Our final meeting with Sareth and her family was really an incredible way to end our time together, but what I’m really grateful for is that this will certainly not be the last time we see each other. Sareth told us she would let us know when Dylan, her eleven year old daughter, has swim and cross country meets coming up and will invite us to join them. We are also planning on helping them out with Dylan’s girl scout cookie fundraiser in the spring. Forming a connection with a family from Middletown showed me how disconnected Wesleyan truly is from its surrounding community, and forced me to question why this has been happening for so long, which systems reinforce this disconnection, and how myself and other students can take action in even if the university remains inactive.
Sareth, her husband Chris, and her kids came and we had a great dinner in Usdan. We chatted about a lot of things. A few that stood out to me were Sareth’s recount of when she and her family returned to Cambodia and traveled around Asia two years ago to scatter her mother’s remains in the village that she was from. Sareth mentioned that her mother returned to the village after living in Canada for many years, and saw that conditions there had worsened, and vowed to build a water supply for the village, something that they didn’t have at the time. So, she saved all of her earnings by just scraping by every day and returned and built the village pond, which upon looking at photos, is incredibly beautiful.
Something else Sareth mentioned that really stuck with me is that she explained finding people’s ability to articulate their thoughts in written and spoken form in a way that really conveys meaning as a beautiful skill. As someone who speaks English as her second language, Sareth is often so moved by how beautifully her kids can speak. She also loves reading books for this reason as well. This made me reflect on how language is commonly undervalued amongst those who do not understand the opportunity and skill it involves, like in the U.S..
Overall, it meant a lot to me to be able to form a great connection with Sareth and her family. I really adore them all. She is so incredibly smart. Her insight on everything from language, to education, to life as an immigrant, is so thoughtful and beautiful. I learned so much from her, and am excited to continue our relationship.
