Newcomers

As I grew up, I started to experience discrimination against Carl from boy for instance, I wasn't allowed to go outside alone. I had to stay home and do house work. Three years ago, when I was 15, my family had had to emigrate here because nuclear are economic situation as insufficient. Learning a new language and adapt to your new culture, my father's pancreas cancer, complicated. He was going to die. My sister and I were born in a poor family. The wage of my father in a month in U.S.. If you go to the barge of our family in the whole year in China. Since Julie Mann and Kim Allen met 12 years ago at a facing history teacher training, students from newcomers in saint Luke's have collaborated annually on projects at center on human rights. We started matching students and every year it starts with letter writing. So my students write letters about themselves and we start writing back and forth. Today, the buddies are meeting face to face for the first time. 

In this year's project, called building bridges, newcomer students will share their personal immigration stories and the saint Luke students will interview the newcomers about their lives and turn the findings into research papers. We include our story as immigrants who are difficulties we have faced what difficulties we had to pass through when we first came here and watched our condition now. What was coming to America? It was full of excitement. And I knew that our life is going to be far more better than before. Because we have more opportunities here than in living in Nepal. Was it hard to adapt to America? Yeah. The last time I was not the same food, it's not the same language. It's not the same like France. And in school, because you need to start a new life. Again. So did you feel ashamed to be an immigrant? I feel ashamed to turn my story. 

How I do Kim heating with anything. Because we came here because of the Civil War in Congo and in part as a result of the Civil War, my father was a victim of that. That's kind of any time I think of that it makes me kind of hate what they did to my father. My body's name is Owen. He's an amazing kid. I spoke to my sister living with a lot of your story and if you mind, I can use your story to tell people, go ahead. That's what I wanted. I wanted to publish and so people can see that these people can the United States because of something. Julie's students, like the larger immigrant population, are struggling with the perception that their presence in this country is a threat. And that their differences make them dangerous. It's important that people get to know that immigrants are not bad people that we're not here to take away things from Americans that we're here to help to work to get a better future better life. I have two buddies and their names are Fernando and Jonathan. They're actually they're really great. 

I learned that Jonathan wants to be an electrician, which I didn't really expect. And I also found out that Fernando wants to be a mechanic. Which is really cool. So I got to know a little bit about what their goals are. They want to they want to have jobs and want to be responsible people. I think for the students at saint Luke's, who have had little experience with new immigrants to the United States, they might have one idea of who they are. And they can read about it and they can learn about immigration, but unless they become friends intimate friends with a person who's an immigrant and really understand what that struggle is about, it's hard for them to know what that means. And so the further back him and I can step, the more real that relationship is going to be. I didn't know that there was a war in Congo or their life seems so difficult and they just wanted to come here for a better life and I didn't have to deal with that so it was really interesting to get to know their immigration story. 

It's really hard enough as it is to even get here and that by giving them an even harder time. It's not doing anyone affair. At the beginning, none of my friends wanted to tell their story because like that is something personal. Are you guys glad you came here? Actually trying to know about you and your past and your feelings do you feel like an American? Like in America? Not really. One of the kids today was crying during one of her interviews because many of the issues that the immigrant students are dealing with are very, very upsetting. But I think that there are issues that we have to talk about and I don't think that teenagers are as afraid to talk about it as adults are. I think they just have to be given the opportunity to. Over the next few months, students will continue to talk to their bodies through letters and in person, and the immigration essays they've collaborated on will be collected into a book. 

Thank you for my buddy. He's a very smart guy, oh my God, very smart guys. Some teachers, you know? You know? Mistakes. Thank you, my Friends. I was there. If you feel cold, that maybe someday there will be racial crimes. Now I feel like I really can make a change. It just starts in the beginning. No matter where you come from, well, what was your obstacles? What was your social standard? What was your family country and you make your own identity? You proved the world who you are.