Being a Friend

One of the great things about iACT is that it employs refugee women who have small children to work in the Refugee School childcare. (There are three women who work in the childcare. Two are permanent employees and one rotating position, which means that the latter only works in the position for six months and then another person is employed.) The work in childcare is a great opportunity for refugee women to gain some employment experience as they try to establish themselves in the U.S. The women come from various ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. With past and current employees coming from: Burma, Burundi, Cuba, Iraqi, and DR Congo.

The current women are from Mexico (non-refugee), Congo, and Iraq. And I have had the pleasure of spending more time with these women the past few weeks. I have grown to know these women since I started working at iACT eight months ago, but the past few weeks have afforded me the time to spend a significant amount of time with them every day. I have often marveled and fallen in love with the idea that these women, each from a different background work together to take care of our students’ children who may or may not come from the same country as them. The women must speak English to work in this position, but they also use their native languages on a daily basis to communicate with the children and their parents. It’s often amazing how they are still able to communicate with parents who speak a different native language AND do not speak English. But they get the job done every single time.

These past weeks I have gotten to know these ladies more and I feel like we are becoming closer friends and confidantes. I can’t wait to see them and listen to their stories. I love the (frank) questions they ask me about myself, my family, and American culture (Btw: They are not a fan of how we Americans always have the AC on in every building.)  I love to hear our similarities and the appreciation of our differences. Sometimes I get “lost” in their conversations. I pay attention, but what I mean is, they sometimes talk about great things, about being mothers, and wives, about taking care of children, about their lives here and back in their home countries. I just like to sit there and listen to them talk, as I push toys across the floor and play with the children. These are the times when I realize that I will learn more when I am quiet and listen and learn. That sometimes I don’t need to be heard, but that a lot of the value of my presence comes from just listening to them. I am thankful that they have trusted me with their most precious information. My time with them has made it clearer to me that there are many refugees out there who need a friend, who need someone to just listen to them. I hope that I will have more opportunities like this, to not only listen but to be a friend for other refugees in the future.