Happy Thanksgiving! Meet Jerry & Pujan!
A few years ago, my wife was working with young refugee children. When I would arrive at home later that day, she seemed to be energized with the children she taught that day. After some time, she mentioned that Refugee Resources conducts evening sessions teaching reading to refugees working with older children and thought I might be interested. It seemed like a good opportunity for which I had been searching, so I agreed and began to attempt to learn how to become a mentor. Little did I know that the real teachers were the children that we met each week.
After some time of learning how Refugee Resources teaches English and reading, and as a part of that message, teaches the story of the Bible, I was paired with Pujan, a 9-year-old boy from Nepal. To say that Pujan is energetic is an understatement. He has two speeds…fast and extremely fast. He loves to run, horse around and play with his friends. As a father of three grown men, I felt like this was going to be a piece of cake!!!! It seems that Pujan had other ideas and keeping his interest and focus was like trying to catch the wind. However, we continued working together and slowly, he began to show progress. In addition, I met his parents and was able to begin a basic communication with them.
Then COVID decided that the efforts of Refugee Resources needed testing and the program was paused and forced to begin meeting virtually. Little did I know the work that God had in store for Pujan if we simply opened our hearts and allowed Him to move through unchartered territory. I reached out to Alysa for ideas, and she recommended some books. While shopping for those books, I passed the dictionaries and decided to buy two that were identical. I left one copy on Pujan’s porch, and we began to communicate by Facetime. We attempted to work on reading lessons, and it was a struggle. However, we began to note words that Pujan did not know, and we would look them up in the dictionary. The reason for identical dictionaries was so I could tell Pujan the page to reference if he had difficulties finding the word. The next thing I knew, Pujan decided he wanted to race me to find the words. He is extremely competitive, and we would race to look up words each week. Along with looking up words, we would use the definitions to not only read the words but to better understand what we were reading. God’s plan for Pujan was beginning!!!!
When it was safe for us to begin meeting together in person, Pujan was early. This was different than before as we would have to look for him to encourage him to come. He also seemed to be more focused when time to work on our reading. He was still the same playful Pujan, but something was different. Shortly after returning, we assessed the students and prior to the pandemic, the most Pujan had ever increased was one level in an assessment. The assessment measures both reading accuracy AND understanding the material. Imagine my surprise when Pujan jumped SIX levels in his first assessment. He has subsequently moved up nine levels for a total of fifteen and is now reading at his grade level. Simply put, God had taken the struggle of COVID and turned this into a victory. In one of our sessions, Pujan accepted Jesus into his heart and now often answers questions about the Bible.
One of my favorite Bible verses that has become my encouragement through all the stress and strife of COVID is Proverbs 24:10 “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, we can acknowledge our challenges in the last two years as struggle. However, we can also choose to draw strength and, in my experience, learn from the resilience of our refugee friends and find joy in seeing the light be turned on in a child. I pray God will take our time and use it to teach these children the basics of reading. However, more importantly, the unfailing love of God and his promise to dwell in our hearts forever. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Written by: Jerry Jackson
Edited by: Layne Matthews