Maria and I visit Bishop Gibbons as often as possible; the winter storms and my foot surgery slowed us down, but we are getting back into a weekly groove, getting to know the kids better, and figuring out how to help them.
We’ve been working with Hser Nay, a refugee from Myanmar. Just a decade ago, she and her family had been driven from their home in Myanmar and lived in a U.N. refugee camp.
We have been helping Hser Nay with her tuition to Bishop Maginn and Bishop Gibbons, and she is now a junior, thriving and preparing to decide which college to apply two.
She is a gentle and always cheerful person and a strong student. She has a great love for sewing and fabric making, and it was perhaps inevitable that she and Maria would form a bond and a friendship. They love to see one another and catch up.
Maria taught her how to sew at Bishop Maginn, and now, they are working on a dress Hser Nay is making from fabric sent by the Army Of Good.
They spent more than an hour together yesterday figuring out how to cut the fabric and sew the seams.
Maria wrote about the work she and Hser Nay were doing together on her blog yesterday.
Hser Nay is shy and soft-spoken; she is also resourceful and gifted. She’s using some fabrics people sent to the school to make a dress. It’s more complicated than she thought, so she and Maria are working together and have become good friends.
She’s been through Hell and beyond; she is uncomplaining and full of hope.
Hser Nay trusts Maria, and Maria loves working with her. I took a few minutes yesterday to capture this warm and beautiful relationship – two sweet and creative people connecting across time and space.
Maria was showing Hser Nay how to stitch and cut fabric.
I interrupted them and asked for a photo of them together. The warmth between the two is visible. We got a tripod for Hser Nay to use along with her Iphone camera. She is an accomplished photographer (see below.)
Hser Nay took this photo of her friend Da Blue, who will attend Russell Cage College this September. Most of Hser Nay’s Bishop Gibbons friends will be gone this September; she is still a junior. She will be going off to college.
She took this photo of Da Blue as part of an art class photo assignment to take photos of one another in the vintage clothes people were sending Sue Silverstein (and still are). It’s a beautiful picture.
Suppose you have any used or discarded objects that can be made into art. In that case, you can send them to Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street, Schenectady, N.Y., 12304, and thanks for making this art program one of the most exciting and thriving in the country.
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P.S. The Mansion is enduring a round of illness, I can’t visit there for a week or so.