There are two things refugees never forget. What they took with them when they left, if anything, usually it’s the most precious thing you have, because you have no time. And that’s what you run for. Or, well, and I should say, not or, your last look back at the place you will always call home. So be aware that for your children, the smallest thing could be a treasure. A pencil that looks like a pencil they left back home. A book or a story.
I told Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach once in a school and this little girl was laughing and laughing and laughing and then she was crying and crying and crying. And I almost stopped the story. When we were done, I asked the teacher to bring her over. She was from Iran. The story is originally Persian and her grandmother who she left behind would tell it to her. So the Cuban storyteller told her this Persian story and there was home. So refugees are always looking for home.
When your child stops in that classroom and something affects them, sometimes they just need that moment. Acknowledge it.
