Youth Counselor Mike Clark of the Powell House – he has been a counselor there for 18 years – wasted no time in making the RISSE refugee children (many on the soccer team) comfortable at the youth center where they will go on retreat at the end of May.

We brought them there to day to meet Mike and see where they will be eating, sleeping and playing for two days at the end of May. None of them have ever done anything like this before, and I know in my heart that this will do them much good. Ali felt it also, and so did Maria.

Mike showed them around and then suggested a few games as a way of breaking the ice. It sure did. In this game, one of the kids is the leader, making hand and other gestures that the other kids follow. A volunteer – in this case, Ali leaves the room while the kids get started and has three chances to guess who the leader is – the leader has to make his gestures out of sight of the volunteer.

The sound of the kid’s laughter and engagement was powerful to me, I had not ever really heard it before to that degree. These children have suffered greatly, and are habitually shy and wary. All of that was stripped away in minutes today, I can just imagine what a weekend will do.

Come and see. I’m putting up more photos and an album on Facebook.