Above Photo: Ploe in Art Class, lunchtime, in the center with new friends. Photo by me.

Ploe is 15 years old, he spent nine years of his life in a United Nations refugee camp in Thailand, his family was driven from their homes in the Myanmar massacres.

He has been at Bishop Maginn High School for two days, just entering the seventh grade and when I came into his classroom today, Sue Silverstein, the art and theology teacher, pointed him out to me.

He was sitting in the middle of a table full of new friends, all of whom had welcomed him to his new school and made him feel at home. I keep repeating myself, but Bishop Maginn is a very special, a beacon of hope and love in a time of chaos and anger.

I am writing about him because his family needs some help in raising the annual $4,000 tuition, the lowest of any private school in the Albany area (average private school enrollments there can range from $35,000 to $40,000.

I’m hoping the Army Of Good will help Ploe stay int he school by contributing to his tuition. These donations are tax-deductible, you can contribute by sending a check to Mike Tolan, Principal, Bishop Maginn High School, Albany, N.Y., 12202.

Ploe’s parents brought him to Bishop Maggin because he was struggling to deal with continuing and frightening bullying and harassment. He was afraid to talk to the teachers about it because he knew what happened to the kids who are believed to be “snitches.”

He was admitted instantly. But we need to help with his tuition if we can.

Many refugee children talk about being bullied and harassed in other schools. Ploe was a target for three reasons: he is small, he has not yet mastered English, and he is a refugee.

And because he didn’t have words yet to fight back at all of the taunts.

He also doesn’t want to hurt anyone else by fighting.  The Karen culture is gentle. In this culture of anger and resentment, the refugee students report numerous instances of hate speech, harassment and intimidation.

None of them has ever spoken of vengeance or retribution.

Refugee families are reluctant to complain to government agencies or school administrators, they all feel they are vulnerable,  under special scrutiny in today’s America.

A shy and soft-spoken young man, Ploe was reluctant to talk about the bullying, he said it was almost impossible to fight back if you don’t know the language and aren’t a good fighter.

It was out of the question to tell the teachers about it. He just had to get to Bishop Maginn, he said, he and his sister both have friends who go to the school and they told him nobody would harass or bully him or make fun of him there.

He said he doesn’t want to fight, he wants to learn. A teacher told me Ploe wasn’t willing to do the things he was expected to do to survive in his former school.

“I’m so happy here, it feels like home to me,” he told me as we talked in the Music Room of Bishop Maginn (where I’ll be tomorrow afternoon watching the new choir rehearse.)

He loves Bishop Maginn, Ploe said. He is safe, he feels welcome, he had a table full of new friends, all of whom jumped up to surround him and hug him when I took this photo. His favorite subjects are math and history. His teachers are already meeting with him one-on-one to help with his English language skills.

He told me he wants to be a mechanic, he hopes to go to a trade school to learn automotive repairs. His teachers think college is his destiny.

I was deeply moved by the affection and support the other students showed Ploe, he was so happy to have friends he could trust, quite an accomplishment in two days. Ploe said he spent the summer traveling the country with a  refugee aid group helping refugee families clean up and restore their apartments and houses.

It was clear to me that he felt more comfortable in a refugee camp then he did in a local high school. It was so hard for him to even speak of it.

Ploe is really what the school is about: offering safety, learning, friendship, and refuge.  That is their “mission.” The children tell me again and again that they feel safe there, that they are learning, that they have friends, that they have never been bullied or harassed.

To me, that’s what a great school is about.

It seems our public schools are too big and poorly funded to help children like Ploe learn and acclimate. One refugee student has his hair set on fire last year, a girl at Bishop Maginn was beaten so badly she was hospitalized.

It is always difficult to be different in many schools, but these refugee children are very different, and they pay for it.

Please help Ploe stay at Bishop Maginn, we are trying to get some help with his tuition. If you wish, send your contribution to Mike Tolan, Principal, Bishop Maginn High School, Albany, N.Y., 12202. These contributions are tax-deductible.