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Joan was born in 1998 in Myanmar. Her older cousin took her and her brother and fled to Malaysia in 2009. They waited for two years to be granted refugee status.

He experienced uncertainty and abandonment at age 9 as he entered the Catholic Charities unaccompanied minor program (UMP). With his huge brown eyes, he took in the world around him. Anthony's history makes him slow to trust. He likes to be mostly silent and aloof. Then one day, there is a breakthrough when the classroom is visited by a four-legged volunteer with floppy ears and a presence that offers companionship without expectations. Anthony blossoms!

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