A's preschool class is busy working on Christmas activities. Wood and I were touched and surprised to see Christmas greetings in Amharic on the Christmas display board at her school, and brightly decorated umbrellas that the class had made while learning about Timkat. A was beaming with pride, saying "they use these in Ethiopia, that's where I'm from, momma!". How wonderful that her classroom teacher researched and added this to their Christmas activites!
I sat down with the preschool director today and gave her a heads up about what's going on with our family. I explained the situation that had unfolded recently with our family, the ugly racism and the following retaliation for reporting it, our decision to move, the whole 9 yards. "Explained" sounds too rational - what I really did was break into tears when I started into the story, and sobbed in her office. G has gone to that preschool since she was 3, A joined her there last January, and Wood helps them with non-profit development and fundraising. They love and adore both the girls and seem like part of our extended family. She was visibly upset over what had happened, and offered to help in whatever way the she and the staff could and made several concrete suggestions, such as organizing a letter writing protest. Talking to her really helped, I feel like I'm less shaky right now, however, I'll admit I'm looking at most people I come across these days with suspicion, wondering how they REALLY feel about our family.....
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