Tutoring improves life for Somali refugees

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August 2007 issue

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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.

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