Yesterday, I received copies of some beautiful Pen Pal letters that the students at Bishop Maginn High School have been sending to their Pen Pals from around the country.

I cherish hearing the stories from the refugee children at Bishop Maginn, they are so uplifting and hopeful, so full of joy and appreciation.

I wanted to share some of them with you.

If you wish to be a Pen Pal to the students at Bishop Maginn High School, please send a letter to Bishop Maginn Pen Pals, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202, or e-mail  Sue Silverstein, [email protected].

“Hi, John. My name is Ploe, I’m in 10 grade. I want to tell you a little about me when I was a kid. Before I came to America, I lived in Thailand. My family was poor and we don’t have a lot of free stuff to do. We just have to work and we have to take care of ourselves.

We have a hard time when I live in Thailand. It was one day I saw other people go to church. I asked my family if I could go to church and learn about God.  God told us what we should do and told us how everyone can change their life and be a good person. When I start going to church I learn more about God every day.

One time I saw other people go to America and I pray and ask God to help my family, maybe we can go to America to live new life there, maybe go to America it can change Chang’s life and I pray and ask God to help every day throughout, and now I pray for God’s help….I want to say one more thing: be strong and don’t be sad one day something will come and help you and help us too. Be strong always and help other people. Love all of you guys..Don’t think that only you have a bad day,  everyone has a bad life and everyone has stuff happen to you. A lot of bad things happen to me. One day you can be better than other people and me and you can be famous and help other people too.

From Pan Young:

Hello, how are you, Madeline? How’s your day going? First off I want to introduce myself and tell you a little about myself if that’s okay. My name s Pan Young, I am a senior at Bishop Maginn High School. I am 17th years old. I came to America six years ago. I came here as a refugee from Malaysia but was born in Myanmar (Burma). I came here with my bigger sister and my mother. My sister and I are 5 years apart, she is 22 years old. Yup, I am the younger one. Do you have any siblings? How old are they? What is your favorite color? Mine is pink, and let me tell you a fun fact, my whole name means the color pink in my language. I know right it’s weird, you might be thinking “who names their child based on a color?” So today let me tell you how I got my name. When I was younger, my mother said that I cried a lot, okay, I lied, I cried almost every and every time my mother was thinking of giving me name the color pink by looking at my face and saw how my puffy cheeks were pinkish from crying all day. So that’s how I got my name. Now, how did you get your name? Who named you? I really like your name, Madeline, it’s a beautiful name and it sounds classy. Alright, I hope you like my little story about my name and a little about myself.

From Jasani:

Dear Cladia. Hi, my name is Jasani. I am seventeen years old, I live with my mom and three little brothers. I am a senior at Bishop Maginn High School. My favorite subject is  science because I would like to be a marine biologist when I graduate. A marine biologist is someone who wants to study the oceans and the animals that live in it and much more. What is your favorite subject? In my spare time, I enjoy spending time listening to music.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’ve got a pet Chihuahua. His name is Snowball. he loves to chew up my shoes sadly, lol! Did you have any pets growing up? Things have been very different this year due to Covid-19 so I try to make the best of my time at home by drawing or writing to family members or virtually seeing them. What are some things you do to keep your mind off of Covid? I hope you make the best of your Covid free holidays even though it may be hard with not seeing the ones we love dearly.

You are not alone. I dislike Covid-19 and can’t wait for it to go away so we can all spend time with our families again.