In Wherever I Go, Abia is nervous about finding a forever home. How does this idea differ or match up with your own ideas about refugees and asylum seekers? What do the students in your classroom think about Abia’s nervousness about finding a forever home? Can they relate it to any of their own experiences?

The way “Wherever I Go” portrayed how Abia feels about finding a forever home matches with how I would imagine most refugee or asylum seeker children would feel. I would think that for a child, the uncertainty must feel overwhelming– they likely have no context to picture what their “forever home” will be like. Will school be the same? Friends? Food? Everything. I imagine that for the parents, it must feel devastatingly long to be at a refugee camp; watching your child(ren) grow older and wondering what life will have in store for them and for yourself, all the while longing for the life left behind.

When I read this book to my students, I made a point of discussing the life we imagined Abia would have in her village if it wasn’t for the “men in trucks.” What do you think they did in their homes? What were the children up to? I wanted them to see that Abia and her family had a rich life with friends, family, a home, and things they certainly loved doing– just like they all do! How hard it must be to leave all that behind… so how would Abia feel about starting anew? In general, they thought she would feel sad and agreed that she would be nervous. They thought she would be nervous about all of the different or new things; they were really fixated on the idea that she would be surprised and nervous about all of the new technology like lights. (I think seeing the illustrations of the camp made them think that Abia and her family were coming from pre-technology times… I made a note to self that I will bring some attention towards pointing out that people who live outside of the US, especially African nations, also have modern amenities. I know this is not a unique stereotype, so better that we address it now and try to work through it).

They related to their own experiences of trying new things: basketball for the first time, jumping into the deep end, first day of school, etc.

We also added to our “Ways to Welcome” chart. They said that we should add, ask “What’s your name?”; “Hello, you can come and sit next to me!”; “I can show you around your new classroom/school!”. This time around after adding to our poster, I tried to emphasize that it is harder to make new friends than continue to play with the friends you already have. You actually have to notice someone new or alone and then build up some courage to include them. Then, after that, if they are new from another country they may not speak the same language as you! Or you may not find things you have in common right away… It will take some effort, but it will be worth it. This is hard for students even in our classroom or grade level team! They, of course, imagined that they do this all the time. I’m going to ponder on ways to get them out of their comfort zone playing with new friends, outside of Ms. Corwin forced fun :), so they can get some practice with this skill… For anyone reading this post, I’d love to hear some ideas!