Bright Smiles for the New School Year

Thirty refugee children started school with new backpacks and big smiles this fall. Siblings Samjana, Tshewang, and Sumitra Tamang (above) are ready for their first day of school, thanks to the preparations of IRC’s family support team. In addition to registering children for school, the IRC offers every newly arriving family an orientation to local schools, tours of their children’s schools, and assistance with school meetings and special education needs. This year, Charlottesville and Albemarle schools enrolled students from Bhutan, Iraq, Burma, Colombia, Burundi, Afghanistan, Congo, and Kenya.