by an Alliance worker assigned to the Middle East
According to Migration Policy Institute, more than 18,000 Syrians have come to the United States since their country’s civil war began in 2011. About 47 percent of them are children under the age of 14, and 98 percent practice the Middle East’s majority religion.
I had heard my hometown of Pittsburgh accepted 500 of these refugees, and I wanted to serve them while I was on home assignment. At Alliance Council 2017 I met the director of Grace Mission at Allegheny Center C&MA Church in Pittsburgh. She told me she had wanted to serve Syrians in the area and was friends with someone who could connect us with them.
Using ESL to Reach the Lost
The director and I stayed in touch after Council, and by the next month, we started visiting Syrian families. Most of them were living in the same apartment building. We knew the adults needed ESL training, because they are often overlooked. Although the kids didn’t know much English in the summer, by the time they got to school they picked it up easily.
In the beginning, we did home visits, where we taught them English. Inevitably, they went to extremes to welcome us into their homes. Arabs are some of the most gracious, loving hosts I have ever known!
Eventually, we discovered we could use some rooms in the basement of their apartment building to give them English classes. I now teach two classes every week for the parents and older children, while volunteers from local Alliance churches watch the younger kids.
Building Friendships
The first time I met Ghadeer* she opened up to me about her struggles. “I don’t want to go to school anymore. I hate it there,” she said. She’s in middle school and has picked up English pretty well in the past year. However, she feels like an outsider for wearing a head covering in school.
Even worse, her family is split up; her older siblings didn’t have the proper paperwork and weren’t allowed to enter the United States with Ghadeer and her parents.
But recently, she was excited to see me. “I am glad you are helping my mom with English,” she said. “I am giving her tests at home and making her study a lot.”
Her mom was smiling too because she was proud of Ghadeer’s progress with English. She told me that Ghadeer had placed English words throughout their house, and she is forced to look at them even as she lays in bed at night.
A Different Planet
Meeting Ghadeer was an eye-opener for me. I realized that for someone from a Middle Eastern culture, coming to the United States is like moving to a different planet. It’s not just the lack of Arabic but the way the genders interact with each other, how people dress, and the general disconnect between the two cultures.
Many of these refugees experienced severe trauma living in a war-torn country and are thankful to feel safe here. But they also often feel useless or unwanted. God has shown me that these people are special to Him. They are lost and need to be found so they can hear God’s truth.
Pray that more of these immigrants will understand the depth of God’s love for them and surrender their lives to Christ.
*Name changed