Associate Dean Linda Wagener Continues Report on Journey from Bosnia to China
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07/18/08
Linda Wagener, associate dean of Fuller’s School of Psychology, continues her series of journal reports from a six-week journey along the “Silk Road,” an ancient east-west trading route taking her through Bosnia, Jordan, Turkey, and China. As she meets young people along the way, Dr. Wagener—along with a traveling group that includes two School of Psychology students—seeks to better understand what it takes for youth to survive and even thrive in today’s world.
Journal Report #4:
Visiting a Shelter for Iraqi Teens in Amman, Jordan
One of the principles of positive youth development that we are exploring on our global trek is the idea that it is our responsibility to create relationships and contexts that unlock the unrealized potential of young people and give them opportunities to realize their aspirations. Questscope is an organization of people who live in communities in the Middle East whose mission is to enact this principle for those who might be considered among the most at risk in this part of the world. Their mission statement is “Putting the Last, First” and today we visited one of their programs, a tidy and comfortable shelter for unaccompanied male minors who have arrived in Jordan from Iraq.
The eight teenagers who live in the shelter sat around a kitchen table with four of the young 
adults who are traveling with us and come from Canada, China, and the U.S. They each took a turn telling their stories and asking questions about their lives. They began in a typical way, sharing their names, their hobbies, and favorite football (soccer) team. They described their daily activities and found a lot in common: studying, spending time with friends, playing football and Playstation. They wanted to know if Andrew was married, how old the girls were, and wanted to tell them they were pretty. The kids connected easily despite the language barrier (and use of a translator). They joked, teased, and clearly enjoyed each others’ company.
The conversation took a very serious turn, however, when the young men began to tell the story of how they had come to live in the shelter. Each of them had experienced significant trauma. Omar, for example, had been injured in a car bomb. He had come to Jordan to live with his aunt so that he could get the surgery he needed. But because his aunt’s husband didn’t want the responsibility, Omar was turned out into the street just after his surgery. He lived in a park for three days without any medical attention until he was rescued by a Good Samaritan and eventually came to live at the Questscope shelter. Omar has lost all contact with his family and has no idea if his parents and siblings are alive. He had to leave most of his things at his aunt’s home and especially longs for his keyboard. He writes music and poetry and recited for us a poem about longing for his country.
Takem’s story was equally heartrending. In Baghdad he had been kidnapped for ransom. Once his parents had paid, the kidnappers returned him, but before they did they slashed his throat. His parents, fearing for his life, sent him to Jordan, but here he has no family or close friends to care for him.
Each of the eight youth in this shelter had similarly grim experiences. The director, a psychologist trained in Jordan, explained that they all had symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Each had been suicidal at one point or another. Some struggled with impulses to self-harm, alcohol abuse, or other behavioral problems.
Yet these kids have significant personal resources. They are warm, funny, socially attentive, and responsive. They are attached to each other and consider themselves brothers. They are grateful to their caseworkers that are there to listen and consistently care. They are also making the best of the opportunity to live at the Questscope shelter and complete their education. Here they have found a community dedicated to seeing them in their full humanity. They are not just a statistic nor a diagnosis. They are young men with gifts and talents who need support and affection, mentors who will help them to recognize their gifts and limitations, education, and opportunities to make a constructive contribution to their community.
Haus, an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, was the jokester of the group. We gave him the opportunity to speak to Arnold via the camera. He was overwhelmed, struggled with a loss for words, and told Arnold that he was the strongest man in the world and that he loved him. I thought of the Terminator series of movies, in which Arnold plays a nearly indestructible machine who steadfastly becomes a father figure and protector for a young man about Haus’s age. I am sure that there is a part of Haus who longs for such a figure in his own life.
When asked what they would like to say to the people and government of the U.S., Haus answered by saying, “Look at the lives of your children, and then look at our lives. What do you see?” It’s hard to realize that there are countless numbers of unaccompanied minor refugees throughout the world. We have been unable to protect them from the traumas they have experienced. Yet they are part of the next generation of adults. Without the presence of a developmentally attentive community that offers them affection, hope, and importantly an opportunity to make a constructive contribution using their gifts and talents, we will have squandered one of God’s greatest gifts to us. God has promised his Kingdom to each generation and it is our responsibility to prepare them to receive it.
Omar, Haus, and Takem long to go home. But their home must be a place where they can receive the developmental “nutrients” that will allow them to thrive, just as is true for the kids of our own community.