Refugees In Warren St. John's Outcasts United

“The U.S. received 84,995 refugees in fiscal year 2016, effectively meeting the 85,000 ceiling set by the Obama administration at the beginning of the year” (Connor). In the novel, Outcasts United by Warren St. John, a Jordanian woman, Luma Mufleh, forms soccer teams of refugees to give the children structure in their lives. As a result she discovers who she is from the soccer field, and how she can help others. The novel shows how families can overcome the challenges faced with being a refugee like racism, language barriers, poverty and hunger. Around the 1980s in Clarkston, Georgia when refugees were arriving, it was discovered that top-down efforts to impose contact and understanding between various groups were more likely to fail, but

One example of this is how soccer turns into therapy for the children. “The soccer field, [Luma] felt, should be a place where they could leave all that behind” (St. John 58). The children have gone through war and the loss of friends and family. They needed something in their lives to get away from all the trauma and hardship they were going through. Not to mention they are in another country where everything is different and stressful. Luma’s soccer program is an effective way for the refugees to be free and just be kids again. Soccer gives them structure in their lives so that they can succeed in their new country. Also, Luma’s soccer program helps the refugee children with their education. “Many had come from societies that had been fractured by war, and as a consequence they never had access to any kind of formal education” (St. John 58). Luma held tutoring sessions for all of her players to help them catch up in their schooling; since in the United States students are in classes by their age group not by how well they perform. Luma effectively helps the refugees succeed in their schooling which helps them learn English better and will help them find success in the United States. Hence, Luma consequently unites the refugees through her soccer program and as a result they are able to thrive in