So Many Helpers!

Dear friends,

I am writing this post for my friends who are kids, but any grown ups are welcome to read it as well.

Guess what?!  Today, I met SO many people who want to help the refugees!  I went to an office that was FULL of people all working on computers and talking to each other.  Most of them could speak English and Spanish.  And lots of them were lawyers, but some of them were volunteers like me.  Two of the lawyers came all the way from Washington DC to volunteer! One of them was even a midwife from North Carolina, but she is retired now and spends lots of time helping other people who are trying to find safety here in the United States.

For a minute, I thought I met someone who didn't like the idea of helping the refugees.  She was driving the car that took me to my awesome new airbnb.  When she picked me up after the training it was REALLY cold and windy, so we talked about the cold weather.  She asked me what I was doing in San Antonio, and I said I was here to try and help people who are refugees.  I was kind of excited to tell her about getting to be a court observer, but when I told her that she got really quiet and didn't really talk to me.  I wondered, hmmmm, maybe I've finally met a person who doesn't want to let other people come to the US!?  Since there was a whole twenty minutes left of the ride, I decided to ask her about what kinds of food she likes to eat here in San Antonio.  And guess what, she started talking to me again!  She told me about how her dad used to go straight to a town on the gulf coast and buy the freshest shrimp, and how her mom would cook the shrimp and they'd eat shrimp ALL NIGHT!  We talked about yummy food for the whole rest of my ride.  I have a hunch she just didn't know what in the world I was up to.  Maybe she thought I was a lawyer and that made her nervous?  It could be that she doesn't really know anyone who is able to help refugees, or maybe she hasn't met a refugee before and doesn't know how scary it is for them.  And of course, it's totally possible that she just doesn't want anybody to come here from another country.  Maybe that's scary for her?  Or, maybe she just didn't really have much to say about it.  I do know that she really liked talking about fresh seafood, and I have a feeling if someone was hungry and she was feasting on those shrimp she would probably be happy to share.


Well, tomorrow I get to go to observe in court!  I can walk to the courthouse from where I am staying, but it's a good thing I brought my puffy warm coat because it got SUPER cold here last night!

Please tell your grown ups to check out this link about why some people are here looking for safety.  I learned a lot from it! And I am really curious to hear more questions if you have any.  Kid questions are kind of the best!

Love,
Jen

PS- There are some really cool plants here!  You can't see in the picture of the palm tree, but there are several small birds poking around in the dead fronds.  I wonder if they life in there?!