The last weekend of October, we went to an apartment complex which is known to have many refugees that live there. Many of these families fled their country and are not only very far away from home, but now indebted because of plane tickets, etc. They receive some money to help them live until they can find jobs, but most of their kids do not even finish high school as they have to quit to work to help support their families. Some students have been investing in the lives of many of these children for several months.
I wasn't really sure what to expect, but ready for whatever God had for us. The first night we went to different apartments, inviting them to come to the party. We played games with them, had food for the kids and then the kids watched a movie and ate popcorn. Kevin made friends with a man from Iran who stayed and talked with us for a long time after the kids all left. He made some hot tea and brought it out to us. He was asking us many questions about our culture, political structure, etc, most of which of his questions, we did not know the answer to. He then told us that one thing he has noticed about Americans is that they have many freedoms, but do not take advantage of them. We can freely vote. We can get an education. But we often do not even care. We were challenged to learn about our country so we can tell people like him who are just coming to live here.
The following day we gave the residents some donations of clothing and also played games with the kids. We distributed
The Jesus Film, dubbed into their own languages and many families were excited to actually get to see a movie in their own language.
The following day we took the kids to a Fall Festival at a church attended by many of the students. One of the little boys came up to one of the students and asked if he could come to that church every week.
We met kids from many different countries: Burundi, Iran, Rwanda, Thailand, Tanzania, Burma, etc, etc. As I was talking to them and hearing their stories, I was saddened to think that the beautiful children have only known war, poverty, political unrest, murder, and genocide for their whole lives. Living in America, we will never know the fear and pain that they have known in their short lives. I pray for those kids and believe that God will heal their hurts and I pray that some of them will come to know Him and will come to know his unconditional love that will remain with them even through the pain and fear and hurt.
(*Because of privacy, I will not post any photos of the childrens' faces.)
