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Children's gifts to refugee children: $113 and a whole lot of fun
At the Dec. 20 skating party, four-year-old Ni Cung Lian and his skating partner Hank Holleman give an affirmative "thumbs up" to his first-ever ice skating experience.
Photo: Holly Dagnan
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It all started with $113 in coins and small bills contributed by children at a small town church. The funds seeded a remarkable encounter between those children and newly resettled refugee children from Burundi and Burma.
First Christian Church is a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation in Rockwood, Tennessee, a rural community of about 5,000 situated 45 minutes' drive from downtown Knoxville. Average attendance at worship is around 100.
At last summer's Vacation Bible School, Pastor Kara Kleinschmidt talked about refugees, sparked by her own friendship with former neighbors who were refugees from Liberia. As the service component, children donated money for a national Disciples program that supplies backpacks to refugee children new to the United States.
"But the Vacation Bible School director forgot to send it!" Kleinschmidt said. "In December she came to me with a zip lock bag of cash." The pastor assured her sheepish parishioner that it wasn't a problem. "I knew that three Knoxville Disciples churches had cosponsored a Sudanese family through Bridge Refugee Services, and said, 'Let's just send it to Bridge with a note that it came from our children.'"
When Bridge's Director Marilyn Bresnan received the $113, she was working on ways to get the Knoxville-area community involved with recently resettled Burundian refugees without church cosponsors. Their basic needs were being met, "but they needed socialization. If they are not cosponsored they aren't getting the interaction they need. I called Kara and said, 'Let's do something with all the kids,' and the idea of an ice skating party was born."
Kristi Reynolds, manager of the Holiday on Ice skating rink in Knoxville's Market Square, offered an hour of private ice time for $100 – well under half the usual price. With funds from Church World Service, Bresnan "bought tons of gloves, mittens, hats, headbands, and scarves" and rented vans to transport the two dozen or so Burundian children, along with two Chin refugee children from Burma.
Serendipitously, both the refugee children and the 14 or so young skaters from First Christian Church were from precisely the same age range: 4 through 16. Kleinschmidt briefed her group on Burundi and Burma, and Bresnan coached them on how to help the refugee children feel comfortable with this new experience. Then the two groups met at the rink.
 Lobes-Pierre Niyonzima, 9, begins to get more comfortable on the ice. Photo: Holly Dagnan
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"When the refugee kids saw the rink, their eyes got huge. They got their skates on and shuffled onto the ice," Kleinschmidt said.
"As we walked the refugees in," Bresnan said, "Kara's kids were all waving and saying 'welcome.' There was just tremendous interaction. The adults were almost moved to tears watching the kids just play together."
Conversation was limited, as the refugees were still learning English. That didn't impede the fun and forging of personal bonds. Many of the Rockwood children commented, "The person I helped was so trusting of me. I just took them around."
Students from Knoxville Catholic High School and the University of Tennessee, gathered by Bresnan's own children, also joined the skating party. Paired with a Burundian peer, son Todd learned something about how African men express friendship, remarking, "He's a teenager like me and he's holding my hand." Daughter Erin sang a song in Swahili with the Burundian children, and gave her skating partner her handmade scarf, "knowing how special it is to give gifts in Africa."
For their part, the refugee children were unfazed by the rink's bright lights and loud Christmas music. "What they reacted to," Bresnan said, "was the cold."
Knoxville's WBIR-TV is among sponsors of the rink, and reporter Stoney Sharp came by. The resulting story (see it at www.wbir.com – search "refugees see ice") got an enthusiastic response from viewers. Among comments posted on the WBIR Web site: "God bless Bridge for what you do," and "God bless the refugees on their journey."
Now Bresnan is planning "more fun social things" with refugee children and youths, including swimming lessons led by area high school swim teams.
For Kleinschmidt, "to see kids from different backgrounds coming together was truly one of the highlights of my year. Our kids were moved and want to do more." What's more, her report to the congregation the next Sunday "got all the members talking about ways they can support refugees."
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