When American born children face trauma, tragedy and suffering, they are quite appropriate offered trauma, grieving, counseling and pediatric or psychiatric care. As I know well,  and as our culture is learning, the effects of trauma can be devastating.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is the country’s leading expert on development trauma (PTSD) in adults and children.

It occurs as a continual process, he has written, not just in  isolated incidents. “No one can see it” means “it never happened” in our society, he has written. “No one beat me or raped me. What’s wrong with me?  Our brains and bodies hold trauma all of our lives.

The RISSE refugee children come from different cultures. Trauma is rarely treated or discussed, these children rarely speak of their experiences, and every one has experience the most extreme kinds of trauma – war, genocide, conflict, flight, the loss of one or both parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, life in refugee camps, and the staggering challenging of adapting to so different a life in America, now quite often in the face of hostility and conflict.

At the Powell House Quaker Retreat in Old Chatham, N.Y., the Quakers and their trained counselors have been dealing with childhood issues like trauma for many years. This is why I’ve arranged for them to spend a weekend there in May, and asked for help in raising the $2,100 in fees.

I’m not asking for more money here today, I’ve already asked for help, and people can offer it or not, it is out of my hands.

I’m writing this because Maria and I and Red (the kids always want Red, he is their mascot and good luck charm) are going to the Powell House today to meet Ali and the ten children who are going to the May retreat (we did not have the funds for more at this time). ChrisDeRoller, one of the two counselors who will be running the youth retreat, will meet us there. Mike Clark can’t be there today.

I thought it would be a good idea for the kids to see the Powell House and meet some of the people there, this kind of experience is a first for them. And the Powell House is a focused place – no laptops, cell phones or video games for two days.

The kids serve themselves food, wash their own dishes, make their own beds, clean up their rooms, take care of the grounds. It will be different for them. I wanted them to be prepared for it.

I am hopeful about this trip, it could be the most meaning thing possible for them, it could be a life changer. We’ll have to see. I could be the first time many of them get to share and speak of the great disruption of their lives, the loss of their homes and many family members, their lives in poor and sometimes violent refugee camps.

Ali will be with them the whole weekend, I hope to drop in if invited for some of the sessions. There is a personal connection here. I converted to Quakerism when I was a teenager and my daughter and I attended several Powell  House retreats. She joined the youth program there.

I’m bringing the camera, I’ll report back later. For me, an exciting and perhaps emotional trip, I hope it helps these lovely young people understand who they are and how trauma can shape their lives.