karatekicker271
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I know due to recent events on this forum, I have not become the most popular person with members nor moderators. If this post oversteps bounds, or falls under the category of breaking some rules, I deeply deeply apologize. I am attempting to slowly regain my reputation on this forum. As for the meaning of this thread- here is a copy of an e-mail sent out to my mother to our neighbors, family, friends, ect. I thank you for taking time to read it.
Hello!
If you're receiving this, I pulled you out of my email address book. Don't wring my neck, those of you who know me well enough know that this is something I just really don't do!! So, that will give you your first hint of how much what I'm going to tell you about has affected me, as well as David, Connor, and Garrett.
A lot of you know about the African refugee boys that we have become involved with through Garrett's soccer coach. For those of you who I haven't talked to about these boys, I want to give you a little information about who they are. Garrett's coach works for the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Team. Most people don't know that the Charlotte Eagles are a Christian organization affiliated with Missionary Athletes International. What he does is organize and arrange mission trips to other countries with groups of older teenage boys that are soccer players. They go to help, to teach, to introduce stories about God, and to play with children. Here at home, he works with these refugee families helping them to adjust, teaching them, and he spends the most time teaching the children how to live in the US. His goal is to teach the refugee parents that they too have the opportunity to live here and better themselves, and he teaches and guides them so that they may be able to do so. Everything he does with the families is supported by sponsors and donations. He receives no pay.
These families fled Kenya and lived in a refugee camp in Somali for many years. They are all part of the Bantu tribe, which are considered by Somali's as the lowest class. Therefore, these families were treated as slaves to the other tribes in the camp. So, not only did they live and witness the unthinkable in their country of Kenya, but once they escaped, they were treated as slaves, abused, beaten, raped, burned, and starved while in the refugee camp.
The United States felt that the Bantu were the most needy in the camps and therefore approved a program to bring them to the US. They were given some help to get started, but then left on their own. The problem with this is that these people have never lived in any type of civilized environment. They had never seen grass or trees, never seen a door, so did not even have the knowledge to know that turning the door knob would open what was in front of them. Most still barely speak any English, and learning to read and write is extremely difficult because their native language was not a written language.
Most of the children live here with their parents and extended family. The fathers all have jobs but on average make $12 to $13,000 a year and support a family of anywhere from 6-12 or more people. They live in dilapidated apartments with barely any furniture but a plentitude of roaches, have only the clothes that are donated to them, and have become accustomed to 2 meals a day as they cannot afford groceries.
Three of the boys played the fall season on Garrett's soccer team, because of scholarships given to them by Matthews Soccer Club. Because of this, we have had the opportunity to get to know the 3 boys, see where and how they live, and have been able to help them experience some things that they have never seen or done in their lives.
I could go on and on with stories of the things I have encountered with these children. I've attached parts of a story written about the journey of one of the Bantu fathers. I've also attached a picture of the three boys that play on Garrett's soccer team. This picture was taken when we took them to Greenville for a soccer tournament, where the highlight of their trip was riding up and down, and up and down, on the 4 glass elevators located in the atrium area of the hotel. We've had the opportunity several times to spend time with them and have them over to our house. They are the sweetest boys; they are polite and respectful; they are scarred from abuse and lack of medical care; but when they smile, their eyes sparkle!
Now, to get to the reason for my email. Some of our family and friends have asked about possibly sponsoring a family for Christmas. I talked to Garrett's coach and he gave me some information about what is the best way to help them. With the people I've already spoken with, I am going to collect donations to purchase Wal-Mart cards that will be given to him to be used to purchase items such as food, diapers, toiletry items. He spends 2 days a week with the families and has an inside as to what they really need. Also, this will enable him to do a little something for each one of the families (there are 26) instead of having only a few receive something more.
Unlike anything I have ever done before, I decided to just put this out there to some of you. If anyone is interested in making any type of donation towards the purchase of the Wal-Mart cards, or would like to donate a Wal-Mart card, it would be awesome! Of course, absolutely no pressure, I've just become a little brave and thought, hey you can't do something if you don't know anything about it!! I'd love to fill all of their kitchens, but I know that I can't do it myself.
I've had so many people donate their old clothes to be given to the children. Evidently we were able to basically clothe all of the children this past summer. So, if anyone usually donates old clothes, and you'd like to give them to the African children, they would love it. You should see how excited they are to get clothes, it's like my boys being handed a new stereo or something, they get that excited about clothes.
So if anyone is interested, just let me know. Maybe you have access to some other type of help through work, etc. I'll put my address below just in case someone needs it!! Thanks so much for listening to all of this, and thanks in advance if there is anyway or anything you can do to help these children.
~Kim Deason
An add in from my part. This man, David "Goose" Garrett who works with these refugees recieves no pay. He earns money by recieving "sponsor families" from people who chip in anywhere from $20 and month to $500. Many people would look at his job and think that they sponsor him to sit around and just get a pay check- this is a completely wrong statement. His family is in dire need of sponsors, whether it be a one time payment, or monthly. He needs 1,600 dollars a month to scrape by, and even now, he is recieving less than 3/4 of that. This job is one he loves, and believes God called on him to do, and it would be terrible to see him have to lose it. We are basically asking for any sponsorship you'd be willing to make towards his cause, or the African's cause.
Moderators, I apologize if this falls under the category of "solicitaton" but we are desperately trying to help this man and and the African's, and wanted to try ANYTHING we had ties with.
If you have ANY interest at all, please p/m me or email me ([email protected]) with any questions. For more information on Goose and what he does, you can visit his website at www.fieldofsouls.net
Thank you again for taking time to read this.
Connor Deason
Hello!
If you're receiving this, I pulled you out of my email address book. Don't wring my neck, those of you who know me well enough know that this is something I just really don't do!! So, that will give you your first hint of how much what I'm going to tell you about has affected me, as well as David, Connor, and Garrett.
A lot of you know about the African refugee boys that we have become involved with through Garrett's soccer coach. For those of you who I haven't talked to about these boys, I want to give you a little information about who they are. Garrett's coach works for the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Team. Most people don't know that the Charlotte Eagles are a Christian organization affiliated with Missionary Athletes International. What he does is organize and arrange mission trips to other countries with groups of older teenage boys that are soccer players. They go to help, to teach, to introduce stories about God, and to play with children. Here at home, he works with these refugee families helping them to adjust, teaching them, and he spends the most time teaching the children how to live in the US. His goal is to teach the refugee parents that they too have the opportunity to live here and better themselves, and he teaches and guides them so that they may be able to do so. Everything he does with the families is supported by sponsors and donations. He receives no pay.
These families fled Kenya and lived in a refugee camp in Somali for many years. They are all part of the Bantu tribe, which are considered by Somali's as the lowest class. Therefore, these families were treated as slaves to the other tribes in the camp. So, not only did they live and witness the unthinkable in their country of Kenya, but once they escaped, they were treated as slaves, abused, beaten, raped, burned, and starved while in the refugee camp.
The United States felt that the Bantu were the most needy in the camps and therefore approved a program to bring them to the US. They were given some help to get started, but then left on their own. The problem with this is that these people have never lived in any type of civilized environment. They had never seen grass or trees, never seen a door, so did not even have the knowledge to know that turning the door knob would open what was in front of them. Most still barely speak any English, and learning to read and write is extremely difficult because their native language was not a written language.
Most of the children live here with their parents and extended family. The fathers all have jobs but on average make $12 to $13,000 a year and support a family of anywhere from 6-12 or more people. They live in dilapidated apartments with barely any furniture but a plentitude of roaches, have only the clothes that are donated to them, and have become accustomed to 2 meals a day as they cannot afford groceries.
Three of the boys played the fall season on Garrett's soccer team, because of scholarships given to them by Matthews Soccer Club. Because of this, we have had the opportunity to get to know the 3 boys, see where and how they live, and have been able to help them experience some things that they have never seen or done in their lives.
I could go on and on with stories of the things I have encountered with these children. I've attached parts of a story written about the journey of one of the Bantu fathers. I've also attached a picture of the three boys that play on Garrett's soccer team. This picture was taken when we took them to Greenville for a soccer tournament, where the highlight of their trip was riding up and down, and up and down, on the 4 glass elevators located in the atrium area of the hotel. We've had the opportunity several times to spend time with them and have them over to our house. They are the sweetest boys; they are polite and respectful; they are scarred from abuse and lack of medical care; but when they smile, their eyes sparkle!
Now, to get to the reason for my email. Some of our family and friends have asked about possibly sponsoring a family for Christmas. I talked to Garrett's coach and he gave me some information about what is the best way to help them. With the people I've already spoken with, I am going to collect donations to purchase Wal-Mart cards that will be given to him to be used to purchase items such as food, diapers, toiletry items. He spends 2 days a week with the families and has an inside as to what they really need. Also, this will enable him to do a little something for each one of the families (there are 26) instead of having only a few receive something more.
Unlike anything I have ever done before, I decided to just put this out there to some of you. If anyone is interested in making any type of donation towards the purchase of the Wal-Mart cards, or would like to donate a Wal-Mart card, it would be awesome! Of course, absolutely no pressure, I've just become a little brave and thought, hey you can't do something if you don't know anything about it!! I'd love to fill all of their kitchens, but I know that I can't do it myself.
I've had so many people donate their old clothes to be given to the children. Evidently we were able to basically clothe all of the children this past summer. So, if anyone usually donates old clothes, and you'd like to give them to the African children, they would love it. You should see how excited they are to get clothes, it's like my boys being handed a new stereo or something, they get that excited about clothes.
So if anyone is interested, just let me know. Maybe you have access to some other type of help through work, etc. I'll put my address below just in case someone needs it!! Thanks so much for listening to all of this, and thanks in advance if there is anyway or anything you can do to help these children.
~Kim Deason
An add in from my part. This man, David "Goose" Garrett who works with these refugees recieves no pay. He earns money by recieving "sponsor families" from people who chip in anywhere from $20 and month to $500. Many people would look at his job and think that they sponsor him to sit around and just get a pay check- this is a completely wrong statement. His family is in dire need of sponsors, whether it be a one time payment, or monthly. He needs 1,600 dollars a month to scrape by, and even now, he is recieving less than 3/4 of that. This job is one he loves, and believes God called on him to do, and it would be terrible to see him have to lose it. We are basically asking for any sponsorship you'd be willing to make towards his cause, or the African's cause.
Moderators, I apologize if this falls under the category of "solicitaton" but we are desperately trying to help this man and and the African's, and wanted to try ANYTHING we had ties with.
If you have ANY interest at all, please p/m me or email me ([email protected]) with any questions. For more information on Goose and what he does, you can visit his website at www.fieldofsouls.net
Thank you again for taking time to read this.
Connor Deason
