Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/update-from-mcallen-texas/5024408/
“God, we have pushed so many of our children
into the tumultuous sea of life
in small and leaky boats
without survival gear and compass.
Forgive us and help them to forgive us.
Help us now to give all our children the anchors of faith and love, the rudder of hope,
the sails of health and education,
and the paddles of family and community
to keep them safe and strong when life’s seas get rough.”
From the book, The Sea is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small:
Charting a Course for the Next Generation, by Marian Wright Edelman
I reached out to the staff at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, now that it has been two months since Bright Horizons/Bright Horizons Foundation for Children created a Bright Space. What they told me was both heartening as well as distressing. (See Exchange cover story, September/October 2018.)
More than 2,000 children have spent time playing in the new Bright Space, taking time to be kids and leaving behind the fear and distress of their time spent in detention, watching as their parents navigate the choppy waters of their new lives. However, the staff also reported that, as a society, we ...