Last month in Ukraine we were invited to speak at our host’s 8th grade world religions/cultures class. We were hosted by this American couple who were led by the Holy Spirit to move their family to Ukraine and serve the orphaned and oppressed in a town called Kolensty. The wife works as a teacher at an international school where the majority of the students are missionary/ex patriots kids. This particular class that she has been teaching has given her the opportunity to educate students about what is going on around the world and how it affects them! Hearing her passion about this subject was quite interesting and awesome to watch her instill in her students. My teammate and friend Rashidat spoke during one of her classes and shared our experience with racism on the race. This is a topic that touched quite a few of the students because of similar feelings/ situations they would find themselves in also not being from Ukraine and standing out like a sore thumb.
As Rashidat and I shared our personal stories of how we’ve been treated by around the world, all 12 students were locked in and eagerly listened to our accounts. I encouraged her to share a personal story from month 1 in Asia. This particular story brought tears to her eyes and sighs of empathy from the students listening, especially to the couple of students who were not Caucasian. It was at this point where our host added a nugget of wisdom that not only impacted her students, but us as well on the importance of what to do or how to react to all of the ignorance concerning discrimination all around the world. I don’t recall exactly what she said, but it was along the lines of being able to listen without trying to fix, to speak without trying to prove a point. Just to be….just to be there for your friend. One of the best ways to support someone, even if you are not the one directly being affected by some sort of discrimination is to be there for that person. It’s difficult to say “I know how you feel”…even if you try to “put yourself in their shoes” because you are not. But the fact that you are there and not pretending like it didn’t happen makes a world of a difference!
The students even wanted us to stay an extra period during their study hall to hear more about our travels and experience. However, we ended up asking them what their experience was like as well being a third cultured kid. Maaan did they have story after story of assumptions that Ukrainians would make of them and their family for speaking another language, being from another country or having a different skin color. We all have a story to tell and again like I mentioned in a previous blog also about racism, if we don’t speak about it doesn’t get heard…And if it’s not heard then people will continue to make assumptions and hurt others, or be hurt themselves.
Here is a picture of 2 of the students in front of a project that they previously worked on. They were super excited to show us their work. Please look closely at their poster. They did a really good job of researching different issues in social media revolving around this topic and how to be culturally sensitive about it.
So I wanted to share this story…but I’m not sure what point I wanted to get across…it’s not necessarily about how to combat racism or any type of discrimination. It’s just another example of how to love on people like Jesus did. He was there for people. He was there for his friends and family during the hard times. During storms, arguments, pain, and suffering, Jesus was simply there. Of course there were plenty of times where he said some profound things, performed miracles, sought out justice for the oppressed an overall radical human being! The important things was that he was there! And HE is still here! By the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, HE is still here for us! One of the best ways to love on people when times are rough is to be there for them! A lot of people tend to shy away from conflict or run away from any type of pain or suffering. Jesus ran toward it…all the way to the cross. What a privilege it was to share that with this class, with the last 9 countries and to pretty much anyone that listens.
Share the love,
Bliz
