Perseverance and the help of a village brings family together at last

Sometimes patience and tenacity pay off in immeasurable reward.
Spoiler alert: Peter has been reunited with his wife and daughter here in the United States.

That is the happy ending/beginning – kind of the end of the story that is really just a start. The middle is the heart string puller and tear jerker that makes the end/beginning so sweet.

Three summers ago which could be a decade or more in times of life happenings, I had the privilege of working with a young Sudanese man, Peter, as he studied for his American citizenship test. Peter faced every possible odd in passing the very difficult exam. His English was very limited, and his native language is Arabic which reads from right to left. A fact I learned deep into our tutoring sessions.

Together, Peter learned key facts of our country’s history, customs, and government structure, and I refreshed on long-forgotten details. To gain American citizenship is a very hard-earned reward and I don’t know when I ever watched a student work more diligently toward a goal.

Peter works an early-morning shift at our church in Tennessee, and at the time, he also worked full time in a factory. He is still employed as a full-time laborer in addition to working at the church. We plugged away each morning that summer after he finished his job at the church. We tuned his reading skills, as well as test preparation because the test is administered in written form only. I tried to have the test read orally, to no avail.

In August of 2008, I received a phone call that gave me one of my proudest moments ever as a teacher. “I passed” was all he said as a cherry on the top of his dedication. He made the accomplishment of a lifetime and without fan fair, he called me on the drive from Memphis back to Nashville and dropped some of the heaviest good news I have ever heard. This was his first attempt at the American citizenship examination.

Gaining American citizenship holds meaning different for each person who endures the rigors, but for Peter, passing the exam carried a weight of significance far beyond flag waving at the swearing–in ceremony.

Peter has a young Sudanese wife who fled that country with her family to Egypt. In Egypt, people from the Sudan suffer terrible persecution. Peter did not have the money to go and visit her and the only way to bring her to live with him and his family was through American citizenship. A great weight rested on this young hard-working man’s shoulders.

We all held the simplistic notion that with Peter as a full-fledged American citizen, he could bring his wife to America. The transition turned out to be a very arduous one. Staff from the church made phone calls and helped as much as they could. Peter’s congressman helped, but the process proved complicated and long.

Peter visited once and a child resulted. Now, the need to bring his wife to his new homeland became even more urgent. Months turned into years; uprisings erupted in Egypt; travel complications ensued.

Last weekend begins the end of his story. Peter’s wife and baby arrived in Nashville, Tennessee. After a life of uncountable obstacles and trauma, this New American and Lost Boy of Sudan rests together in his American home with his family.

Thanks be to God.