The Muslims and the Preschool........

I am associated with two schools which I sometimes discuss here in 'comments'...  One is a preschool and I would like to talk about an incident that was touching and, I think, informative.

The preschool is a part of a church and "church" is in the title of the school, but we get parents interviewing us and asking "Do you actually talk about Jesus?"   The answer from our Director, of course, is always 'Yes'.   We lose a few, but not many.  There is no preaching but there are age-appropriate stories from the Bible from time to time, fun Christian songs, and the children learn prayers from time to time, learn Judeo-Christian values, and certainly celebrate Easter and Christmas at the school.  They also, on occasion, join the church service on Sunday and sing songs they have learned; the parents love this.  SO, I get to my story...

Last week was the Preschool Graduation Ceremony where little awards were given and we who guest-teach 30 min. classes each week on certain subjects, have the children show off what they've learned.   During this show and dinner which we hosted for the children and their parents, I saw something worth talking about;

A MUSLIM FAMILY from Saudi Arabia ("I am a Prince in my country") joined our preschool about eight months ago,   They asked about Jesus being mentioned at the school and our Director did not shirk (she actually wondered if this difference in religions was a good match herself, anyway) and said Jesus is definitely a part of our school, and...they enrolled.   All has gone very well.  Somehow, without bilingual education, their little girl has even learned a lot of English!  

Last week's Graduation was just starting when I saw the Muslim family come in (I had never seen them as their child doesn't come to school on the day I teach my particular once-a-week class) .  They were not hard to miss as the mother had a Chanel scarf wrapped as a hijab around her absolutely gorgeous, flawless face.  She was also wearing a rather roomy beige coat buttoned up to her chin on that warm evening.  The husband was relaxed and cool in his short sleeved shirt and slacks, a skinny man who's appearance, if you don't mind my saying so, didn't seem to merit her simply beautiful face. They had the little 4 year old who attended our school and an infant in a stroller.  They sat down at one of the tables and watched the show.    It was touching to see their smiles and to see the father join, with his camera, the parent-paparazzi as they all stood up holding cell phones and cameras in the air above others' heads in order  to catch the action on stage!  All the parents looked happy and very proud.

Later, the show was over and everyone was in line getting the dinner which was served to the whole group, and a friend of mine and I passed by this family as they sat at the end of a long table.  It was clear they were not participating in the dinner, but they were still there.  The Muslim man suddenly handed me and my friend a small cup and we realized it was something very hot, coming out of a thermos he had brought with him.   We accepted with smiles and thank you's and took a sip;  it was like a mulled wine tea, strong with herbs and ginger, and quite good.  As I thanked the man, he reached into a bag and brought out a plastic container with dates and opened it and offered me some.  I only took one, which killed me because I love dates, and it was delicious and I thanked him.  Despite the language problem, he made his point of being gracious and generous and I made my point of being very thankful and delighted at his generosity and thoughtfulness.

As I walked away with my friend, both of us sipping our brew, I said "Don't tell ME you didn't think 'now we're all going to die', what's in this stuff?"  She said it hadn't crossed her mind and then we both burst into laughter. A little nervous humor never hurts!

One of the teachers at our Christian preschool is Jewish from Iran.  Yes, she is, and some on the School Board hesitated to hire her because teachers take turns doing a 20 minute weekly chapel for the children.  This Jewish woman steps up to the bat and does a charming Christian chapel for the children, always including Jesus.Near the end of the dinner, the Muslim family still there, I looked over and saw our Jewish teacher in some kind of conversation with the Muslim couple... I say "some kind of conversation" because how they communicated is beyond me, but perhaps the Muslims have learned enough English in the months they've been here... ?   Anyway, I said to a friend "Look, the Jew and the Muslims at the Christian preschool...isn't that good?"    

It was a good night. Would that the world could be like that.  Would that we could all trust enough to 'drink from the cup...'

But, because of the flawed, even horrifying reputation other muslims have perpetrated, it's not so easy, is it.   I felt that family is aware of that and that our school had always put them at ease...a good thing.  What a tangled web......

z