This article was written by Lubna Zeidan, Refugee Program Co-Director

I spent most of my working years teaching English literature to Lebanese high schoolers. It was civil war years and I sometimes wondered about the relevance of a Shakespearean sonnet or a Victorian novel to those specific kids.  But I was often rewarded with the shining eyes of a student who would suddenly see themselves in a 200- year-old character, or feel the joy of understanding an obscure metaphor or complex symbol in English, their second language. That moment when the human connection transcends the barriers of time and place makes it all worthwhile.

I’ve since worked with adults overseeing English learning programs to refugees, and the joy of learning is powerful there as well. But I do miss my kids. The core of my heart is taken up by teenagers-that age at the cusp of knowledge, when a personality is starting to solidify and the possibilities are endless.

I’ve been fortunate in my present work with refugees to help engage numerous young volunteers  from my favorite age group – young impressionable and impressive teens who decide to direct their enthusiasm and energy toward helping refugees.

St. Stephens Episcopal School high schoolers started a weekly tutoring group over 5 years ago to help young refugees and called it Saturdays at iACT. Dozens of students participated through the years- many have created films, spoke publicly, written articles, and a book (Aya’s Home by Ali Sait –it’s still being sold by Amazon). A group from the school visited our class site in December to learn more about refugees and the work we do and iACT recently received beautiful and colorful notes from St. Stephens younger students thanking us for our work.  “Thank you for helping old and young refugees”. “We are so grateful to have great people like you in our community”, “Can’t wait to volunteer when I am in high school.” Note after note thanking us for allowing them to help us!

In December, another wonderful giving event connected a different group of teens. Grisham Middle School in Round Rock mobilized their student body, teachers and families to raise money and collect gifts for the Afshars from Afghanistan – a family picked for the Austin American Statesman Season for Caring. A number of teens along with a few teachers brought a U-Haul truck full of furniture, household items, clothes, electronics, toys and games, to the family consisting of a single widowed mom and three kids under 12. They collected donations of over $20,000! The family members were overjoyed and overwhelmed by the generosity. To me what was most memorable were those bright eyes and smiles  as the teens made trip after trip to the truck to bring in beautifully wrapped gifts and together put up and decorated the family’s first ever Christmas tree. Young people feeling rewarded by giving.

That light in the eyes, that satisfied smile and that connection – once a young person achieves that, you know that experience will be remembered. You know that as that young man or woman grows up, they will give again and again. You know that despite differences in time, space, language and circumstances, the human connection has triumphed. And that there is hope.