Newcomers
Written by Amy Stevenson
I have been reading “The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom.” The author, Helen Thorpe, spent a year in a Colorado high school classroom following the first year of transition for newly resettled refugees. The class was made up of 22 refugee adolescents speaking 14 different languages. Their amazing teacher, Mr. Williams, was tasked with teaching them English and helping them learn to live in America.
Something that was fascinating for me was the reminder that even families that are fortunate enough to enter legally into the country have adjustments to make. In a chapter titled “We Hate Sheep,” Thorpe describes the huge shift in culture that a family from Democratic Republic of Congo was making.
She learned that even the idea of making an appointment was new to them. They didn’t arrange to visit people at certain times, they just showed up and if someone was there, they had a nice visit.
Guests ate from the common family bowl not with individual place settings.
They did not have the concept of choosing a career. Everyone just did the work that was available and necessary back in their village.
Nobody took out loans or needed a bank to buy a house. You bought what you could with the money in your hands.
The sound of fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July were terrifying and brought instant fear because they sounded like the gunfire they had lived through years earlier.
I have come to respect the sacrifices refugees are making. To save their own lives they have willingly left so much of their comforts and traditions behind. They work to integrate their past into the present and must learn new traditions and languages in order to live in a better and safer place. They are remarkable.
Voices of Resilience: 3 Afghani Refugees Use Their Professions to Make a Better World
This month marks the three year anniversary of the fall of Kabul. When the city fell, many were forced to flee their homes. Women who had careers, women who dreamed of careers, and women who lifted their voices to fight for equal rights were some of those most at risk. To America’s great benefit, some of these women landed in the US.
My First Asylum Case: An Attorney's Perspective on Asylum in the United States
I took my first asylum case in 2016, when our national dialog on immigration took a decidedly negative turn. As a corporate attorney, I had no experience in immigration law, but my license allowed me to represent individuals fleeing severe persecution and I signed with a local non-profit to offer my help. My first asylum client was a young mother and her two small daughters. I could see myself in Saba.
Their Story is Our Story Applauds the Signing of Virginia House Bill 995 and Continues Efforts to Open Doors for Foreign-trained Medical Professionals in Other States
Their Story is Our Story (TSOS), a non-profit organization that collects and shares the experiences of refugees to deepen understanding and influence action, applauds the signing of Virginia House Bill 995 into law by Governor Glenn Youngkin, after its unanimous passage through the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate. It will create a pathway for foreign-trained doctors who have immigrated to the state, including those whose careers were interrupted by forcible displacement, to fill workforce gaps in medically underserved communities.