My last 3 visits with the Sanchez family has been a refugee services reality check for me. The family recieved their last cash handout from the agency and April will be the last month that their rent will be taken care of-they need jobs ASAP. The language barrier is hindering them from so many job opportunities; but I can say that I’ve never met a more resilient, positive and appreciative set of people. Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez are putting it into full gear- Mr. S is working with his wife’s cousin on “on call” construction and carpentry projects. Mrs S. has applied to many places but the fact that she only knows a few frases is cutting down on her call backs.
We finally made it back to the library and got her a card! The first thing she said was” now I can go apply for jobs on the computer.”
I experienced my first incident of discipline at their house yesterday. Lately their son has been rowdier than usual and his sisters were playing a little rough and being loud and this set him off. I guess they disturbed his TV watching time, he got up any pushed the older sister and hit her and told her to stop. She went and told her mom and nothing came of it. Then Mrs. S came into the living room to eat and he got angry at her and got in her face, it seemed like for no apparent reason and she slapped his legs and yelled at him to leave the room.
It scared me a bit but he has been really unruly lately, I think it is because he’s frustrated at school and with his progression with learning English. I talk to them in English and they don’t really know what I’m saying, I guess I had the misconception that they would be picking up English much faster because of their classmates and their age, but in the type of school they are in, I don’t think their classmates know much English either. They watch TV in mostly English now which is a definite change. Hopefully they are picking up on what they are listening to.
I want to start practicing more with the kids-but it’s harder because their attention span lasts about as long as a squirrel.