In December, ReWA’s Youth Program awarded $500 scholarships to eight students. Over winter break, Youth Program staff and students celebrated the winners at a Youth Social. At the awards ceremony, one of the scholarship recipients, pictured here, shared wisdom with younger students, inspiring them to persevere in the face of obstacles and hold fast to their dreams. The scholarship recipients…
Volunteer ESL teacher and a rare bloom When Belkis arrived at her Tuesday night ReWA ESL class, she collapsed into a chair with a sigh. Sitting around the U-shaped table with other classmates, her hair dripped with rain and her face was weary from a long day as a commercial painter — one of her three jobs. But her eyes…
Only a few hours before their flight was scheduled for take-off, six-year-old Halima came down with food poisoning. Her mother Hawa felt hot tears spring to her eyes, the strain of the moment almost too much to bear. Hawa had spent the last 20 years in Ethiopia, behind the walls of a refugee camp. Now she was making this journey…
We are honored to announce that ReWA’s Youth Program has been selected as a winner of the Seattle CityClub’s Colleen Willoughby Youth Civic Education Award! Along with four other leading youth civic education programs, ReWA’s Youth Program was chosen from a pool of over 80 applicants. Judges selected winners based on the knowledge, skills, values, and experience that students…
After spending 20 years in a refugee camp, Putra was given the opportunity to start a new life with his family in the United States. Putra, his wife, and three children arrived in Seattle in the summer of 2011, speaking no English and with limited exposure to the world outside of the refugee camp. Like many newly arrived refugees, Putra’s family…