Teachers and Students

This edition of the EMM newsletter contains three stories that happen to involve educators. Two of the three revolve around young men with a background in teaching economics.

Yet the similarities between those two would appear to end there. Desire Bahombwa is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania for 15 years before resetting in Chicago last month.

His work in setting up a brand-new school in his camp was likely dramatically different from that of Drew Mons, who teaches honors students in a Catholic school in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Yet both teachers have demonstrated a commitment to service, and both have been involved in the refugee resettlement work of EMM in one way or another.

Desire is seen in the classroom before departing Tanzania in the photo on top at right, while Drew's students are pictured below, preparing an apartment for a newly arriving refugee family.

So as Desire begins the difficult adjustment to life in the U.S., working to learn a new language, rebuild his career, and support his family, it's good to know that Drew is working with his students to greet and serve folks just like Desire. The same is true of Jill Blackman and her colleagues in the Fayette County School District in Lexington, Kentucky.

The stories below show the inherent connections between these seemingly different people, providing inspiring examples of hard work, hopeful perseverance and a commitment to helping others.

That sounds like a foundation for a good education.

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From Congo to Chicago, refugee weathers hardships to find home

After 15 years of living in refugee camps, Desire Bahombwa Asukulu was facing an abrupt and enormous life change when he stepped off a plane in Chicago on April 17. The feeling of anxiety that went along with that change was just as significant.

 

But as Desire exited the terminal with his wife and six kids, a group of smiling faces helped ease the strain. A contingent of staff from RefugeeOne, EMM’s longtime affiliate partner in Chicago, and co-sponsors from the Yale University Alumni Club of Chicago met the family with gifts and greetings.

 

“The trip to Chicago was long and tiring. We were so worried because we didn’t know what we would find,“ Desire said through an interpreter during a recent conversation.

 

“When we got to the airport, we saw the RefugeeOne staff and the volunteers from Yale. We were not expecting that. We got such a welcome and we were very relieved.”

 

Desire had the opportunity to thank RefugeeOne, along with many of its most committed supporters just 10 days after arriving in the U.S., when he spoke at the agency’s 30th anniversary gala on April 27.

 

Speaking on a panel that included RefugeeOne’s first African client, Befekadu Retta, who came to Chicago 28 years ago, Desire helped make the experience of refugees real and immediate for a crowd of 350 supporters and donors gathered to celebrate the agency’s work.

 

And while RefugeeOne’s 30 years of transforming lives were celebrated, Desire’s story underscored the need for continuing resettlement and aid for refugees around the world.

 

Desire hails originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation that has been torn apart by a cruel and fractious conflict for more than 15 years, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

 

Desire and his wife fled their home on foot in 1997 as ethnic militias were rounding up men and forcing them to fight in the exploding civil war. Those who refused were often killed. Desire’s only option was to seek asylum in neighboring Tanzania, where he found a hard life waiting in Nyarugusu refugee camp.

 

“Life in the refugee camp was very difficult. I was given just a small space to build a hut using a tarp and wood we gathered ourselves,” he said. “There were insufficient rations; medical care was poor, and many people died from illness.”

 

In spite of the harsh conditions, Desire saw all of his children born in the camp, and he found work as a secondary-school teacher, teaching economics and finance.


However, instability and violence have persisted in Desire’s home region of Congo. After 12 years in Tanzania, the family was able to apply for resettlement; they found out they were going to Chicago only shortly before leaving Africa.

 

Now, with a safe home and a future free from war, Desire’s goals are simple, but inspiring all the same.

 

“Now that I’m here, I want to concentrate on having a good life, one that is calm and free from the conflicts that we left behind,” he said. “I want a good life for my children.”

After-school program blooms into holistic resource for refugees

When Jill Blackman answered her phone on a recent Thursday afternoon, she was in the car on the way to an art museum with a group of children – refugee youth from her after-school program – to see their own creations on display.

 

“The museum is at Georgetown College. Luella Pavey, who's a local artist, and an art student named Portia Watson came and worked with [the refugee students] on a project, and now the college is displaying their work,” she explained.

 

Blackman is a social worker and the director of the family resource and youth service center at two schools in Lexington, Kentucky. She is also a valuable friend to the refugee community in Lexington, which is home to an office of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, EMM’s partner in the state.

 

Blackman and ELL teachers at Cassidy Elementary, along with partners at the University of Kentucky, started an after-school tutoring program for students in elementary and middle schools about five years ago, when they identified a critical mass of refugee kids who needed academic and cultural support as they adjusted to life and school in the U.S.

 

From that program grew an effort to serve not just the children, but their families and the rest of the Lexington community. Blackman and her colleagues expanded their tutoring time, creating a program called FACE Time, short for Family and Community Education.

 

Through an extended school day, refugee children, parents, and community volunteers began gathering for activities designed to support the students and to address other challenges faced by refugees as they integrate into the community.

 

Today, the program includes eight-week after-school programs in the spring and fall, and a four-week summer camp at the school, along with regular stakeholder meetings where refugees, social service providers, and other community members can gather to communicate and plan.

 

In addition, a refugee community garden and family literacy nights help provide educational and cultural adjustment opportunities for children and parents.

 

The idea behind all of this: healthy families enable children to learn without the barrier of stress at home.

 

“[Kentucky Refugee Ministries] does so much initially, but it’s hard for refugees to carry on over the long term,” Blackman said. “From one after-school program, this has grown into a lot of different things that offer support.”


The program has received some support from a federal grant through the Office of Refugee Resettlement, but during its initial years, it got its legs through the dedication and will of planners. Today, it’s an example of collaboration and creative problem solving that’s making the transition better for refugees and the whole Lexington community.

Students learn lessons in economics and compassion

Drew Mons believes that his economics students should learn their lessons by tackling real world problems. And the experiences of refugees transitioning into a new life in the United States presented Mons’ class with a valuable learning opportunity, along with a chance to make a real impact in the lives of two families.

 

“I pose a real world problem and my students need to go solve it. They end up finding that they need to learn the economics and develop the communication and collaboration skills,” said Mons, an 11th- and 12th-grade economics students at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota.

 

Over the course of the past semester, Mons’ students examined the financial realities that face newcomers once they land in Minnesota, negotiating the many needs that new Americans and the resettlement agencies that serve them must consider, all while working on a fixed income.

 

To get the ball rolling, Mons met with staff at the Minnesota Council of Churches, EMM’s local affiliate partner, who detailed the many expenses that must be met for an incoming family within the bounds of a per capita grant (between $925 and $1,100) provided by the State Department to cover all expenses for 90 days.

 

The math presented a significant challenge to Mons’ students: how to build a new life in a new country with very limited resources.

 

The students worked in groups to develop budgets for a family of two and for a family of four, pricing everything from grocery expenses at 12 local grocery stores, to bus passes and rice cookers, all with the intention of finding the most cost-effective way to adjust and to start life anew in the community.

 

“We started talking about what the costs were. For example, refugees’ apartments don’t come with a bed, and out of that money you need a deposit and first month’s rent. Most of the time MCC takes on that deposit,” Mons said. “Out of that process it became apparent how essential it was to have donated items to set these family up for success.”

 

The students took that newfound knowledge and began applying it; working with MCC, the class collected donations to fully furnish two apartments for newly arriving families. Some of the volunteers worked to set up the apartments, and another group greeted them at the airport.

 

Mons' students said the project was completely unique, providing an opportunity to apply their lessons in a real-world context and to learn about the experiences of refugees while actively welcoming the families.

 

"Now that this project is over I see how lucky I am to be in a country where I can feel safe and live in a community that is so welcoming," student Nicole Fabel said. "I hope the families that we helped will feel the same when they finish settling in."

 

Fabel's classmate Henry Lynch was struck by the difficulties that refugees must overcome, and the resilience required for them to survive and succeed.

 

"The amount of bravery that [refugees] have in leaving their homes in search for something new is amazing and inspiring," Lynch said. "The most fulfilling part about this whole experience was knowing that I have helped this family who had nothing to start from."

 

From the initial project, Mons said the school community is building a commitment to serving refugees in partnership with MCC. Parents and students have been bringing in a regular stream of donations, and Mons is working on developing the lesson into a curriculum to be shared with other schools.

 

“If my kids can go back in their neighborhood and look at, ‘How am I doing in relation to the other people sharing the city with me?’ that’s pretty exciting. That’s opening up their perspectives a little bit more,” he said.

New videos share refugee success stories, community supporters

In time for World Refugee Day on June 20 and the Episcopal Church General Convention in July, EMM has produced a series of new videos to share the work of our affiliate network and the accomplishments of the refugees they welcome.

 

Shot in four separate communities where EMM affiliates welcome newcomers, these videos show the broad-based community supports that benefits newly arriving refugees every day.

 

A video shot in Austin, Texas, features an Episcopal parish that's become committed to serving uprooted newcomers in their community.

 

In Boise, Idaho, a community-based resettlement approach is producing amazing results for refugees, as well as many others.

 

In Atlanta, Georgia, a financial training and assistance program is helping entrepreneurial refugees leverage their savings to build strong futures and accomplish their dreams.

 

And in New Bern, North Carolina, an after-school program is helping young refugee adjust to U.S. life.

EMM in the Press

The CBS Evening News ran a feature story that followed a Burmese refugee from a Thai refugee camp to Syracuse, New York, where our affiliate partners at Interfaith Works of Central New York serves refugees and other migrants.


WBEZ Radio in Chicago aired a wide-ranging interview with Greg Wangerin, director of our affiliate office at RefugeeOne, along with David Robinson from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

 

The community-based refugee plan implemented by the city of Boise earned coverage from the local TV news.

 

Gatbel Chamjock, a former Sudanese Lost Boy, was profiled by the Denver Post for the progress he's made since arriving in Colorado.

Acknowledgments

This newsletter is produced with support from the United States Department of State. Opinions expressed here may not reflect the positions of the Department of State.




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