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Immigration
Education
a program of MCC U.S. Peace & Justice Ministries,
coordinates educational events, provides up-to-date resource materials
on immigration issues, assists constituents interested in developing
an immigration program and promotes immigration advocacy. Regional
MCC U.S. staff plan events in their areas.
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During an Immigrant Learning Tour
in Harrisonburg, Va., immigrant panelists (second from left)
Adela See, Maricela and Felix Jaimez share their stories while
Elaine Zook-Barge, left, and Susannah Gerber Lepley, right,
translate and facilitate discussion.
(Photo by Ervie Glick) |
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40-Hour
Immigration Training
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Tour opens participants' eyes to immigrants' world
by Rachel Beth Miller
HARRISONBURG, Va. -- Cross-cultural "study tours" often
take participants to far-away locations. But churches here are pioneering
a new kind of tour, one that connects participants with recent immigrants
in their own communities.
Organized by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) East Coast and New
Bridges Immigrant Resource Center, an April 4 to 6 Immigrant Learning
Tour introduced 11 area residents to the struggles Hispanic newcomers
to Harrisonburg face. They heard from a panel of immigrants, talked
with an immigration attorney, visited English classes and a poultry
plant and met with representatives of agencies that work with immigrants.
Participants from Ridgeway Mennonite Church were so excited about
what they had learned that they requested a tour for more members
of their congregation. New Bridges, a project of local Mennonite
churches, helped set up a similar tour June 2 to 4 for 20 people
from Ridgeway. The center now plans to offer four tours a year.
"I have experienced that communities live by each other rather
than with each other," said participant Vesna Hart, a member
of Shalom Mennonite Church. "This [tour] is one way to bridge
them."
Hart is originally from Croatia. Harrisonburg, a town of 40,000,
is also home to large numbers of recently-arrived Hispanics, Ukrainians
and Kurds, in addition to Mennonites whose ancestors migrated to
the Shenandoah Valley in the early 1700s. Drawn by abundant jobs
in poultry processing plants, the area's Hispanic population has
mushroomed in recent years. New Bridges focuses on assisting these
immigrants, many of whom arrive in the United States without legal
permission to reside and work here.
Learning tour participants agreed that hearing personal stories
from immigrants themselves was the most powerful part of the tour.
During a Hispanic meal and panel discussion, participants in the
tours heard Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants tell stories of the
poverty that compelled them to leave their homes, the difficult
journey north and the struggle to survive in a strange, sometimes
hostile new place.
"Often because of the language barrier it's hard for [Spanish-speaking]
immigrants to connect [with English speakers]," said Susannah
Gerber Lepley, New Bridges director. "This was a chance for
them to see that there are North Americans who are interested in
hearing what they have to say."
"Thanks for listening to us," agreed Maricela, a Mexican
immigrant who participated in the panel. "Being able to tell
our stories is so important to us. I hope this happens many times."
Lois Wenger, a member of Ridgeway Mennonite Church who participated
in both tours, said immigrants' stories and attorney Scott Hansen's
discussion of legal issues opened her eyes to immigrants' everyday
struggles.
"I had no idea what people have to go through to get documentation,"
she said. "And I had no idea of the constant fear people live
in because they don't have documentation."
Her church is located in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. The tour
helped Ridgeway members move past feeling overwhelmed with the needs
around them to seeing how they can plug into current efforts to
assist immigrants, Wenger said. In conjunction with New Bridges,
the congregation plans to begin offering computer-aided English
classes at their church building and to explore other ways to reach
out to people in their community.
The first tour also included participants from other local congregations,
several of whom are interested in setting up a tour for members
of their churches.
Elaine Zook Barge of MCC East Coast, who helped plan the first
tour, has led many learning tours to Latin America. Her inspiration
for a local tour came from a similar project organized by West Coast
MCC in California. She and Lepley see the tours as a model that
could be carried out in other communities where churches composed
mostly of long-time residents want to connect with newcomers.
Lepley encouraged those interested in planning a similar effort
to find out which local agencies and groups are already assisting
immigrants and to build trusting relationships with individual immigrants.
For more information, contact Lepley at (540) 438-8295, newbridges1@aol.com
or Barge at (540) 432-4320, ezb@mcc.org. |
