistaken for American teens and the parents looked relaxed and happy. I smiled at the elderly aunt (with purple hair) and she very clearly remembered me and smiled, though I know we both realized we couldn’t say anything – sometimes a smile is more than enough.
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