A classmate of Jae Cheol's who is a Burmese refugee has kept in contact with the reception house and they call him anytime there is a new arrival from Burma. Last night he came to our house with a new arrival who had been in Canada for 40 days. Apparently he and 19 members of his family came to Canada after living in a refugee camp on the Thai border for over 10 years. He is 27 years old and is married with three little kids. We were able to give him some kitchen things and a tv.
When they left, I cried. It was the most humbling experience of my life. I wanted to do more. I have never felt so guilty in my life about the privileges that I was born to. I have never been hungry. I have never had to fear for my safety or that of my family. I have never had to flee from my home. I don't know exactly what this family has been through, I only know that they were very happy to take what we could give them, however embarrassingly meager, mismatched and used they were.
I heard a radio program about two women in Ottawa who pick up gently used furniture and distribute it to newly arrived immigrants. They make pickups every Wednesday night by appointment. They can be contacted via email at helpingwithfurniture(at)hotmail.com. If you live in Ottawa, maybe you'll one day be in a position to contact these ladies and donate something.
6 comments:
Oh I know how you felt. I go through this with the families I work with. I feel like the most selfish b*t*h when I think thoughts like, "God! I have to give up a day of my weekend again to drive students here or there. My weekends are sacred; I work so much." And on and on in my whiny way when my students rarely get away from the town they live in because they and their parents are working 12 hour + days with one day off a week. I am so truly spoiled and yet I manage to feel so overworked.
I guess it's all relative, isn't it?
Look at it this way, if you weren't able to rest on the weekends, you wouldn't be able to do your job properly during the week. That would be a disservice too.
melanie!
P H O N E me!!!
your friend Melissa
here is another link on how to get a F2 visa. I also am married to a Korean man. This link is a download of about 25 pages but should be good.
http://www.koreabridge.com/forums/index.htm
oops, once you get to this link, then you go to the topic section called "Western-korean relationships". About the fifth topic down under this big general topic, you should see one titled "F2 visas for immigrant women" hope this helps
Thanks for the visa info Denise. I managed to get it without any hassle! I don't know how exactly, but it was a lovely treat.
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