Tulsa Church Hosts Tutoring Program For Refugee Students

A pastor with a passion for helping immigrant families is providing tutoring every week for refugee students in the Tulsa area.

Joining us on the Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages Porch to talk more about it is Dr. Reverend Sei Touthang. He is the president of International Love Ministries.

Every Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., they host children ages six to 18 at Harvard Avenue Christian Church for dinner, mentoring, tutoring and playtime. The children are refugees from Manipur and Burma.

Dr. Rev. Sei Touthang hopes to move his outreach to refugees to a separate facility and welcome even more people groups in the future.

He said he and his wife, Ching, have been involved with the immigrant communities in Tulsa since 2007/2008. He said that’s the time when many immigrants from Burma started coming to Tulsa.

They volunteered to help them with various services such as obtaining social security numbers, getting driver’s licenses, finding jobs, taking them to clinics, and more.

Ching also volunteered at the Good Samaritans clinic for many years where many immigrants from Burma used to seek medical help. Most of them do not speak English.

Touthang said after a few years, the parents seem to start to settle down. They have jobs, buy cars, and own houses.

However, Touthang began to see another need that the immigrant community started to face, and that’s children education. He said many children need help with their studies, but the parents could not help.

The couple realized that for these young children to prepare for higher education, they must start early on. Touthang said they stepped up in faith and started a tutoring program in the fall of 2022.

Their goal is to lift up young students and families and bring positive impact in the communities. CLICK HERE to learn more about International Love Ministries. CLICK HERE to learn more about Harvard Avenue Christian Church.