Last Visit
December 17th, 2011 by Saleh AiyashMy last visit to the refugee family which my partner and I have been assisting this semester was a little more anticlimactic than I had expected due to the fact that I was planning on visiting them one more time before finals but I just couldn’t make it. This visit was not unlike any of the others in that we sat down at their living room, helped the children with their homework, and then practiced vocabulary and grammar with the whole family. This week however, we came at a different time than we usually did because of schedule conflicts and learned that the family had been getting visits from other sources, mainly a refugee help program called Exodus. We meet the other lady who had been helping them and she told use that she usually does the same things as we do when we visit which was reassuring. Though all of our visits involved fun and laughter of some sort this one was especially fun because the children brought out a radio and an ipod to show us the music they liked. While we were studying with the family one of the children turned on the Christmas music station and they all seemed to at least recognize the songs. I don’t know whether this was because it was the only radio station their old radio received or whether they were just big fans of Christmas but either way we all sang along sloppily to “up on the roof top”. Mostly just the ho ho ho parts but it was fun anyway. Ultimately, this whole experience turned out to be quite rewarding and enlightening, and though the semester is over the family still has means to contact us so if they ever need anything I would be very willing to help them. Not just because they are forced migrants but because they’re genuinely nice people who deserve assistance.