Perspective

I re-read my last post. Too whiny.

This weekend I got a very big dose of perspective. I had to go visit one of the Bhutanese refugee families to deliver some food and money so the boys would have the right clothes for school. While there, I met with two other families who also recently arrived from Bhutan. There are four families in 3 apartments in the same building. All of them seem to be related in some way, though I can never keep the connections straight....it doesn't help that half the Bhutanese families have the same last name!

All of these families have spent the past 18 years living in a refugee camp in southern Nepal where their food was UN rations and they lived in houses made of plywood and plastic sheeting and newspaper. Now, they live in apartments in San Jose that cost all of their resettlement money each month, so they have no cash left for anything, including bus passes to get to their English and Computer classes, so they pool together to buy one or two and take turns going to class. Those who speak English are applying for every job they can, with little luck because the American economy has tanked since they arrived. The women with young children, who speak no English at all, are isolated and very confused about where they've been sent.

On Sunday, some of the refugees from the house my church sponsors joined us for worship. They have been coming regularly, which has helped the congregation to connect with them at a very personal level, which I hope has been helpful for them as well. During prayer time, for the first time, one of the men stood up and asked for prayer that he learn English quickly so he can find a good job to take care of his wife and children. This man and his family had to flee Burma because, as Christians, they were not allowed to go to school or get jobs and their homes were taken.

Perspective. I have such high hopes for the refugees. They are the ones who have worked the hardest and have risked everything to allow themselves to be sent to an unknown place to try to make a life for themselves and their families. But right now, everything seems to be conspiring against them. The economy is terrible so jobs are few and far between, the housing crisis has resulted in landlords who can ask just about anything for rents and expect to get it, and the local and federal programs that are supposed to help them are continually cut, so there is no safety net.

When I met with the families on Saturday they did what they had to; they told me their problems and asked me for help. As I always try to do, I gave them what I could and now I'm working to find more help for them, but I can't give them the peace of mind they need. That they have to find, somehow, on their own.

What I've learned from the refugees, and try to remember when I'm not being overwhelmed and whiny about my own issues, is that we just have to keep trying. Even when things are impossible, we have to get up every day, pray to our God for strength, and take a step forward because we have nothing in the past to hold on to, only our dreams and goals for a better day tomorrow. And when the opportunity arises, we tell someone our troubles and ask them for help.

Perspective.