Family and tutoring volunteers commit to six months of weekly meetings with
their refugee family. And while most
volunteers work at least that long with their refugee partners, sooner or later
life circumstances intervene. The volunteer (or, sometimes, the family) moves
on. Good-byes, however, are part of
life, no matter where you live. And in
this situation, they’re always positive and poignant.
Below are two notes from
Jenna Ramaker, a volunteer who helped three Congolese boys with their homework
and their English for a year and a half. The
first was written in May of 2012:
Things are going
really well with the boys. They are
making good progress, and the family has continued to be really rewarding to
work with.
Just within the last
month of so, Brian has progressed a lot in being able to start reading on his
own. Prior to this, we’ve spent a lot of
time stuck on the basics of the alphabet and vowel sounds, and just recently it
seems to be all coming together for him…I’d
love it if he is able to read by next fall when he starts junior
high. B and A are also doing well. B is getting much more proficient with his
letters and numbers, and although he definitely still needs a lot of guidance,
we are starting to work on addition and subtraction.
The family has been
great, and are always great to interact with.
I’ve gotten to know some of the cousins and neighbors over the past
couple of months, so it’s been a really good environment to work in.
Working with the K
family has continued to be an amazingly rewarding experience.
The final update…December 2012:
Just to update you,
Dec. will be my last month volunteering with the K’s. It has been an amazing experience, and I'm sad that I won't
be able to continue; I'm graduating school in a couple of months, and the new
year has uncertainty as I look to be repositioned and anticipate having less
flexibility as I settle into a new job and possibly new city.
The boys have made so much progress since I started working with them, it has been fulfilling to be a part of it. When I first met B, he didn't know the alphabet and in the past year and a half of working with him, he has learned to read. He also went from not being able to count, to learning addition, subtraction, and recently, multiplication. C has mastered the alphabet and its sounds, counting, simple addition, and orally is much more advanced in English than when I started working with him. As you can tell, I'm very proud of their accomplishments, and have found it really rewarding to work with the K family and the Catholic Charities refugee resettlement center.
The boys have made so much progress since I started working with them, it has been fulfilling to be a part of it. When I first met B, he didn't know the alphabet and in the past year and a half of working with him, he has learned to read. He also went from not being able to count, to learning addition, subtraction, and recently, multiplication. C has mastered the alphabet and its sounds, counting, simple addition, and orally is much more advanced in English than when I started working with him. As you can tell, I'm very proud of their accomplishments, and have found it really rewarding to work with the K family and the Catholic Charities refugee resettlement center.
The other rewarding
moment was each week when I’d arrive at the K’s house, hearing their two
year-old sister start calling out my name, even before she spoke many other
English words.
I look forward to volunteering again in the
future if circumstances permit!
This is one volunteer, but she speaks for all of you who
have every right to be proud. Thank you,
Jenna.
On a side note, if you’re working with someone who’s having
difficulty mastering our alphabet sounds, here’s a link to a youtube video that
might help. It was created by Heidi
Moses, another dedicated volunteer who not only mentors an Iraqi refugee but
also facilitated the first stages of our ESL class. Thank you, Heidi.
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