Refugees in the United States

The question of whether or not to allow refugees into the United States, particularly from the Middle East and North Africa, is a very hot-button issue at the moment. Since the last election cycle and the terror attacks in Paris, France, it has been impossible to ignore politicians as they as the group refugees in with terrorists and call for the ending or slowing of the refugee resettlement process in the United States.

Obviously this is a very politicized issue and the families represented in our classrooms will all have very different opinions on what the US should be doing. I spent three years teaching at a school with a large number of refugee students and I am moving to another school this year with a similar population. I have also spent time volunteering with various refugee resettlement organization in the Triangle. While I in no way want to force my own political views on the children in my classroom, what worries me when I turn on the news is the complete lack of empathy for people who are suffering.

For the past two years, I have done my best to make the refugees in my classroom feel loved and welcomed, while teaching the other students in my class to understand the current situations in the world that are leading to people fleeing their homes and to develop empathy for any person who is in a dangerous or hopeless  situation. We have a lot of very open conversations, trying to put ourselves in the shoes of people being forced to flee their homes. We have done toy drives to give to new arrivals and written cards welcoming new families and children to the US. It is amazing to see the empathy and compassion that they can have when they realize that kids just like them are scared for their lives.

I'm going to share 2 amazing resources that I have used for this.

The first is the website newsela.com. This website is a lifesaver! It takes articles from newspapers around the country and puts them on different lexile levels so that kids are able to access the text. They have many different articles about refugees being resettled in the US and what their lives are like.

The second is a book called Four Feet, Two Sandals.  This is the sweetest book about two little girls in a refugee camp who become friends. They are extremely poor and one girl finds a pair of sandals that she really likes, but is willing to share the sandals with her friend. This book is a beautiful illustration of the difficult life in a refugee camp and helps kids understand the process that people go through to come to the US. It is also a wonderful "mirror" moment for any students who are Middle Eastern or Muslim to see girls in hijabs in a book.

Resources:
newsela.com

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed

Below are links to two of the organizations that settle families in the Triangle. They have many resources about the countries families are coming from as well as other resources to help refugee families.
Church World Services
World Relief