ELCA EmblemThe Lutheran is the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.


More search options...
← This month's issue: Message from prison: Agency helps moms read to their kids. LWF casts eye on future. Homeless grow struggling church. More...

Members: log in







August 2007 issue
Cindy Novak
Story by
Cindy Novak
Tutoring improves life for Somali refugees

Thanks to a cooperative effort between Pacific Lutheran University and St. Mark by The Narrows Lutheran Church, both in Tacoma, Wash., Somali Bantu refugee children are gaining literacy, math and language skills.


Mike Engh, a junior at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., tutors a Somali Bantu refugee child (name withheld) in an effort organized by junior Kerri Greenaway.
Nineteen PLU students and a staff member spent their Wednesday evenings tutoring the children,who have had a “difficult and violent past,” said junior Kerri Greenaway, program coordinator.

St. Mark’s involvement with the refugees began when it sponsored a Bantu family and realized the children needed educational help. The church received a grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries, Itasca, Ill., to start a tutoring program.

The rest of this article is only available to subscribers.
Advertisement: