Book of Dreams: Let it snow and you can bring a ‘taste of home’ to refugee kids
Myesha Britt is dreaming of a winter wonderland, and she wants to bring it to Sacramento.
Not for herself, mind you, but for the 164 refugee students and their families that her organization, Gateway Community Charters, has welcomed into its elementary school classrooms this year.
Imagine what a day of playing in the snow, ice skating and some new cold-weather clothing could mean to those who have so little.
“Most of these students and their parents came to the U.S. with only the clothes they were wearing,” said Britt, Gateway’s community engagement specialist. “They are from areas (Ukraine and Afghanistan) with a lot of snow. We want to give them a little taste of home, and make sure they are outfitted for the winter ahead.”
She’s hoping for help from readers of The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams to provide that day in the snow for the students and their families, along with coats, beanies and winter socks they’ll need in the days ahead. The estimated cost: $9,000.
As the Book of Dreams request states: “To make this dream come true we would need to procure space for an outside ice rink in Sacramento and a snow machine to provide a white Christmas for these families. We would also like to provide winter coats, beanies, and socks to every person who attends the event to ensure that new families have the resources they need to get through the winter season.”
‘We knew we couldn’t stay’
One Ukrainian refugee mom, Tetiana Tyshchenko, who fled Mariupol with her daughter Valeriia and husband Mykola six months ago, said she’s grateful for the support Valeriia’s school has provided since the family arrived last summer, but said more recently arrived families still need warm clothing now that the temperatures are dropping.
Valeriia, 10, with her long, dark hair neatly swept back and up from her face, said winter is her favorite time of the year.
“My grandmother and I used to go skiing on the slope near her house,” she said, recalling that they would always take the more difficult runs even though “it was very hard to climb with skis.”
A shadow crossed her bright face as she remembered that her grandmother is not with the family now; she chose to remain in Ukraine.
Mother and daughter would dearly love to return home, but to what? They shake their heads, remembering the bombed-out buildings and how they had to piece together parts from exploded cars to get one that could make it out of the country.
“We knew we couldn’t stay,” said Tetiana, who sheltered with her mother and her daughter during the two months that the city was closed. Her husband was away when the Russians invaded and couldn’t return home during those months.
Once reunited, they gathered their documents and fled to the former Soviet republic of Georgia before heading to the United States.
Valeriia said she was surprised at the differences between her previous school and where she is now. “In Mariupol, my school was three stories tall, but kind of small,” she said. “Now we’re all on one level, but it is humongous.”
An immersion with retention
Gateway’s complex is large and sprawls across much of the old McClellan Air Force Base in North Highlands. It has a district office, an elementary school, a middle school and a high school within walking distance of each other.
The Community Outreach Academy, the elementary school, is open to all students, but its pupils come overwhelmingly from families that emigrated from the former Soviet Union, most recently from Ukraine. The COA children attend a joint Russian and Ukrainian language class twice a week.
The former base’s chapel is now a light-filled library with low bookshelves and plenty of nooks to curl up and read. A tour of the classrooms of some of the younger students was an eye-opener.
The children, although energetic, were polite and well-behaved. They sat rapt as their teacher explained the lessons in two or three languages, seemingly simultaneously. Colorful alphabets in English, Russian and Ukrainian graced the walls, along with pictures of well-known Ukrainian cultural icons.
Daniella Manzyuk, a COA parent liaison who is fluent in English and Ukrainian and served as a translator for this story, said she enjoys working for a school that values her Ukrainian heritage. She said she was impressed that Gateway put a focus on integrating children into American life while helping them retain their native culture – sort of a dual immersion.
Or as Britt put it: “Learn ‘us’ and keep ‘you’ at the same time.”
Nine schools are under Gateway’s purview in Sacramento County, serving about 5,400 pupils ranging from kindergarteners to those in a post-high school for at-risk students. Gateway was founded more than 20 years ago to serve the Russian-speaking community and branched out as more immigrants arrived. But its core value – “Capture Kids’ Hearts” – has remained the same.
The ‘Diamond Rule’
“You’ve heard of the ‘Golden Rule,’” Britt said. “Well, here we have the ‘Diamond Rule.’ Treat others better than you want to be treated.”
Discipline is enforced in a process called “Behave In – Behave Out,” designed to help students manage and accept responsibility for their own attitudes and behavior. The model uses four basic questions that are posed to the students:
What are you doing?
What are you supposed to be doing?
Are you doing it?
What are you going to do about it?
“Our goal,” said Britt, “is to achieve self-managing classrooms.” She said it’s not only a social contract with the students, but extends to all adult teams that are involved as well.
On a recent visit to the elementary school, the children seemed relaxed and playful. They dutifully lined up to go out to the playground, filing past a two-story map of the United States in riotous color – complete with state capitals and symbols of each state – that dominates the cafeteria/gym.
Although there was “a lot of confusion” when the Russian-Ukraine war began and the reports from relatives halfway around the globe were disturbing, Manzyuk and Britt said the students didn’t take it out on each other. In fact, “last month, the children wrote cards and gathered socks to send to soldiers in Ukraine for Veterans Day,” Britt said.
Britt said she hopes the planned “winter wonderland” day will bring the refugees and community together for some fun – and show them that their new home has a warm spot in its heart for them. “I like to think that we’re saving the world – one kid at a time.”
Book of Dreams
The request: Gateway Community Charters is seeking $9,000 to provide a “snow day” for its refugee students and families, while also equipping them with badly needed winter clothing.
How to help: You can make a donation at sacbee.com/bookofdreams.
