North Surrey schoolkids face many struggles
Given the issues they face almost daily, it would be understandable if the staff at Prince Charles elementary gave way to resignation.
This is a school that has to carry the full weight of the social problems that overwhelm some families in this North Surrey area.
There are homeless families, refugee families lost and confused in an alien culture, parents unable to feed their children throughout the month, hungry children, children arriving cold and wet without proper footwear, without coats. The list is formidable.
But then so, too, is the pushback by the staff and community and the Surrey school district, which directs an array of special resources at this school of 315 children located at 100th Avenue and 124th Street.
The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-ASchool campaign also has a large part in this, as the school needs to feed as many as 60 hungry children breakfast each morning, as well as needing money to help families in times of emergencies with food and clothing or transit fares. (This school is one of 23 Surrey schools that are seeking a total of $100,000 from Adopt-A- School to feed more than 900 impoverished children breakfast. It is also requesting $2,500 for emergency help.)
“We have a wonderful, very diverse, multicultural population, but within that there is need,” says principal Donna Lomax, who shows every sign of confidence in her school’s ability to deal with whatever problems arrive at the front door.
Just after school began in September, there was a mother, new to the school, who came to the office and was met by child youth care worker Amy Lauwers.
“She was in a desperate place,” says Lauwers.
“She was in tears. There was no food at home. We didn’t know anything about this family, so this was a way to start a relationship, get her connected with the community, and in that moment see what we could do to help.
“Even though there are food banks, there are stipulations about what time you can go and how often each month, and this mom and dad had exhausted that option.”
Fortunately, the school still had some emergency funds it had received last year from Adopt-ASchool, so Lauwers was able to give her gift cards for food and get jackets for her children.
“Without having access to those (Adopt-A-School) gift cards, I don’t know where we could have sent them,” she says.
Lomax said it was not unusual to see children arriving at school during torrential rain with no socks, wearing flip-flops or runners, and no coats.
One recent morning, a sevenyear-old — a refugee child who earlier this year was living in central Africa — came in shivering because she had no long pants and the morning was cold.
“She had never seen seasons like this before, but fortunately we were able to supply long pants,” says Lomax.
The family had fled Burundi for Tanzania and arrived in Canada this past spring.
Her father, Issa Nshimirimana, 35, speaking through Swahili interpreter Dominique Okech, said he was grateful for all the help his family — five children and wife Geraldine — was receiving.
None of his children had been to a school before.
The family — unable to speak English, struggling to understand a different culture — is clearly helpless.
“Their rent is paid directly by the government,” says Okech, “but they don’t understand the value of the Canadian dollar yet, so we have to go shopping with them.”
But what money the father has isn’t sufficient to get the family through the month and they rely
on the school to feed the children breakfast and lunch.
They also receive weekend food from Backpack Buddies to supplement what they get from the food bank.
Their backpacks of school supplies came from Telus Community Connection volunteers and Staples.
Meanwhile, Lomax and Lauwers are concerned about the welfare of a homeless single mother with two children.
They were recently evicted and have been staying in emergency shelters.
“But you can only stay for 30 days or whatever,” said Lauwers. “They keep moving from shelter to shelter. Sometimes they spend a night in a motel.”
“She had a car, but she’s lost that too. The little guy comes here, but he’s always late. The mom wants him here because she knows the value of being able to get food, and we love and care about him.
“We know he gets breakfast and lunch (at school), but after this we don’t know what kind of food, if any, the mom has access to.”