Refugee Team

I wrote a summary of the ministry for Cornerstone Church’s annual report, and I’ve posted it below to help folks catch up:

Refugee Ministry

The Refugee Team consists of volunteers from Cornerstone Church and Fellowship Baptist Church in Easton who take care of the needs of a refugee family. Assistance has included teaching English, helping the adults find jobs, enrolling the children in school, connecting the family with government and nonprofit agency assistance, securing housing, ensuring bills are paid, arranging for health care, shopping for groceries and for clothes, driving family members to appointments, and much more.

Our Burmese family of six came into our lives at midnight April 27, 2011 at Lehigh Valley International Airport. After they spent a few days living with gracious hosts Tim and Helen VanSumeren, the family stayed with the exceptionally hospitable Brad, Becky and Juliana Young until they moved into their own apartment in July. They achieved major milestones this fall as the three youngest children enrolled in school, Yi Than (mom) got a part-time job at the Touch of Thai restaurant in downtown Easton, and Saw May Htun (oldest son) was hired at Don Juan Mex Grill.

Family members have enjoyed a number of other firsts, such as birthday parties, carnival and amusement park outings, swimming at pools, spending time at the beach, visiting a zoo, watching outdoor movies, and trick-or-treating.

Along the way, we’ve seen God do amazing things. A long, frustrating apartment search ended in God’s timing with a place just a minute’s walk from the church. Saw May Htun got a job just a minute’s walk from the apartment. Dedicated volunteers emerged to teach English as a Second Language (ESL), and several Refugee Team members in particular have tirelessly served the family. In October, the refugee budget was down to just $60 and though financial need was not communicated, a Fellowship Baptist couple came through with a $1,000 donation.

Please join us in prayer for the family and the Refugee Team as we share the love and truth of Jesus Christ while guiding the Burmese Bunch (as some of us affectionately call them) toward self-sufficiency. Consider joining the team — we’re in great need of ESL volunteers for Yi Than (no teaching experience necessary) and help with finding work for Ah Aing (dad), who is partially disabled. You can learn more by visiting http://refugeeteam.com.

Dave Block

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Work is going well for Saw May Htun at Don Juan Mex Grill, a new restaurant on College Hill.

Saw May Htun (oldest son) started working 30-40 hours a week Sept. 24, preparing food at the new restaurant on College Hill, Don Juan Mex Grill. He’s there 10-2 (later if needed) Mondays through Fridays, a full day Saturday, and a full day Sunday as well when it’s available. The owner, Juan Martinez, is friendly and the restaurant is literally a one-minute walk from the family’s apartment. The schedule allows Saw May Htun to take English as a Second Language classes at Project of Easton on weekday evenings. God is good!

Yi Than (mom) continues to work 20 hours a week at Touch of Thai in downtown Easton; we haven’t been able to get her another 20 hours. Jon Markley set the family up with a checking account, and Claire Fopeano brought them back to have Saw May Htun and younger brother Saw Mo Lin added to the account. I met a couple days ago with our finance person, Lyne Blodgett, and Pastor Tim VanSumeren to discuss the family’s finances, e.g. what bills they’re going to pay, how much spending money they’ll have each month, etc.

With three months left in the year, we are getting toward the end of our budgeted funds for the refugee family. Donations of winter clothes and cash for expenses are welcome. You can make a tax-deductible donation by writing a check to Cornerstone Church (411 March St., Easton, PA 18042) with “refugee ministry” in the memo field. Clothes can be brought to Cornerstone in labeled bags & placed under the coat rack in the foyer.

We’re down to a couple ESL classes a week taught by our volunteers. It will be a while until Ah Aing (dad) will start ESL classes at Project of Easton. There have been budget cutbacks at Project of Easton and so there’s no program available there for Yi Than.

Our needs include:

• ESL volunteers to teach the parents, especially Yi Than
• Winter sweaters and coats
• Computer and printer
• Job opportunities, including cleaning, yard work, etc.
• Cash donations
• Prayer

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Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of driving Yi Than to Taste of Thai in downtown Easton for her first day on the job. She’s going to be working 20 hours per week with the owner/manager/chef of the restaurant. The manager of Phenom, the other Thai restaurant in downtown Easton, also was interested  in talking with Yi Than about a job. It would be great if she could work some hours there before her job at Touch of Thai. If that doesn’t work out, I’m hoping we can get some house cleaning jobs lined up for her. In any case, any job is a great step forward for our Burmese friends!

I drove Saw May Htun to Chick-Fil-A for a group interview last Monday, and a few days later he got called about coming in for an individual interview on Sept. 13. A bus runs between College Hill and Northampton Crossings, so this would be convenient.

Aye Aye Thin, Nay Nay Noi, and Saw Mo Lin started school this week. They’re glad to be there. Saw Mo Lin would be working, but there haven’t been any open doors in the area for someone with no work experience and little knowledge of English. There were openings at Nazareth Pallet in Northampton, where other Burmese work, but a trip on various LANTA buses would take over 3 hours and not arrive until 9 a.m., two hours after the work day begins there.

Our ESL program for the family has scaled back a bit with the start of school, where the three kids are taking ESL classes. Saw May Htun, Ah Aing, and Yi Than are all getting connected with ESL instruction at Project of Easton, though they haven’t started any classes yet. My hope is that our volunteers will continue some ESL sessions with the family, especially on Sunday mornings.

We could really use a computer and printer for the family, and a CD player/stereo would be great, too. With the change in season, clothing donations would be welcome as well.

Please pray about the job situations and school for the kids. And thank God for Yi Than’s employment!

– Dave

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English classes from our wonderful volunteers continue for the refugee family four days a week, and the three children of school age are being registered for public school. Claire Fopeano, who’s been an incredible help in so many ways, took the kids to their school registration appointment. She also brought the parents and Saw May Htun to an intake meeting at Project of Easton, where they’ll be taking English as a Second Language classes and receive pre-job training including preparation for interviews and resumes as well as some skills training.  They have their students indicate their goals for coming to the center and help them to meet them.  Claire reports that Ah Aing (the dad) and Saw May Htun (21-year-old son) had very ambitious goals and are highly motivated.

Janine and I enjoyed taking the family to Ocean City, N.J., as part of an annual trip with Lafayette College international students July 10-12. They loved their first beach experience and visited the Cape May Zoo with us. Claire and our family took the Burmese bunch, as they’re affectionately known by some, to Movies in the Park in Phillipsburg to see Gnomeo and Juliet last Thursday. This past weekend we took them to the Cornerstone outing to see the Iron Pigs play and brought the kids to the Easton Farmers Market. I’ll try to post pictures from some events soon.

Please consider spending time with some or all of the family. Hosting just the boys, just the girls, all the kids, or the whole family works well because Saw May Htun (older son) and Nay Nay Noi (older daughter) have pretty good English skills. Swimming, cooking together, outdoor games (e.g. frisbee golf, bean bag toss, badminton), indoor games (e.g. charades, Pictionary), and movies are good activities. Janine and I took Aye Aye Thin to Dorney Park several weeks ago and it turned out great; her limited English was not  a problem. She also enjoyed attending vacation Bible school last week and will attend another this week.

The big challenge now is the job search. In this tough economy and with the disadvantages of the family members’ limited English and lack of experience, we need all the help we can get. Please visit the new Job Search webpage and consider helping.

Finally, our top needs for donations (see also the Items Needed webpage):

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This website has a new page, ESL Updates, which can be found in the right sidebar. One purpose is to give our English as a Second Language volunteers a place to communicate with each other, especially to indicate what’s been covered. Another is to allow others to see what’s happening in the ESL sessions with our refugee family.

Our program is flourishing under the leadership of Eileen Snover, an ESL teacher who’s adding Saturday mornings with the family to her load of teaching ESL full time Monday through Fridays! Here’s her initial message for the new ESL webpage:

May 29, 2011

The Sowers
Isa. 55:9-11

Have you ever made a drastic move or change in your life? Can you remember all your thoughts, feelings, concerns, and issues that faced you during this time? Most of us have had this experience at one time or another in our lives, but not many of us have faced leaving everything and everyone familiar behind, knowing we would never return. And if we have been called to make that kind of move, we have usually had time to prepare ourselves to leave our former homes, and to know to some degree, what we were headed for. Not so with our refugees. One of their many challenges is to learn English so that they may eventually become self-sufficient and productive. It is with this goal in mind that a small team of dedicated people is giving of their time and efforts to reach out with the love of Christ to help this family learn English.
Currently, we have a growing team of dedicated volunteers who have graciously stepped forward to give of their time and the love of Christ to interact with the family and help them learn English. Our team members include Eileen Snover, Claire Fopeano, Karen Lehman, Hart Hower, Jill Richter, and Helen VanSumeren. We are still looking for additional people willing to serve in this way, so if you feel led, please contact Eileen at 610-837-5074. We are not looking for experienced teachers, just willing hearts with some time and love to give. “Be flexible and teachable. You will learn much and receive untold blessings from God. By being more than a teacher and becoming a real friend, you will build the bridge of trust so that Christ can cross into their hearts.” Nancy Zumwalt, ‘Starting an ESL Program in Your Local Church’

We are very excited to announce that we will be conducting an additional class for the family during the second Sunday service beginning June 5! Please pray for the family, our team and our community of believers as we continue to reach out with the love of Jesus, practical English lessons, and of course, Bible lessons.

The current class schedule:
Tuesday, 6pm Claire Fopeano (5/31) rotating with Jill Richter (6/7)
Thursday, 10am, Karen Lehman
Saturday, 9am, Eileen Snover
Sunday, 10:45 at CEFC, Helen Van Sumeren

Lessons the week of 5/23-5/28 included:
Verbs: feel, smell, rub, cut, cover, hold (Tuesday), Bend (down), run, follow, give, give (back) (Saturday)
Vocabulary: orange (fruit), bush, altar, face, seed, sad, happy, hole, that is (Tues), Star, pitcher, fish, towel, gift, coins, his, her, your (Sat) – I also taught names and values of coins: penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half-dollar. Since the lessons already included the concept of ‘coins’, I felt this was a natural place to introduce this necessary concept.

Lessons coming up the week of 5/30-6/5 will include:
Verbs: have/has, get, pour, fill (up), wrap, dry (Tues), Review of all verbs taught so far (Thurs), Put away, lay, tie up, says (Sat), Changes, reach out (Sun)
Vocabulary: pitcher, a glass, oil, water, wine, cloth, some, several (Tues), Review of all vocabulary taught so far (Thurs), son, mountain, God, him (Sat), Burning, closer, snake, any, into (Sun)

Feel free to contact one of us for more information or if you have any questions.

– Eileen Snover

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The apartment fell through. We turned in a letter from Cornerstone Church guaranteeing the rent for 12 months and submitted the application, and all seemed fine except for the fact that the agent was taking a long time getting back to Jon Markley, our volunteer. Then Tuesday afternoon he got word that the landlord doesn’t want to rent to the family. It was stunning and disappointing.

So we’re again looking for a one-floor apartment with 3 bedrooms under $1,000 in the Easton school district. Jon is a real estate appraiser and has access to online listings, but please contact me if you know of a place fitting this description.

– Dave

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Our refugee family has been out and about a good deal during their stay with the Youngs, who are giving them a great introduction to life in America. Yesterday they took the guys and Aye Aye Thin to an event at Nazareth Middle School, where Juliana Young participated in a fashion show. Other recent outings have included applying for Social Security cards, shopping, and watching a Cornerstone softball game. On Wednesday, Janine and I took all but Nay Nay Noi (who wasn’t feeling well) to our plot at the Lafayette College community garden, where we all weeded and removed stones. We’ve offered half of our plot to the family. Afterward we introduced them to that wonderful summertime treat, Rita’s Italian ice.

The big news is that we’ve found an apartment. It was a bit of a challenge because with Ah Aing’s (the dad) bad leg, we were looking for a first-floor, one-floor apartment in Easton with three bedrooms. It’s at Butler Arms Apartments, 1330 Washington Street. Assuming all goes well with the application, we’ll be moving their things in Tuesday. We need helpers and two vehicles for transporting furniture. If you can help, please email me, dabnjab@gmail.com.

– Dave

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It was neat to see Saw May Htun, Saw Mo Lin, Nay Nay Noi, and Aye Aye Thin — the four children of our refugee family — come to our church’s blood drive/potluck/movie night Friday evening. Saw May Htun really wanted to give blood, but he’ll have to wait until he’s established residency here for three years. They did help us fill bags that were distributed to residences near Cornerstone Church later in the weekend as a thank you for being good neighbors. On Saturday, the entire family — including dad despite his bad leg — participated in a Cornerstone service project at Children’s Home of Easton. And Sunday, I was surprised and delighted that three of the children came to Cornerstone for a worship service.

Earlier in the week, a trip to apply for Social Security cards and another to an orientation session at Catholic Charities went well. We are still looking for jobs and an affordable first-floor, one-floor apartment.

I’ll close with a great report on the first ESL session with the family from Eileen Snover, who heads up the translation committee and gave me permission to share this:

Dave,

Just a quick note to let you know how our first session went. Claire and I
met with the family at the Youngs’ home in Phillipsburg. We were there for
about 2 1/2 hours. We were able to complete the first lesson. We quickly
realized that the children know quite a bit more English than the parents.
However, the children have been taught in what I’ll call ‘Asian methods’ -
rote memory or the ‘drill and kill’ method. What I mean by that is that
although they recognized all the numbers and letters, and can even
phonetically ‘read’ in English, they don’t comprehend the English words they
read. For example, even though the oldest boy and girl are able to ‘read’ in
English, their comprehension is not there. For example, he was able to read
the word ‘catalogue’, and she was able to read the word ‘sandal’, but in
both cases, neither understood those words. The mom will need the most work
as she apparently has not had the exposure or opportunity to learn English
to the extent that the others have.

We left the student workbooks and some materials with the family and
explained to the Youngs how they can help between now and Tuesday, which is
the next scheduled class with Claire. I will return on Saturday, and hope
that by the following week we will have other people to add into the
schedule.

Becky also had a whole bin of materials left from when she worked with
preschool aged children, and I told her that it would be helpful if the
family could have free access to those as well.

My plan is to use the lessons as they are written, but once the terms are
introduced, spend more time on the reading, writing and comprehension aspect
with the children (pushing them farther with the materials and information
covered in each lesson), and going a bit more slowly with the parents. It
actually worked out really great to have 2 of us there today as once we
covered the main points of the lesson, I took the kids to the dining room
where we worked on reading and covered a bit of sentence construction with
word cards of the vocabulary covered, while Claire worked more intensively
with the mom and dad on reviewing the vocabulary, alphabet, numbers, and
writing of the first 3 alphabet letters.

Once the family gets used to what to do, I fully expect to be able to teach
the new content with the whole group, and then split the parents and
children into smaller groups and take turns doing the more intensive work as
appropriate (reading, writing, recognizing and comprehending text with the
children; basics with the parents).

Overall, it went very well. There were lots of smiles and laughter from
everyone involved. The children, of course, laughed loudest when one of the
parents made a mistake, but it was all good natured because they would laugh
at themselves as well.

Thank you again for the opportunity! It was very tiring, but very exciting
as well.

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