While visiting a newer refugee family yesterday (to encourage the children to keep going to school even though the boys had been bullied and were frightened to go back), the family was visited by another lady. We will name her Martha. She was visiting the family to introduce herself as she would be several of the children’s ESL teacher. Martha brought baby dolls and sweet treats for the children to enjoy.

I learned that Martha was the lady that chased down the boys in this family after they ran out of the school afraid. She worked with the police officers to get the boys back into the school safely and helped to figure out that one of the boys had been threatened by another student his first few days of school. This kind of incident is very scary for an already terrified refugee. Martha was very protective of her ESL students and wanted to let the family know she was available to help them better acclimate into their new school.

Martha shared with me her concerns regarding younger students walking to and from school alone. She was particularly concerned in the afternoons as they were required to only let a child go home if they were released into an adults hands. Many times the younger children had to go home by following an older student.

Martha was also concerned about the children on rainy days. She said by the time the children arrived to school they were often dripping wet. The teachers try their best to dry all the students off which often takes away their learning time. She said they all need umbrellas. And I thought to myself, they all need ponchos.

So, Asha’s Refuge will be collecting umbrellas and ponchos. Will you help?! If so, your donations can be dropped off with any of our volunteer staff or contact me at jamie@ashasrefuge.org. Thank you in advance for your support in this way! If I were to guess, we need 200 or more. Umbrellas would also be helpful for other adult refugees who have to walk to and from the laundry mat, grocery store or wait at the bus stop. The umbrella should be smaller for a child’s use and can be purchased at places like Target or Walmart.