Willard Metzger, executive secretary of MC Canada, was visiting Friedenshaus for two days. This was his chance to interact with our students. He engaged a Syrian man of about 40 in conversation with Jack and me. His English was extremely halting and Willard could understand some German, but not talk, so Jack and I were helping along. But suddenly the Syrian man just turned to me and apropos nothing, started a very earnest rant on how insecure it all feels.
I've talked with him many times before, mostly about vocabulary and grammar. This time he urgently wanted me to understand the difficulties of his life. He has been here one and a half years with his family. I've met his 11 year old son. He has an older son and a younger daughter, I think. He told about how shook up he was, when his son asked him about an Arabic word he couldn't read. So fast they are losing this ability! I was surprised, but then he explained that the kids had spent the last 3 years in Syria without any school, just war.
This brought him to a big concern - that his kids will be so far behind all the German students when they finally complete 12th or 13th year. Not only did they lose those 3 years, but now they are pulled out of classes for remedial German. He gets frustrated when he hears that his son missed Math class and was returned just in time for Art. I could feel for him. During all this time I was listening, but also wondering about Willard and wishing he could hear this. Well, later during lunch in our apartment I relayed the conversation.
This father is so very concerned about his children's education. He and his wife both come to our classes and are both in the advanced group. Then he looked very earnest and started describing how fearful he is of the uncertain future for his family. He follows politics and fears laws will change in Germany. Can he plan for the next three or five years? He looked at me as if I should have an answer. What could I say? Trust in God. He agreed.
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