I did not care for school, or found them warm or inclusive. When I walk into the Bishop Maginn High School, I am struck by the love and connection I feel all around me. Today, I came to the school to see the new music room the students put together this weekend.

And I wanted to take a video of two of the first students at the school to join the choir, which starts practice in September. The new music room (I’ll put up a photo in a couple of minutes, is beautiful, clean and white and ready for music.

The two girls I videotaped are twins, they are from Myanmar, they both spent 10 years in a refugee camp in Thailand, and it was awful, they could hardly move. I know the girls I meet from these camps always keep their heads down, they were taught to look into the eyes of men could be dangerous.

Sue Silverstein, their teacher, says the girls are amazing students, “they paint, draw, write, sing.” She calls them “Wonder Women.”

These two have identical first names but different last names. They are each called Christer. In their Karen culture, it is common for  young women to wear their hair up.

They talked about their friends back home – they miss them – and their hard-working parents, both of whom cleans hotel rooms in the Albany area. They said they are grateful to their parents, who got to America to “give us better lives.”

They song a home in the native Karen language. They both love music and wanted me to thank the Army Of Good for helping establish a choir again at Bishop Maginn.

Come and listen, these sweet and loving children will lift your heart up with song and feeling. We are helping to support the new choir. If you wish to contribute, you can send a tax-deductible donation to Choir, Bishop Maginn High School, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202, a donation to the school is tax-deductible.

You can also send a donation to me via Paypal, jon@bedlamfarm, or Jon Katz, Choir, P.O.Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. We need to get them some T-shirts, and possibly, a new keyboard.