Last Wednesday was another fun and eventful day with Friends of Refugees in Clarkston…but here is my main highlight.
When I got there I was asked to do one-on-one tutoring with a Karen (Burmese ethnic group) woman who is 8 months pregnant! She has missed a lot of class and so she is really far behind. Her name is Lily and she is just so sweet!
Lily has been in the US for several months, but she hardly speaks a word in English. The goal for her before graduating the program is for her to know basic name exchange greetings, her phone number, address, and alphabet/ numbers.
She made a lot of progress over the hour and a half we worked together. She was often confused about things since I couldn’t explain anything in her mother tongue, but she was such a good sport.
Even though we spent a short time together, I felt like we shared a bond. It was a beautiful thing. After our class time was over, we separated for a few minutes, but then I found her sitting by herself eating an orange in the hallway. I smiled at her and walked towards another room to help with the kids. As I walked by, she held out half of her orange to me. (I was actually extremely hungry and my stomach had been growling for the past hour- I’m sure she heard…) I didn’t want to take her food, but to be polite I took one slice and tried to hand the rest back. She refused, motioning for me to eat the whole half. Relieved and grateful (because I was seriously hungry…), I sat down next to her on the bench and enjoyed the orange with her. It may seem insignificant to some, but it was a beautiful moment. I felt so blessed by her gesture and even though we could hardly communicate it just seemed like a wonderful moment of human connection and appreciation of one another.
