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St. Jerome students rally behind refugee family after child’s death
Myanmar immigrants mourn loss of 13-year-old son
By Peter Barnes, The Catholic Sun
February 21, 2008
Undaunted by the poverty that surrounded his short life, Andrew Lin wore a smile his friends will never forget.
“He was so happy all the time,” said Alicia Fuentes, part of the eighth-grade class at St. Jerome School which adopted Andrew’s parents and their seven children when they emigrated from Myanmar.
“He was a big hugger. He would wrap himself around you,” she said.
The Lins arrived in the United States with the help of Catholic Charities five months ago. Before that, they survived eight years at a refugee camp in Thailand where many ethnic minority Korean families have fled the oppressive regime ruling Myanmar.
“It makes you realize what you have,” Fuentes said.
Her class raised more than $31,000 for the family early in the school year and has helped the Lins adjust to everything from English to electric hair dryers.
But their journey, which had already touched dozens of St. Jerome teenagers and their parents, took a devastating turn on Jan. 25. While crossing the street near his home at 21st Avenue and Camelback Road, Andrew was hit by a car and later died. He was 13 years old.
In the weeks between the accident and the funeral Feb. 9, those at the school didn’t just share the Lins’ sadness. They said they also found inspiration in the family’s steadfast faith in the face of immeasurable grief.
Speaking through a translator just before the memorial service for his son, Ron Lin said the ordeal has made his relationship with God stronger.
“That’s the arrangement from above,” he said.
After the accident, Andrew’s parents quickly forgave the driver of the car that hit their son.
Lin said he knows in his heart the woman driving the car did not mean to hit his son. It was God who allowed it to happen, he said.
“The forgiveness, it just spoke volumes to the kids,” said Rose Mischke, the St. Jerome math and religion teacher who oversees the school’s long-standing involvement in the refugee program.
She got a phone call in the morning informing her of what happened. She told the students, and they immediately held a prayer service at the school.
Then they got to work. Parents contacted Community Church of Joy, and the Lutheran congregation allowed hundreds of people to fill its sanctuary for the memorial service on a day when St. Jerome was already booked.
A call to a local radio show helped round up buses to help transport members of the Lins’ church, West Dunlap Baptist Church in Phoenix, to the service.
“Every single step of the way we always thanked God,” Mischke said.
For years, the refugee program has helped shape the faith and perspective of the eighth-graders she teaches.
“It’s amazing the effect that it’s already had to this point,” she said.
This year, though, their service went beyond the fundraising, tutoring and Friday visits to the Lin home as the students and their parents helped arrange the funeral.
They set up a fund to help the family pay expenses. Donations can be made at any Bank of America branch, payable to the Andrew Lin Memorial Fund. They also can be mailed to St. Jerome Catholic School, 10815 N. 35th Ave., Phoenix, Ariz., 85029.
Dozens of eighth-graders could be spotted by their uniforms in the sanctuary, and they read a poem during the service.
“It helped us realize how close we are and how much we need to treasure our friendships,” said Fuentes, 13.
Ron Lin said it was a comfort to have so many people there for his family during their time of loss.
Descriptions by family members suggest that, had it been someone else, Andrew would have turned to God, fellowship and service just as his friends did.
Before the move, Andrew would sell fruit that had fallen from trees. He always gave the money to his mother, and he never complained when it went to food for everyone instead of a treat for him, his sister Paw Lat said during the service.
When he was bullied he never retaliated, she said. He always sought peace.
“My father asked him one time, what do you want to be when you grow up?” his sister said, in front of family and friends who say they remain inspired by the loving teenager. “Andrew said ‘an evangelist.’”
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