Jessica and Anowar's Story

I am delighted and grateful to spend each Wednesday in Vickery Meadows at Refugee Resources reading with Anowar, a middle school student and refugee from Burma.

The first eight years I lived in Dallas I had never heard of the Vickery Meadows area and certainly had no idea of this community of refugee families gathered in northeast Dallas just ten minutes away from me. My first time walking through the Vickery Meadows neighborhood I felt like I could have been 10,000 miles away, not 10 minutes away. Children gathered, played and laughed all around the small playground area, sidewalks, and parking lots of the interconnected apartment complexes, with older family members and neighbors monitoring and chatting nearby. As it got closer to 6:30 pm and the start of Refugee Resources’ nightly reading program, children ranging from 6 to 16 years old made their way down the sidewalk to what they know as the Reading Circle center situated in the community. This community mingles people of many languages, clothing styles, food and experiences from around the globe, and a microcosm consisting of children from the community converged on Reading Circle to meet with their designated mentors to practice reading and writing in English.

Anowar came to Texas from Burma (Myanmar) with his mom and his younger sister and brother, though his dad was not able to move here with them. I first met Anowar a little over a year ago on his first day at Reading Circle, during group reading time when all the students gather with a Jesus Storybook Bible and follow along with the reading of that week’s selected story by the lead volunteer. While many middle school students might have sat silently and shyly, anxiously hoping not to get called on, that is not Anowar. He enthusiastically raised his hand with questions and comments to the group about the story of King David.  Anowar is a Muslim and often arrives at Reading Circle straight from the community mosque. He thoughtfully and energetically compared and contrasted Islam and Christianity, sharing his beliefs and discussing differences in the stories.

Energetic and inquisitive are just a few words that describe Anowar, in addition to thoughtful, creative, persistent, hopeful and thankful. From the moment I heard Anowar’s thorough exchange with the lead-volunteer, I knew that my weekly journey reading with Anowar would put to test my teaching skills (I am not a teacher), my knowledge of the Bible (I am not a theologian), my persuasive skills and logic (well, I am an attorney), and my cultural and religious sensitivity (I’ve had little experience with Muslims or Burmese individuals). How was I going to effectively teach him, develop a friendship, or make any kind of impact working with him? But it’s not me, it’s God. God provides the knowledge and the words to speak when it’s time to speak and the wisdom to listen and learn the hope and heart of my student.

During COVID, I have gotten to know Anowar’s family even more than pre-COVID. Every week during virtual summer learning I would facetime Anowar’s mom, and though communication was not always easy as she is still learning English and I know no second language, we would chat while Anowar gathered his reading materials. When we started socially-distanced, in-person learning at the center this fall, Anowar was there with his younger brother and sister who had also been able to join the program. I have seen Anowar not just as a student who likes to make little origami gifts for me and others, but also as an older brother who cares for his younger siblings. When I asked him recently what he liked about Reading Circle, he spoke in detail about his family’s hope for a better education for him and his siblings than the education opportunities they had in Burma. He spoke hopefully of the possibilities of going to college and providing for his family. He was thankful for my time reading with him. But the truth is that I am thankful for him and the opportunity Refugee Resources provides, right in my backyard, to learn about another culture; to set aside what I think I know about refugees; about individuals who speak no English or broken English. To listen, to learn, to become a part of his world and contribute what tools I can for him to reach his goals. We have different beliefs in God, but he has learned it is ok to talk about those differences and still be friends, and I have been able to share my love of Jesus and he shares his love for Allah. I hope and pray we will continue to have faith-filled conversations while he practices and advances his reading skills.

It is a community and experience I did not expect, and now, two years later, I am ever thankful for the friendships, encouragement and laughter shared every week and the lives of hope and perseverance that are exhibited every day by the students and their families in Vickery Meadow and Refugee Resources. 

And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ~Colossians 3:15-17

Written by: Jessica Phillips