It was a stirring sight for me, about 20 women in robes, scarves, headbanks and burkas sitting in a classroom at RISSE, the refugee organization in Albany watching the image projected onto a screen by one of two new projectors purchased by the Army Of Good.
A shy, smiling women came tentatively up to the front of the class. The lights were dimmed, the new projector was turned on, she softly sang a home about her homeland while images of her country flashed on the new screen behind her.
I was proud to be there, we got two projectors for RISSE, both are in use every day.
Everyday, the new refugees to America learn citizenship, culture, literacy, language and finance.
The projectors make teaching much easier and accessible, thanks. I wanted you to see what you did. We’ve done so many things this year for the refugees and the Mansion residents, I sometimes lose track of them.
The aid and support available to them from the federal government is being brutally slashed, and RISSE’s needs are great, but here, in this room, is the spirit of the refugee, the spirit of the immigrant working hard to learn how to live in America.
Ma-Ree is from the Karen lands in Burma – there has been severe turmoil there in recent months and years – she sang a song about her country while the projector flashed images from Asia and the volunteer teacher taught the class about America. I have been invited back next week to take some portraits of the students there.
To me, this is what America is about. I went to Albany today to reconnect with the work of RISSE and and also the work of the Army Of Good. The refugee soccer team is getting it’s new uniforms this weekend, and I hope to be there as well.
The team needs help finding an indoor field to practice in, and we hope to resume the Saturday birthday and recreational excursions that keep the kids engaged and connected on weekends, when their parents are often working. That costs about $70 a Saturday.
RISSE is considering a girls soccer team in the Spring, the current team is open to women but many of the families and kids at RISSE don’t care to play sports alongside boys. There is one woman on the team, and she is getting too busy for sports.
I’ve been a way from RISSE for a month or two, the school was closed, Ali was in the Sudan, Francis Sengabo was on vacation, and so was I. But I am excited to be re-connecting with RISSE, they do amazing work with fewer resources. They need everything.
A little more than a year ago, the RISSE building was burned to the ground by arsonists who have never been caught. The classes are in the same building, re-built on the site.
I was glad to be back, I missed the kids on the soccer team, I am eager to see them again. I’m full of schemes to help them out.
RISSE is a non-profit refugee and immigrant support group founded by the Emmaneus Methodist Church. They do desperately needed work for refugees and immigrants coming to America.
It is sad to see the idea of immigration under attack in so many parts of America, to meet this people is to love and admire them, they are brave, ambitious and hard-working, they love the idea of America, and they know what it means to feel free and safe. Ma-Ree was shy but she is thinking about letting me do a video of her songs, they were quite beautiful.
If you wish to contribute to my work with the refugees, you can donate by sending a check to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or contribute via Paypal, [email protected]. Please write “for refugees” somewhere on the check, or in the Paypal message box.
This issue is so important to me and many others, it speaks to me to the heart of what America is all about. In the coming weeks, I’ll be meeting and talking with some of the refugees and immigrant and RISSE and presenting some of their urgent needs, the inexpensive ones. Thanks for coming alive. You can also contribute directly to RISSE if you wish.