Saddest Student Story EVER

From 3-31
Today I was talking to one of my Sudanese students about her life. Since I've known a lot of Sudanese immigrants, I know there's always an amazing story to be had if you ask the right questions. The long and short of it is: When she was born, her tribe threw her out on a rocky hill for the lions to eat because something was wrong with her. So that night her mother snuck out and got her, and ran away. She ran right into the wars in southern Sudan/central africa, and grew up in refugee camps.
Now she's moved here to a horrible town in TN that must seem like paradise. I have absolutely unlimited patience for this child because I am so happy that she is alive, and she is so happy to learn. But she knows nothing of the material that's required of her. And it's not like she can get testing in Dinka to see if she qualifies for special services...
Still I have spent time after school with her daily going over material, and going all the way back to where her knowledge begins to try and scaffold her up. That's so much of what tutoring work really is- going to material lower than is available and making sure that a solid foundation exists for new knowledge. That's hard to do when your education didn't even begin until you were 12.