"I came here to learn"

Scott Stroud:

When my 9-year-old daughter first told us about her school's Student Council elections, it sounded like one of those harsh early lessons we all have to learn about politics.

“It's all about who's popular,” she said at dinner the other night.

But as the story unfolded, her mom and I found it more compelling than she expected — and not in the way she expected.

The “popular” student elected Student Council president was Abakar Baraka, a 10-year-old “resettlement student” who enrolled at Colonies North Elementary School on Feb. 12.

A refugee from the Darfur region of Sudan, Abakar is one of several hundred students from all over the world who've been welcomed into the Northside Independent School District this year through the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program.

Our daughter wasn't in Abakar's class and didn't know him well, but she theorized he won because his supporters included dozens of refugee students at Colonies North — but also, she said again: “Because he's popular.”

I resisted the temptation to say aloud that the foreign students gave Abakar a strong “base” — not unlike that of Sen. Barack Obama, whose bid for the White House has been boosted by his dominance among African American and young voters in Democratic primaries this year.

A few days after our dinner-table conversation, I met Abakar Baraka in the school cafeteria, where he was sitting at a table with friends.

He spoke so softly that I had difficulty hearing him amid the lunchtime din. So after he finished nibbling at fruit and sipping from a carton of milk, we moved to the library while his friends went to recess.

With big, dark eyes and flawless skin, Abakar speaks English well — slightly accented, but crystal clear. Small for a fourth-grader, he wore jeans, sneakers and a striped purple T-shirt. His gaze was remarkably steady for his age.

He ran for Student Council, he said, “because I want Colonies North to be a great and respected school.”

When asked if he had an interest in politics, he frowned.

“What is politics?”

After I explained, he shook his head and said he wanted to be a doctor.

The biggest difference between his country and ours is that in Sudan, he said, “There's not a lot of food.”

His family had to leave because “it was not safe for us.”

“The Janjaweed is the bad people,” he explained. “They come in the morning and kill people, including my uncle — so we crossed the border to Chad.”

From there he traveled to Ghana with his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters. After three days they were on a plane to the United States, where Catholic Charities helped place them in San Antonio.

Three of his four siblings, those old enough to attend school, are enrolled at Colonies North, too.

“These children have seen things that we cannot imagine,” said Sonya Kirkham, the principal at Colonies North, speaking of all of the refugee students attending the school this year.

Taking them on, she said, has made this a challenging but wonderful year. Kirkham has been encouraged by the warmth with which other students have welcomed the newcomers.

On his first day of school, Abakar said, “I was nervous.”

The first person who spoke to him was a boy named Sebastian. Abakar remembers when they met.

“He said, ‘Hi, I am a friend.'”

Sandra Figueroa, Abakar's teacher, has her own vivid memory of that day. As a teaching exercise, she showed the class a map of Sudan and asked Abakar what brought him here.

“I'll never forget,” she said. “His words were, ‘I came here to learn.' ”

She paused for composure. Her eyes glistened with tears.

“And then I looked at all of the other students in the class and wondered if they know how fortunate they are to be in this country and to have the opportunities that they have.”

Figueroa said Abakar has a passion for learning like none she has ever seen.

“He does not take his eyes off of the teacher, ever.”

...

The students were given three days to campaign during recess. Then they had to deliver two-minute speeches to the student body.

“He was the only candidate who walked up there and, before he got there, everybody cheered,” said Figueroa.

“Abakar won because of his good nature. He's got such a loving heart.”

In his speech, Figueroa said, Abakar called for students to treat teachers more respectfully, to get along better with one another, and to comport themselves well in the hallways.

“He wants us to be more civilized,” she said. “He says, ‘We are a family, and families should be there for each other and get along.'”

...

When you see so many students throwing away the opportunities they have in school, it is nice to see someone who appreciates them and shows others how to.