Today, another chapter in my life, and hopefully that of a remarkable young woman named Eh K’Pru Shee Wah, a 13 year old refugee child who we hope will receive a full scholarship to the Albany Academy, one of the region’s most prestigious and sought after private schools.
I have a meeting with school officials this morning at the Academy to make this happen.
Eh K’Pru is finishing up her applications and we will try and sort out jut how to get her admitted and her tuition paid for . This has been my new refugee project since our excellent soccer team found itself a new sponsor with some deep pockets.
Eh K’Pru is one of the most impressive young people I have met in some time. She spent 10 years of her life in a refugee camp – her family fled the persecutions in Myanmar – and is now an honor student at the Hackett Middle School, a public school in Albany.
She is poised, gracious, hard-working and exceptionally bright.
This is another chapter in my three year effort to work with the people we call the Army Of Good to help refugee children and their families in their very hard journey to get to and live in America. I think this is a good way to continue this work.
I have been searching for someone like Eh K’Pru for some months in the Albany, N.Y., area, where many refugees have come. The non-profit refugee groups were not interested in helping with this project – getting one or two refugee students into private schools each year – so I turned to the Albany public school teachers.
They were instantly and enthusiastically supportive.
It’s uplifting to meet teachers who care so much. After a lot of phone calls, trips to Albany, e-mails and frustration, a teacher named Kathy Saso invited me to come and meet with Eh K’Pru. Kathy was right, she is a perfect candidate for this program.
Kathy is eager to join up with me and help some of her refugee students in need. Some of them are coming to visit the farm once the weather clears. We are helping others with clothes and reading materials.
It is liberating to work with the teachers, they just want to help their kids, no paperwork or bureaucracy or politics.
Christopher Lauricella, the head of the Albany Academies, met with me last month, he is very serious about making his school more diverse. I’m also partnering up with an Albany Academy Senior named Alex Boggess, he is working to raise money within the school community to bring more refugee students to the academy and also to make up any difference between what the school can offer and what a student like Eh K’ Pru might need.
Between Alex and the blog, and the support the school can offer, I feel confident we’ll be able to do this, this year and next and hopefully, for some years after that. I can’t think of anything we can do that will change a life more positively than to help someone like Eh K’ Pru get the education she needs to meet her promise in America. A not-so-small act of great kindness.
I’ve approached two other private schools in the area, they are interesting in pursuing this program also. I am finding this is not quick or simple work, it takes time and a lot of perseverance and the good will of people like Kathy and Alex.
Refugee families don’t by definition have much money, so I’m going to press the school officials to make the commitments necessary to make this happen, if they are sincere about diversity. Mr. Lauricella seems very sincere to me. I’m excited about the meeting, I’ll report back.
As always, I will be open and transparent about this. I never ask anyone to send money unless they know where it is going and for what and to whom. I will honor that pledge here.