7:29 a.m. - 2008-02-20
Worried and searching
I actually feel human again - not quite so tired, not ready to keel over in a heap of fatigue. YAY! I think it might be that little exposure to spring the other day.
Work is about to get really crazy again - we're revamping the website, and now the technical stuff is nearly completed, and then it is up to me to write, write, write.
I am also worried about the student we have who was a lost boy from Sudan. I think the enormity of what he has started is beginning to hit him. By having his mother and three sisters join him here in the U.S., he will now be responsible for them. His mother has no work skills, no English, and his sisters are all very young. He will have to support them, fend for them, take care of them, and that must just be so overwhelming to him.
No one has taught him to be an adult, though he is very responsible. He has had no one to take care of him for more than two thirds of his life, so I cannot imagine how frightening that must be for him to now have to take care of three other people and not be quite sure how to do that.
He has managed to find a safe place for himself, where people care about and for him, and in some ways, he must still be just 9 years old. But he will have to give that up when his family comes. He will likely not be able to afford to stay in this town, and if he did, there are few resources, cultural or professional for him and his family.
I am hopeful that we will be able to find some people who have experience in relocating refugee families to the U.S., particularly people who are relocating from Africa. I start making calls today, because I think he will need help for himself as well as for his family. I am hopeful that he can stay here in this town, or at least close by.
I know that he wants to do this, but I also know that he is frightened that he cannot do this.
Did you know that all of the Sudanese lost boys have the same birth date? The relocation agencies gave them all the same birthday - January 1, since there were no families nor documentation to say when these boys were actually born.
Spouse and Andy are snug in their beds, so I'm heading out to work early. I wish we had school vacations too.
And for now, that's all I got.
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