For me, and almost everyone present, an extraordinary thing at the Mansion. The soccer team asked me and Ali if they could come to the Mansion and help serve lunch and exchange their stories with the Mansion residents. And that is what happened, these two very powerful elements came together in the most beautiful way, something I did not ever foresee.

The team put on plastic gloves and hairnets as required by law at the Mansion for food servers, and they courteously and gently served food to the residents. There is a powerful connection between these young people and the much older Mansion residents.

I saw it when they first visited weeks ago, I think it is the common experience they share of being uprooted and thrust into a strange land; of leaving almost everything they love behind, of having lost loved ones – parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, of learning a new language and a new way to live.

Ali (Amjad Abdullah) has infused them with a spirit of love and generosity and community, they were very happy to be there, they were shy but never grudging. Several told me the Mansion residents reminded them of their grandmas and grandpas.

After lunch, three of the refugee kids – Sakler Moo, Saw John and Bae Eh Thaw –  so painfully shy I had rarely heard them speak the entire year I’ve known them – agreed to stand up and share their stories; how they came to America and what their problems are. After they spoke, three Mansion residents – Sylvie, Bob and Peggie – stood up to tell the story of how they came to be in the Mansion, what their problems are as they age.

The Mansion residents, many struggling with memory loss, eye trouble and loss of hearing, were mesmerized by the stories, they had many questions and seemed to hang on every world. The connection between these two groups was something you could almost see and touch.

It struck me again and again that even though the refugees and residents are living at opposite ends of life, they are, in so many ways the same. And it is true, I see, human beings can always connect to one another if their hearts and minds are open. These children have known great pain and dislocation, they have left so much behind, and the same is true of the Mansion residents.

Ali is a father, mother, brother and friend to these children, and I have seen them grow dramatically during the time I have known them. Before the lunch, I met with them and Ali asked me to encourage them to speak, to tell their stories. I told them I understood they are shy, but that it was important for them to find their voices in America, here we often need to speak up to be heard, as women and older people and gay people and African-American people and others have learned.

To be voices here is to often mean being left behind. I never give lectures or speeches to these kids, but I thought this was important, and they responded to it, and I admire their courage and determination, it was not simple for them to stand up in a crowded room. It was a beautiful thing to see, and it touched me deeply.

Tonight, Maria and I are going to run the Bingo game at the Mansion, I got some neat prizes today at the Over The Moon bead shop in town. I will put up more photographs of this lunch and sharing, and also publish an album on Facebook.

It was one of the most extraordinary days of my life, it said so much about the promise and compassion of the human spirit, very much alive despite the reports on what we call the news. Today was our news, it was a big story.