I may have mentioned this before, but I work one day a week at a refugee school here in the city. The school, built into an old villa, houses more than 500 Muslim and Christian students from across North and Central Africa. The curriculum is in English, but the students usually speak Arabic during their break times. Music and arts days are on Saturdays, so I spend my Saturdays there. I have been blown away by how amazing and intense these days are, and how present God is in the school, though He shows up in different ways every day that I am there.
What does a typical day look like for me at the school?
I begin by choosing to take the subway or a taxi (taxi wins today) with ukulele and curriculum in hand as I travel 45 minutes to the school. I get out (the driver was super polite praise God), and the guard who greets me every morning is extra smiley today- usually he looks like he is about ready to bite a piece of sheet metal in half. He lets me in, and I go in to greet people. One trick that I have learned at the school is that you must greet everyone personally in the room as a sign of respect and acknowledgment…so I did that, shaking everyone’s hand and looking them in the eye to wish them a good morning while I caught my breath.
My first classes of the day were full of little angels…a serious miracle. The past few weeks, it has been closer to anarchy in these rooms than organized chaos…first graders have been threatening to beat each other up and kill each other in previous weeks. This week, they were laughing and giggling and being goofy in appropriate ways- something we have been working on all year. We finally reached the last verse of one of the songs we have been learning, which talks about Christ being the Rock in which we build our lives on, and it was like a breath of fresh air in the room. The kids could not keep still! Moments like those are ones to treasure for me. Kids who have behavioral problems are beginning to engage, students are smiling and laughing and dancing. It is a joy.
Usually after the first grade classes, I am exhausted. I forget to take into account that keeping up with their level of movement is harder for me the older I get! I took my lunch (bean sandwiches, which are donated by a local restaurant every Saturday), and sat with volunteer friends in the teacher’s lounge. The lounge had been transformed that day into an anemia clinic- students were pouring in to get tested, with people comforting students as they got their fingers pricked for the test. My choir girls, who had just had a performance the day before, came in to greet me. They wanted to choose new music, and needed my help. I told them to give me five minutes to rest, and they got the room ready to begin the time together. I spent that time talking with the other volunteers, but sure enough, students poured in silently and took me by the hand to the room they had prepared. Half of our group had shown up even though we had nothing scheduled, and they chose “At the Cross” to begin to work on, and then we went through some other songs to sing as well. This is a mixed group of Muslims and Christians, girls and boys singing praises together- I can’t get over this fact, and they love it desperately in a way that brings joy.
Finally, I had my theory class. This is a group of seniors who will be graduating this May. We are a mixed group of Muslims and Christians also, learning how to create, read, and play music together. We do this through individual lesson times, but in the start of class we read the bible together. We have been going through the Beatitudes, and we have been looking at each of the different qualities listed in the passage. This week, we talked about being a peacemaker, and when I asked if there were any issues that we could lay before God together, they asked for terrorism and the Syrian War to be brought to an end. And so, we did, together, in that mixed group. I was in awe. I could hardly speak. We set up for class, and began our lesson times- students practicing worshipping through playing and singing, students practicing pop tunes, and students performing original rap music. The thing is, the students all are excited, and setting creative goals and PUSHING themselves hard to the end of the semester. For those that work with teenagers, you must know that this is a miracle in and of itself!
I went downstairs to get some water in between lessons, and ran into one of my choir students, B, waiting to get his anemia test results. This kid is sweet with a good heart but with a mischievous side. He was nervous, and so I sat with him. He was healthy, and he took it like a champ. At the end of my theory class, he came up and shouted my name as he always does. He greeted the teachers I was chatting with and then said to me, “Miss, I do not have anemia. I do not have anemia, I am so healthy.” With a big smile on his face, he ran out.
After the class was finished, I ran into more choir students getting anemia tests done, all of them competing to get the highest score (not a bad competition in the name of good health). Then, I took a taxi home, full in spirit but with my batteries depleted and ready for Sabbath.
One thread in all of these stories- JOY. God is doing something special among Muslim youth, and he is filling them with joy. He is lifting them up, encouraging them, and stirring them deeply within their spirits! What a joy to be able to be a part of God’s great work with kids, and what a joy to see their joy in learning and creating something in worship! Please keep remembering me as I work with this special group of kids every Saturday!