Tutoring improves life for Somali refugees

www.thelutheran.org
Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Thanks to a cooperative effort between Pacific Lutheran University and St. Mark by The Narrows Lutheran Church, both in Tacoma, Wash., Somali Bantu refugee children are gaining literacy, math and language skills.

Mike Engh, a junior at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., tutors a Somali Bantu refugee child (name withheld) in an effort organized by junior Kerri Greenaway

Nineteen PLU students and a staff member spent their Wednesday evenings tutoring the children,who have had a “difficult and violent past,” said junior Kerri Greenaway, program coordinator.

St. Mark’s involvement with the refugees began when it sponsored a Bantu family and realized the children needed educational help. The church received a grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries, Itasca, Ill., to start a tutoring program.

Former Somali slaves, the Bantu remained a persecuted minority even after emancipation. When civil war erupted in 1991, the Bantu fled on foot to refugee camps in Kenya, where they languished for 10 years or longer. After the U.S. granted them refugee status, nearly 12,000 Bantu began arriving in the Tacoma area in early 2003.

Most of the children have had little or no education. When they enter the

public school system, they are placed near the same grade level of children their age even though they lack many basic skills, Greenaway said. The students are eager to learn, and that makes tutoring time much more enjoyable, she said.

Sometimes the volunteers take on a mentoring role. During a recent tutoring session, Greenaway’s student talked about what she’d like to be when she grows up—a postal worker.

“All of these kids just really want to learn,” she said. “Their spirit is amazing and inspiring for people from PLU who think their lives are tough, but in comparison they’re really not.”

Source: The Lutheran, Aug 07, 2007