Colorado Refugee ESL Home Tutors

Town hall meeting!

2011-11-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

Town Hall Meeting
Refugee Resettlement in Colorado

You’re invited to a town hall meeting with Eskinder Negash, Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement; Earl Johnson, Director, Office of Family Assistance: and Thomas F. Sullivan, Regional Administrator, Region VIII (Denver), Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This is an important forum to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing refugee resettlement in Colorado.

Monday, November 14, 2011
1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Temple Events Center
1595 Pearl Street
Denver, CO 80203-2021
(720) 663-8130

(The Temple Events Center is at the corner of Pearl and 16th street, a block down from Colfax. The only street side parking is limited to two hours. Plenty of parking is available in lots next to the Temple Events Center and down Pearl street between 16th and 17th street. Most are $3 for the day and require cash deposited in the self-serve collection box.)

If you have any questions or need directions, please call the Colorado Refugee Services Program office at 303-863-8211.

Another dispatch from the field

2011-10-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

This month, in-home tutor Andy Prinsen reflects on his experience with the Burmese family he helps with English and literacy.

Though she is only 59, she looks much older, and it's as if this is the first time she has held a pen. If I place my own hand over hers and help her make the motions of the letters, she can write in the big block, all-caps print of starting language learners. But if I sit and watch, it takes the old woman several minutes to sit and contemplate a plan for forming the letters. She mumbles to herself and makes motions with her finger in the air - always starting from the bottom and pushing up rather than from the top down like I've tried to show her dozens of times.

But when she finishes, when she gets through scratching out all five letters of her first and last name combined, something magical happens. I give her a thumbs up and say "Good job!" words she doesn't actually understand the meaning of, and there is a sparkle in her eye - a sense of academic accomplishment that I have to remind myself every week she never got as a little girl. For her, these are the same steps I took as a kindergartner. But she doesn't seem upset that it took her much longer. Like her fellow countrywomen, she is steadfast - even stoic.

The woman's name is Ma Naw* and I get to meet with her and her husband every week to learn English. They are refugees from Burma that have been living here in Denver since February. When I show up at their door, a less than ideal apartment complex in one of Denver's less desirable neighborhoods, the old man is always wearing a sweatshirt and a jacket, with both hoods on. Even at 65°, Denver feels much colder than the jungle where he and his wife were rice farmers for decades. When I look at this man and realize he has been alive since 1932, there are so many things I want to ask him. He has seen Burma go from a British colony to an independent nation. He has then seen that nation overthrown and ripped apart by a violent military junta who then made it their policy to target people from his and other ethnic groups.

But we can't talk about any of this yet because we're still working on "money" ("pay-jong" in Karen), "spoon" ("nu-tow"), and "head" ("ko-quee"). And I know that neither his English nor my Karen will probably ever be good enough for us to have those conversations that I would love to have. But for now, that's ok. For now I can settle for sharing laughs over their inability to produce an "f" sound without any top front teeth, and my inability to pronounce most any of the sounds in their language. For now, I will do my part how I can and hope that one day they will be able to return to the land they love.

If you live in the Denver area and are interested in becoming an English tutor for a refugee family, visit the program's website or Emily Griffith Technical College's website to learn how.

Andy Prinsen is a staff member with Global Refuge, a nonprofit organization that provides relief in conflict, human persecution, and natural and man-made disasters, with an emphasis on a lasting and hopeful recovery. They work inside Burma, where his English students are from. http://www.globalrefuge.org/

*Name changed for privacy

Celebrate Bada Dashain 2011

2011-10-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

Volunteers: Is your student from Bhutan? If so, Denver's Bhutanese community would like to help you learn a bit about Hindu culture by sharing some core cultural values and traditions.

On the auspicious occasion of biggest Hindu festival, “Bada Dashain,” the Bhutanese Community organization of Colorado, in coordination with the Special Durga Puja Committee, is organizing a day long Durga Puja celebration to commemorate the divine victory of Goddess Durga over the devil king Maishasur.

Therefore we cordially invite you to grace the grand celebration. The celebration begins with a recitation of the holy book by religious leaders followed by singing of religious songs in praise of Goddess Durga and finally ends with a blessing. A variety of traditional food (Prasad) will be served throughout the program.

Lowry Park
1000 Dayton Street
Shelter-2

Wednesday, October 5
Time: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Also, don’t worry about this being an all day event. You can drop by at any time to learn and celebrate. You can also target the noon hour as the best time to share in the celebration.

Tina Griego, Denver Post

2011-09-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Griego: A refugee in Colorado finally reunited with his family after years of waiting
By Tina Griego
Denver Post Columnist
Posted: 09/25/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 09/25/2011 10:42:41 AM MDT

On Thursday at midnight, the main terminal at Denver International Airport is nearly empty. The ticket counters have long closed. A worker polishes the floors. A chipper Burger King employee makes coffee and takes orders and jokes with two TSA agents. "Just another night in paradise."

Degnath Adhikari waits for his family to arrive. It is not a stretch to say he's been waiting for two years. He left the refugee camp in Nepal and arrived in Denver on Sept. 17, 2009. He left behind his parents, two sisters and two brothers. He believed they would join him within six months. Six months came and went.

Read more: Griego: A refugee in Colorado finally reunited with his family after years of waiting - The Denver Post

Eat well so others can simply eat

2011-09-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Unless you never tune into news via any media, you are certainly aware of the famine and human tragedy unfolding in the Horn of Africa. Starving and displaced Somalis have been pouring into Kenya at over a thousand per day looking for some relief.

Because of the magnitude of the number of people trying to get help, international aid agencies are strapped for resources. There are many ways to donate to the cause, including a local fundraiser here in Denver.

Please join ACC for a dinner benefiting the famine relief efforts of Save the Children.

Thursday, September 22, 6-10pm

Le Central, 112 E 8th Ave

Paella Buffet and Sangria

Tickets: $50 couple/$35 individual

Available for purchase at ACC, Safari Thrift and at the door.

http://acc-den.org/platesforhope.html

Coffee with a purpose

2011-08-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Something new and quite exciting is coming to Emily Griffith Technical College this fall: Emily's Coffee. This full-featured coffee shop will be a real-life learning lab for refugee students. The shop will offer a full selection of coffee drinks, including espresso, latte, and cappuccino.

The coffee shop will provide refugee students the opportunity to learn the realities of fast-paced customer service and workplace expectations, as well as the day-to-day processes that make a small business run.

Now hiring
The shop is slated to open later in the fall, but hiring for paid staff has started. There is currently an opening for a barista/coffee shop manager. In addition to having exceptional barista skills and the ability to pull an excellent espresso, candidates should have some understanding of refugee populations, a willingness to work in a multicultural environment, patience, and a talent for training. Click here to see the complete job description and candidate qualifications.

We'll keep you posted on the grand opening details of Emily's Coffee as the date approaches.

Age is just a number

2011-08-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Refugees come in all shapes and sizes--and many ages. The CRESL program serves adults both at Emily Griffith Technical College (EGTC) and through the in-home tutoring program.

While most of the adults who attend classes at EGTC are of working age, many retired seniors aren't up for the rigors of daily classes and the commute to and from downtown. This doesn't mean our older refugee clients don't have a desire to learn English or to adapt to American culture. In fact, they're some of the most eager students we have in the program.

If you have taken a break from tutoring or you would like to start, please consider working with one of the many seniors waiting for an in-home tutor. The experience is often even more rewarding than working with a younger person.

This month, UNHCR published two stories about elderly refugees. Both are inspiring!

At 99, grandma from Bhutan chooses new life over old

DAMAK, Nepal, August 22 (UNHCR) – Unlike many elderly refugees in eastern Nepal's camps who pass their time reading scriptures and chatting with each other, 99-year-old Bishnu Maya Bharati grabs her refugee identity card and visits the UN refugee agency's office every now and then, asking about her resettlement case.

The old woman, along with eight family members, has been waiting to get resettled in the United States, the largest destination of refugees from Bhutan opting for third country resettlement. Five members of her elder son's family have already started new lives in the United States.

"I want to go for resettlement rather than go back to Bhutan as the future of my children and grandchildren will be better in the US," said Bharati. Click here to read the full article.

Zambia's oldest refugee celebrates 100th birthday
MAYUKWAYUKWA, Zambia, Aug 2 (UNHCR) – As fellow Angolan refugees sang, danced and ululated, Erculano Salugardo celebrated his 100th birthday with gifts, toasts and goodwill messages in one of Africa's oldest refugee settlements.

The centenarian, believed to be the oldest refugee in Zambia, was in an exuberant mood during his landmark birthday party last Friday in the Mayukwayukwa refugee settlement. He even joined in the singing after advising well wishers that the best way to reach old age was to take care of your health.

The celebration was organized by UNHCR, Zambian government officials and other refugees in the settlement. A beaming Salugardo was presented with a cake and several gifts, including a new hut, mattress, blankets, food and clothing.

The only thing missing was his family. Click here to read the full article.

Job openings here and there

2011-06-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

Mercy Housing’s Resident Services Team is looking for an After School and Summer Program Manager at Grace Apartments (in Denver). Experience with Refugee Youth highly desired. Full time, benefited position.

Must be dependable, community minded and a self starter. Interest in soccer and other outdoor physical activities a plus.

Please send resume directly to kbonamasso@mercyhousing.org or apply online at http://www.mercyhousing.org/ by Friday July 1st.

To find job openings at Emily Griffith, simply go to http://www.egos-school.com/ and click on “About Us” near the top of the page. On the right hand side, click on “Job Opportunities.”

A link to each specific job opening will appear. Currently, there four open positions.

Currently on YouTube

2011-06-16T13:14:00.001-07:00

The UNHCR channel on YouTube is currently featuring first-person accounts of refugees' experiences. Refugees share their compelling stories and talk about what it's like to start life over.

The introduction video is shown here. For the first-person stories, visit the channel by clicking here.

Refugees in Focus: A Film Festival

2011-06-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Please join us on June 14, 15, and 16 for

Refugees in Focus
A film festival commemorating World Refugee Day

Three days, seven films, ten million stories

All films will be shown at Emily Griffith Technical College in downtown Denver. The roster includes the new documentary, Welcome to Shelbyville, as well as six other films that explore refugee issues both in the U.S. and abroad.

Watch. Think. Discuss.
For event details and full listing of the films scheduled, please click here to visit our website.

World Refugee Day is Coming!

2011-05-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

World Refugee Day is June 20, but in Denver we'll be celebrating on Friday, June 17. Join us for a day-long conference about refugees, or come for cultural fun in the evening and enjoy music, food, and dance. See you then!

Click on the image to enlarge.

To register for the free conference, click here.

The illusion of peace and democracy

2011-05-20T09:49:00.001-07:00

There is a compelling article about Burma and the Karen refugees in Thailand in today's edition of The Economist. Unsettling, indeed.

Here is an excerpt of the article :

Yet nobody who works in eastern Myanmar, where most of the refugees would have to go back to, believes that the conditions remotely exist for their safe return. Indeed, the region gives the lie to the notion that the country really is making ASEAN’s “steady progress” towards the sunny uplands of democracy and peace.

For a start, the low-level guerrilla war that has rumbled on between small groups of armed Karen and the Myanmar army has if anything got nastier since the election. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the main NGO looking after the refugees, estimates that conflict has made a further 70,000 people homeless in Kayin (formerly Karen) state in the past year, with 113 villages cleared. Often, the army orders villagers off their land to allow for mining, logging and other resource exploitation. In all, Burmese who have been internally displaced are reckoned to number over 500,000. In the past few weeks hundreds more have been fleeing over the border.

To read more, visit the Website.

photo: corbis, The Economist

Bhutan explained in 5 minutes

2011-05-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

During the past 18 months, Colorado has received an increasing number of Bhutanese refugees who are coming from camps in Nepal. If you're unfamiliar with what led to the ethnic Nepalese being forced to leave Bhutan, the PBS News Hour has a concise yet thorough explanation of the situation on its Website. The story and slideshow are five minutes long.

Photo: Don Duncan, PBS

About 100,000 refugees from Bhutan have been living in U.N.-run refugee camps in eastern Nepal since the early 1990s. Many of these ethnic Nepalese are in the process of being resettled in other countries, but a few hard-liners are looking to return to Bhutan -- even through force. Click here for the story and slideshow.

Dear Abby

2011-05-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

On Monday, May 2, 2011, Dear Abby featured a letter about how to be a helpful volunteer--especially young people and those looking for internships. It may have been written by someone you know. Just sayin'.

VOLUNTEERS, KEEP THIS IN MIND: SOMEONE IS COUNTING ON YOU

DEAR ABBY: I am a volunteer manager coordinating services between 200 students and tutors in an adult refugee English as a Second Language program. We benefit greatly from the skills and perspectives of young people, but the job requires volunteers to be self-directed and mature enough to handle the assignment. May I offer some advice to those who wish to volunteer for any program for class credit -- as an intern or during summer vacation?

Click here to read the entire column.

Women's programs build community, confidence

2011-04-07T12:37:00.001-07:00

Kristen Damron understands the Chinese proverb that "women hold up half the sky." She also knows that refugee women have a particularly challenging situation ahead of them when they are resettled in the United States. Kristen is the Women's Programs Coordinator for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) in Denver.

In her work, Kristen sees that refugee women are expected--by their families and by their communities--to keep up with their roles as homemakers, mothers, and wives while also facing the often incredibly difficult challenges that resettlement brings. Kristen stated that, "Women are a marginalized population, regardless of which community they're in. They have a number of disadvantages. Within the refugee population, they're the backbone to a household and are tasked with raising the kids, running the household, as well as getting a job. They are the key to the family's success in the U.S., even if the family doesn't realize that. The greater the woman's success, the greater the chances of her family's success."

Women are less likely to take time for themselves and to take care of their own needs, even though they would benefit from support during the resettlement process. In many cultures, men don't share in child care or housekeeping responsibilities, and this means that women's adjustment and familiarity with a new culture may lag. Within the Colorado Refugee Network, the in-home ESL tutoring program is one program that strives to address some of the issues of isolation and language deficiency that refugee women may face. This program, however, addresses the issues one woman at a time, but can't build a support system within each ethnic community.

LIRS offers several programs specifically to support and empower refugee women. According to Kristen Damron, "The programs are designed to be supportive, holistic, and empowering for the women. They're supportive in that women are often somewhat excluded from integration into American society because of language, education, social barriers, and family responsibilities. Our programs give these women a way to come together and support each other. The programs include financial literacy, WorkStyles for women (a job readiness course), community support groups, a microenterprise program that also partners with A Little Something (the Denver Refugee Women's Crafts Initiative), and most recently, a health awareness and education program.

In the financial literacy program, a partnership with Emily Griffith Opportunity School, the group talks about the basics of household finances and money (in general) in the United States. The women's care groups bring together women from the same ethnic community for gatherings at the apartment complexes where the women live. They learn about their rights and responsibilities in the United States, they discuss topics related to domestic violence and personal safety, and they work on life skills, but also build supportive relationships with each other over the course of the sessions. To see a group in action, take a look at the video posted here.

Currently, the Women's Care Groups are in need of volunteers. Volunteers can provide transportation for the women who live at sites other than where the gatherings take place. Volunteers are also needed to work with the community leaders in helping to lead their groups. Two volunteers work with each group. Right now there are four groups, but Kristen hopes to expand that to at least eight in order to accommodate more participants.

Later this spring, Kristen will launch the first Women's Health Walk and Fair in Cheesman Park in Denver on Saturday, May 14. According to Kristen, "We wanted to create a special event to commemorate National Women's Health Week. We wanted our event to to be special and to celebrate these women, their health, and their importance in their families, and we wanted to do that in a way that would bring the rest of the community--what we call the "receiving community" together with these newcomers. We also wanted to create a way to help these women see that they're valued and their health and their bodies are valued. We also want the women themselves to be involved with and excited about the event and the concepts we're presenting.

The Women's Health Walk and Fair is free and will feature guest speakers, health education information, cultural offerings, nutrition information, and yoga in the park. Volunteers are needed to help with the event, especially those with a background in healthcare. Also, Kristen had hoped to provide event T-shirts for the participants, but there is no funding for that. A donation of event T-shirts would be gratefully accepted!

If you would like to volunteer at this event or with a Women's Care Group, please contact Kristen Damron at kristen.damron@lfsco.org.

Kristen said that volunteering isn't the only way to help refugees have a better resettlement experience. "Really, the first thing people can do for refugees is to be friendly. Smile, have enough guts to start a conversation--even if you're waiting in line, go ahead and strike up a conversation--and don't be afraid to have a welcoming demeanor. Just starting that conversation will make someone very happy because you've acknowledged that they are here and they are included."

--SM

It takes a village, but mostly, it takes a good mom...

2011-03-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

In 2005, we started a class for Somali Bantu women living on the east side of Denver. The women in that class have shared a lot of their stories over the years. They've also told us about what they want from their new life in the United States. Above all else, they want their children to succeed here and to make the most of the opportunities around them.

Fatuma Ali is one of our orignal class members--and she still attends, every week. Fatuma hasn't had an easy time of it here, but despite that, she has always been diligent about making sure her children value education--something she, herself, has never had. She also has taught them the value of hard work--in school, at home, and working the land.

It seems so fitting then that Fatuma's eldest daughter, Amina Salat, was recently honored with a "9 Kids Who Care" award from KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, for her dedication to helping others through community service.

In addition to receiving her award at a luncheon and ceremony last weekend, Amina was also profiled on the news yesterday. Amina spends time helping with A Little Something, the Denver Refugee Crafts Initiative, and she volunteers at SAME Cafe in Denver. She is also a leader in Growing Colorado Kids, a local urban farming initiative that shares its harvest with those in need. In addition to her school and volunteer work, Amina is indispensable helping her mom at home.

Fatuma is very, very proud of her daughter!

Click here to read the story on the 9News Website, or simply watch the video, below.

Book event!

2011-03-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

Book reading and signing

Hadidja Nyiransekuye
The Lances Were Looking Down: One Woman’s Path through the Rwandan Genocide to Life in the States

Thursday, March 3, 2011
7:30 pm
Tattered Cover - Historic LoDo
1628 16th St.
Denver, CO

In 1994, Hadidja Nyiransekuye was witness to and a survivor of the Rwandan genocide that lasted 100 days and claimed the lives of nearly one million people. Hadidja immigrated to the United States in 1998 with her children, and from that time, experienced the refugee resettlement process both as a participant and as an observer. Her memoir not only recounts the details of surviving a life caught up in the currents of change, but also takes a frank look at the politics, intentions and outcomes of stateside resettlement efforts.

Hadidja went on to earn her MSW and Ph.D. from the University of Denver, and currently teaches at the Metropolitan State College of Denver.

She will discuss and sign her memoir, The Lances Were Looking Down: One Woman’s Path through the Rwandan Genocide to Life in the States at the Tattered Cover's LoDo location on Thursday, March 3. To request a signed copy of the book, email books@tatteredcover.com

To learn more about Hadidja Nyiransekuye, click here.

Link up!

2011-02-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

More and more of our students have computers and Internet access at home. The boom of iPad sales, and now Verizon's new Xoom tablet, mean more of our tutors have access to the Web at almost any time.

Using ESL sites is a good way to add interactivity to your lessons, as well as easing your student into becoming familiar with the computer. Where to begin and how can you find good sites for your lessons?

Sally Bertoli, the head librarian at Emily Griffith Opportunity School, has figured out the answers to many of these questions for you. The EGOS library site has a page completely dedicated to ESL--including some sites for mouse tutorials, learning colors, and working on drag-and-drop activities.

You'll find that some sites are more helpful than others, depending on what you and your student are trying to achieve. Always preview a site first, before including it in a lesson, and think of ways to enhance a lesson or give an assessment with one of these tools. Sure, some look a little childish, but they cans till be effective when included among several approaches to the material.

To visit Sally's site, go to tiny.cc/esl123

The joy of...mail?

2011-02-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

You probably don't give much thought to the mail--in general--or the mail that comes to your house. If you've come to the U.S. from a country where there is no structured mail system, though, this daily delivery can seem like both a miracle and a baffling mystery.

Imagine opening the mailbox and looking through the contents, not knowing what is important, what is advertising, and what is personal correspondence. You wonder: Why are these things coming at all? Also consider feeling so overwhelmed by the not knowing that you simply stop picking up the mail at all.

For our students who are not literate or who haven't yet learned to read using a different alphabet, sorting through the mail can be a frustrating challenge. Your student thinks, Maybe it's all important. Maybe none of it is important. It might not even be for me. What do I do with it now that I have it?

One of the first things you can do is teach your student to recognize her (or his) name in print. Look at it typed, handwritten, and printed in different typefaces. Try to get to a point where she can pick out her own name when there is other text on the same page (or envelope).

Next, consider sending mail to your student. Why not start with a Valentine? You can buy one or create one by hand or on your computer. An easy-to-read message using simple language will be most effective. Address the card by hand and print the student's name and address clearly. Think about how a kindergarten teacher would address a card for a student. Let there be no ambiguity!

This can be the start of a good culture lesson. When and why do we send cards? To whom do we send them? Where do you sign it? What is the proper way to sign? My mother recently sent me a box filled with papers, projects, and cards from when I was in the earliest years of elementary school. Birthday cards and Mother's Day cards bear the carefully printed endearment, "From, your daughter Sharon McCreary." At least there was no doubt about the origin of the warm wishes.

Think of a lesson about buying stamps, properly addressing a piece of mail and using a return address, or dealing with misdirected mail. I was surprised recently when I found out how many Americans don't know what you're supposed to do with misdirected/mis-delivered mail that arrives at your house (hint: You are not supposed to throw it in the trash!).

Are you going on vacation? Consider sending a picture post card to your student. Don't forget about your student's birthday! You can also send thank-you cards, "thinking of you," cards, notes or cards that celebrate a job well done, a short note if you miss a lesson, a photograph you took, or holiday cards.

In our busy, modern lives, mail can sometimes feel like just one more thing to deal with, but I'll bet that when you shuffle through the bills and junk mail, your curiosity is piqued by a hand-addressed piece of personal mail. It will likely be the first thing you open because it's special just by the nature of being part of a personal connection. This program is all about personal connections.

So, why not start now? Valentine's Day is less than a week away. Whether you buy a card or make one, this is great time to start incorporating the mail into your teaching--and to let your student know you think of her often.

Cultural resources that might be helpful

2011-01-25T10:02:00.000-08:00

Is your student a Nepali speaker?

Here are two resources that may prove useful. Aksharica is a Nepali -language newsletter that aims to educate, inform, inspire, and empower the Nepali-speaking community (Bhutanese and Nepali) in America. The word Aksharica combines the Nepali word "letter" with the word "America," just as newcomers will blend cultures as they adapt to life in a new country.
Click here to access the newsletter online.

In addition, Aksharica has made arrangements with the Nepali Dictionary Project to provide Bhutanese/Nepali families with a Nepali–English Dictionary for free. To get a free dictionary, the request has to come directly from the end users. Please assist your student with this task!

The second page of the newsletter contains a Dictionary Request Form, for families to complete and mail to Aksharica’s address. Alternatively, the dictionaries can also be requested online. Agencies can purchase the book from the Nepali Dictionary Project for $16 each.

http://www.nepalidictionaryproject.org/

UPDATE: JUNE 6, 2011. Someone has contacted us and asked that you not request dictionaries. Apparently, they are no longer for sale at the $16 price--or at all, it seems. If we find new resources for your refugee students, we'll let you know!

For all home tutors

Catholic Community Services of Utah has posted their Life Skills Manual: Level One online. Click here for a copy. This 62-page manual takes a pictorial approach to nine topics, including hygiene, housekeeping, emergencies, and U.S. laws. Originally developed for use with Somali Bantu refugees, the manual may be of use for other groups that lack familiarity with these cultural aspects of life in the United States. It can also serve as lesson inspiration and a simple textbook for any in-home tutor!

They're heeeeere

2011-01-20T12:40:00.000-08:00

Unless you never avail yourself of any type of news media, you might be unaware of the resurgence of bedbugs. Otherwise, you know the little critters are flourishing worldwide.

Denver has been particularly hard hit. Although bed bugs don't spread disease, they are still significantly unpleasant. The thought of an insect dining on you while sleep is creepy.

There are some things to know about bedbugs:

They do not discriminate based on economic status, gender, nationality, age, or attention to housekeeping. They are equal-opportunity pests, and you can pick them up almost anywhere.
You should not assume, if facing a bedbug invasion, that you picked them up in someone's home.
Unlike roaches, you don't get bedbugs because your house is dirty or you visited someplace that appeared to be unsanitary.
Bedbugs do not cause or spread illness.
If you are a renter, your landlord cannot hold you responsible for an infestation.
There are common-sense precautions you can take to avoid an infestation, but suffering an infestation can happen to anyone.

Bedbugs are travelers. They generally hitch a ride on furniture, clothing, and on international flights. They particularly like to snuggle into the seams of soft-side luggage in hotels and in the cargo hold of airplanes. they also enjoy the warm dark of movie theaters, and lately have been showing up in hospitals, schools, and clothing stores.

Many of the apartment complexes where refugees live have or previously had a bedbug issue. Part of this starts with international travel, but the problem persists because residents haul infested furniture out of the trash. They also don't necessarily report a problem when it happens.

Imagine you lived your entire life in a bamboo hut in the jungle. Having insects cohabitate your living space isn't just a reality--it's inevitable. For someone who has always experienced this as normal, having insects in your Denver apartment isn't going to make you raise an eyebrow. Think about it. In an article in the Denver Post, one exterminator said, "Americans think it's our birthright to live free of vermin," Miller said. "Get over it." In most parts of the world, bugs are just a fact of life, and soon that will be the case here.

So, what can you do to minimize your risk of an infestation?

Be aware of the symptoms, from bites to dark spots on upholstered furniture.
Don't take your coat with you when you go inside of your student's home. In fact, take only hard-surface items that you can keep in the trunk of your car (I take in only a plastic folder, a book, and a plastic pencil case).
Brush off your clothes before getting back in the car or going into your own house.
Leave your shoes outside overnight.
If you buy anything at a thrift shop, leave it outside in the sun so bedbugs will be coaxed out into the warmth. Then, run everything through a hot cycle in the dryer.
If you travel, never put your suitcase on the bed and don't unpack or use hotel drawers. Also, bring a large plastic trash bag to cover your suitcase with when you're staying in a hotel.
Don't forget to check the mattress seams for signs of infestation.
If you do get bedbugs in your home, you must be diligent about cleaning out the house, bagging and washing everything made of fabric, and employing the services of a good, ethical, and knowledgeable exterminator.

Most people are unaware that prior to the 1950s, bedbugs ran rampant. The introduction of the highly toxic pesticide DDT all but stopped widespread bedbug infestations. Once DDT was banned worldwide, bedbugs were ready for their resurgence. New evidence shows that like cockroaches, bedbugs are genetically adapting to the modern world and have become all but invincible in the face of other pesticides.

Heat and cold are your friends. So far, bedbugs cannot withstand exposure to extreme heat or extreme cold. In a state that often has mild temperatures, this isn't the ideal solution, but any bedbugs clinging to items left in your closed-up car on hot, sunny day will not survive the experience. Likewise, in winter, leave suspect items outside overnight when temperatures are below freezing.

To learn more about the current state of bedbugs in our nation and around the world, please refer to these articles:

From NPR: Bedbugs aren't just back, they're spreading. Click here to read
MSNBC: Questions and answers about bedbugs Click here to read
Denver's bedbug primer. Click here to read
Bedbug Central (comprehensive site) Click here to read
Tenants and landlords Click here to read
From NPR: Extreme fight: Dogs, chemicals take on bedbugs. Click here to read
From NPR: Bedbug genome reveals pesticide resistance. Click here to read
Sleep tight!

It's a whole new year!

2011-01-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Please make a note of the following dates when tutors need to report their time spent with their respective students. We need this information so that resettlement agencies, case managers, and our state refugee office are aware of of the activity in this program (trust me, it's important!).

To remind you, any time spent with your student counts toward your monthly total, even if it was a social outing or a trip to the local clinic. Things that don't count: Lesson planning, making calls on your student's behalf, transportation time to and from the student's home.

2011 Reporting Dates
(no later than...)

Month tutoring...Date to report by

January time...Monday, February 7
February time...Monday, March 7
March time...Tuesday, April 5
April time...Thursday, May 5
May time...Monday, June 6
June time...Wednesday, July 6
July time...Friday, August 5
August time...Tuesday, September 6
September time...Wednesday, October 5
October time...Monday, November 7
November time...Monday, December 5

Please make a note of these dates and please report your tutoring time promptly!
Thank you!!

Mia Farrow's slide show tribute

2010-12-22T11:31:00.001-08:00

UNHCR and the Blue Key

2010-12-15T12:41:00.001-08:00

Here's a suggestion for an inexpensive yet valuable stocking stuffer this holiday season. UNHCR has introduced the Blue Key campaign to raise awareness of refugee issues around the globe.

You can purchase your own blue key for only $5 from the UNHCR Web site. The site also includes a downloadable book with refugees stories. Each story is followed by a response from a celebrity in the arts, politics, or elsewhere on the world stage.

Help unlock the door to a better future. Click here to learn more.

What if you could stop a war?

2010-12-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

Dispatch from Aurora

2010-11-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Carina Ramos has been tutoring an Eritrean refugee since July, 2010. Here, she reflects on the experience so far.

by Carina Ramos

I will never forget the first time I ever walked into my student’s apartment, four months ago. A young, Eritrean mother of four, Gidey greeted us warmly with one of the few phrases she knew in English: “Hello, how are you?” The distinct smell of coffee beans being roasted right there in her living room struck me sharply—and not in your typical ‘Starbucks’ aromatic way, for sure…

The humble apartment was sparsely furnished and Gidey offered us two chairs at the kitchen table—and, after she rushed around trying to tidy up the apartment a bit—she sat down with us to complete the initial questionnaire. Through her eight-year-old daughter, who had already been in school for nine months and knew the most English in the house, we were able to communicate our questions to her and obtain answers.

After Sharon, the coordinator left, I stayed there longer to drink “boona”— Ethiopian coffee—with her and get to know her better. Other Eritrean neighbors and cousins came in and, since most were more fluent in English than her, acted as translators too, telling me more about her life in Eritrea as a farmer, her complete lack of formal schooling, and her excitement at the possibility of receiving English classes at her home.

I started meeting with Gidey two evenings a week, and despite frequent interruptions by her older daughter, toddler, and baby, we started scratching the surface of the English language by learning basic phrases, such as “Hello, my name is…”. Since she was completely illiterate in both Tigrinya and English, all of our classes were oral at first.

After a couple of sessions, Gidey told me, through her daughter, that she wanted to learn the “ABC,” so we began working on saying and recognizing the alphabet visually, as well as writing it. We worked with textbooks, workbooks, notebooks, and white boards—practicing over and over again. I bought her a colorful alphabet chart, which we stuck to her kitchen wall and referred to often. It ended up being a great hit both with her, her children, and the neighbors, and was the source of everyone’s admiration. After more than two months, we started working on writing out her name, and she copied it over and over again in her notebook, trying to memorize it. I tried to put myself in her place, and imagined trying to write my name in Tigrinya, a language with strange characters, completely foreign to me. How long would it take me to recognize it when I read it, and learnt to write it?

At the end of one of these sessions, I turned over to a clean page of her notebook, and told her to write her name, without any reference to copy from. I waited anxiously to see how she would do… and watched her slowly trace the letters, one by one, perfectly! One of her Eritrean friends was sitting on the couch across the room, watching, and we all cheered and clapped as she finished writing the last letter. She smiled proudly as she examined her work. Then, she wrote it a few more times across the page, so as to cement it into her memory. What a sense of accomplishment! It was as great as writing a thousand-word essay—the feeling of crossing a hurdle initially as tall as Ras Dashen, the tallest mountain in Ethiopia. What an achievement!

In her next class, Gidey copied all of her children’s names down and practiced them in her notebook. It looked so neat and clear that I cut out the pages and stuck them on her refrigerator, while she beamed with happiness. Her handiwork was on display for her to admire every day.

We have been moving on to food names, numbers, and other basic vocabulary—all with the goal of helping her become increasingly independent when she goes to the supermarket, to her child’s school, and to complete basic government paperwork. I look forward to helping her cross many more hurdles—though the progress may at times be slow—because her contagious enthusiasm carries us forward each session. And of course, no class is complete without a cup of home-roasted, ground, and brewed Ethiopian ‘boona’ at the end to celebrate all of our hard work.

Noodles for a great cause!!

2010-08-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

September 9 is the birthday of Emily Griffith Opportunity School. Here's an idea for a birthday gift that's good for you and the school. On September 9, eat at Noodles & Company's location at 6th Avenue and Broadway in Denver after 4:00 p.m.. Mention the school, and part of your purchase will be donated to the Emily Griffith Foundation. The Foundation funds student scholarships and school improvements, and many refugees have benefited from this generosity.

Save the date, and save room for a great (inexpensive) meal!!

Don't strain your eyes...Click on the picture to enlarge!

2010-08-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Currently on the NPR Website: Two stories about refugees and school--and both provide valuable insight into how a person's background affects life as a student.

New Refugee Students In NY Get Ready For US School
by The Associated Press

Photo, Associated Press/NPR

For their first fire drill, teachers at the Refugee Youth Summer Academy gathered their students, leading them out of the building to show them what to do during drills in the upcoming school year.

But one thing was missing: the sirens. They had been muted, for fear blaring alarms could trigger terror in children who recently arrived from war zones and other conflict areas where sirens can signal danger.

The silent fire drill was part of the balancing act for staff at the 6-week summer program that helps children who have survived wars and refugee camps prepare for a new experience — American public school.

It's not just about the academics, said Elizabeth Demchak, principal of the school run by the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees and asylum-seekers.

For some of the kids, formal education has been haphazard or nonexistent, Demchak said. For others, school consisted of sitting and taking notes surrounded by dozens of others with a teacher reciting a lecture.

Preparing them means helping them learn how to go to school along with what they learn there.

To read the rest of the story, please click here.

To read or listen to the second story (listening to it gives a more authentic experience and may actually be easier to follow), please click here.

Refugee kids doing something good

2010-08-15T21:00:00.001-07:00

From KUSA in Denver, a short piece about Growing Colorado Kids. This group helps refugee kids learn to raise their own vegetables, as well as sell some. Participants also learn cooking and nutrition skills. You can read more by clicking here.

More from the field...

2010-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Ann Lockhart is technically retired, but still works as a freelance editor. She has been a volunteer teacher in the CRESL In-home Tutoring Program since 2000.

Why I like tutoring refugees
by Ann Lockhart

Tutoring refugees has been a very satisfying and absorbing volunteer activity for me since my early retirement. Refugees really need the help to function here, not only with English, but also with daily life challenges like doctor’s appointments, deciphering junk mail, telemarketers, making appointments, filling out forms, etc.

Just as they learn the basics of the language and American culture, I always learn a lot about them, their country, culture and food. Many have stories of political discrimination, torture and displacement. Unfortunately, they can’t explain much of their past until they learn more English.

Having an ongoing personal relationship with each refugee has been really important, interesting and challenging for me. It makes me realize how very fortunate we Americans are. We think we are not rich, but we have so much more than any of them do.

After their traumatic departure from their homeland, refugees come to the U.S. exhausted, but hopeful about starting a new life in one of the richest countries of the world. Then reality sets in. They have to learn so much so fast, starting with the money, the transportation, getting a job, shopping for basics and paying back the loan for their long flight to the U.S. They also get a small apartment with mismatched furniture and very basic supplies.

A man and his wife from Sudan who later lived in Egypt were my first refugee students. He had been a self-educated magazine publisher in Khartoum, and was a political prisoner for 10 years. I was really, really nervous about meeting them, and I think they were just as nervous. But we all relaxed as in-home refugee coordinator Sharon McCreary broke the ice and introduced us. I continued meeting with them for several years, watching their children grow, learn English, attend school and gradually begin to call Denver home.

The Sudanese family was absolutely thrilled when I took them to the Denver Art Museum to see the Cezanne exhibit and again absolutely excited when I got some free tickets to take them to the Denver Symphony. I also took them to see the Glendale fireworks display July 3rd and Sunday night summer concerts at City Park.

My second assignment was tutoring a woman from Iraq with a small child, whose husband went back to Iraq as a translator to the U.S. Army during the war there. Often our English lessons were interrupted by a child’s demands, cries or interruptions. I learned a lot about Iraq and the war there.

She worked really hard to study for her citizenship test, asking me to go over and over the questions weeks before her scheduled meeting. I took her to the office for her test, which consisted of only 10 questions. To her great relief, she did very well. Attending the citizenship ceremony with many other refugees with their friends and families was a really moving experience for me.

Next was a Somali Bantu woman who left an abusive marriage, taking her baby boy with her. Little by little her traumatic life story came out. Her father was a general, and her mother a shopkeeper, but their lives all changed dramatically when warlords took over the government. Her entire extended family is scattered in various countries. She eventually went to St. Louis, Missouri, hoping to get a job and start over.

A woman from Bhutan, whose family was forced to leave that country for neighboring Nepal, is my current assignment. Her two little girls run in and out, and family members come in and out as we try to focus on the English lessons. Her neighbor asked if she could join us, so now we three work together every week.

Preparing lessons does take some time, but I know the better I prepare, the better it goes. With the Picture dictionary, flash cards, workbooks, paper, pencils and whatever else I can come up with, we keep on working.

It’s been fun for me to share with all of them what I love about Denver and the United States. It takes time for us to communicate well about more difficult, abstract issues, going beyond pictures, gestures and simple words.

I highly recommend in-home tutoring as a very satisfying volunteer activity.

Photo courtesy of Ann Lockhart

Employment alert

2010-08-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

Some of you have asked about jobs in the CRESL program. There are currently several openings. Send your resume to:

Slavica Park, Dean of Instruction
Emily Griffith Opportunity School
1250 Welton St.
Denver, CO 80222

Do not call!!

Time to report your hours!

2010-08-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

It's time to report your in-home tutoring hours for JULY 2010. Please submit via email no later than this Thursday, August 5!

On Saturday, your volunteer coordinator will be heading out of town to vacation at an undisclosed location where she most definitely does not wish to spend her time working on the monthly report. (Have we ever mentioned vacations are unpaid?)

Please report your hours in a timely manner!

Sharon returns to the office on Monday, August 23, but will not be checking in during the two-week summer break. Ahhhhh.....

A visit to women's Saturday ESL class...

2010-08-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

There are 17 photos total in this album. If it stops playing, advance manually using the buttons at the bottom of the pictures.

Parenting, field trips affected

2010-07-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

State booster seat law changes Sunday, August 1

On Sunday, Colorado's child passenger restraint laws will change and, going forward, all children between 4 and 8 years old must travel in the back seat of the vehicle and be in a booster seat.

For information on why the law changed, click here for an informative link from KUSA/Channel 9 in Denver.

For a full detailing of what the law requires of drivers, visit the Colorado Child Passenger Safety (CCPS) website at http://apps.coloradodot.info/carseats/

The CCPS website also includes a list of fitting stations for drivers who want to be sure they are buckling their kids in correctly. For the first year, drivers who are pulled over by the police and who are not in compliance with the child safety law will be given a warning and education only.

Please keep these rules in mind if you plan to include your student's children in a field trip!

Highlight: Saturday women

2010-07-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

We've recently asked volunteers in the CRESL program to tell a bit about what they do. Today's guest blogger is Elena Saenz, one of the facilitators of the Saturday morning class at Grace Apartments, and an ELA/ESL teacher in Denver Public Schools. The Saturday class started as somewhat of an experiment, and we all thought it would be temporary, but six years later, enthusiasm and participation are still strong.

The Saturday ESL for Refugee Women class was started about 5 to 6 years ago by Susan Renick, Melissa Nix and a few other people who were looking for a solution for the women who were unable to attend Emily Griffith’s ESL classes, but who also weren't thriving in the one-to-one tutoring program. The need was for specific help for the Somali Bantu women, as those were the refugees who were also the largest group at that time.

The class has since evolved to serve whichever groups of refugee women are currently living at Grace Apartments or in the surrounding community. At present, the women attending the class include the Burmese Karen and Karenni, Somali Bantu, as well as women from Burundi and Bhutan. We have learned to remain flexible since this makeup changes from year to year.

I got involved about four years ago. I was working with these women’s children as their ESL teacher at Whiteman Elementary in Denver and wanted to expand my knowledge of their culture and home life. Since then, I have become one of two lead “teachers.” Melissa Nix (Regis University) and I (Denver Public Schools) share the responsibilities along with a myriad of volunteers.

This is a free program and everyone who helps is a volunteer. Melissa and I make sure the community room at Grace is open every Saturday and that fresh fruit and vegetables are provided for the students (Melissa writes a grant that underwrites this expense, plus provides occasional materials). We don’t use a specific curriculum with the women as we never know who is going to come. We attempt to guide ourselves by the needs of the women and their individual English levels.

We meet most Saturdays. We start between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. Most of the women arrive no later than 8:45. We break up into two major groups (beginner and intermediate/advanced). Volunteers work with a group, partners, or an individual. We have materials available, plus some volunteers bring their own things to work from. We work until about 9:45 and then stop to make sure that we can pass out fruit and veggies and put the room back in order before leaving.

The women are so appreciative of the time to practice or better their English, as well as for the food. The wonderful reception and gratitude by the students are two of the reasons why I have continued to work with them for so many years. For me, there is nothing more special in this world than spending time with a group of women who give more to me than I will ever be able to give to them.

Elena Saenz
Saturday ESL volunteer

If you would like to join the Saturday volunteers at Grace, please contact sharon_mccreary@dpsk12.org.

More online resources

2010-07-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for more ideas on how to approach language teaching, there are hundreds of resources available on the Internet. Today's link is for English with Jennifer, A site for language learners.

Jennifer is a language teacher who has both studied and worked abroad. She has created a series of self-study lessons for students, as well as some tips for teachers. Video lessons are available via YouTube. Also take a look at the Everyday Vocabulary section of the site.

Jennifer has a companion blog just for teachers. The blog is full of great advice, teaching tips, and lesson ideas. Be sure to take a look at her lists of useful links and resources. The site is well-written and easy to access.

If you prefer to stick with video and you are looking for videos to incorporate into your lessons, Jennifer has an entire YouTube channel that you can access for free. Click here to see the wealth of videos Jennifer has created.

More is better

2010-07-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I shared a video that was making its way around the Internet. It was created by world traveler Matt Harding of Seattle. It remains, without question, one of my favorite things. I have it saved to the hard drive of my computer, and I still watch it on those days when I need a lift.

Somehow, I managed to miss that Harding had participated in something else I hold dear: The "This I Believe" essay series on National Public Radio.

I like Harding's essay. I think he articulates what a lot of us feel about being an explorer, a traveler, and a tribe member. He understands that we want to connect. If you didn't agree, you probably wouldn't be volunteering in a program like this one.

Click here for the link to the NPR story, but do yourself a favor: Listen to it, don't read it. It's meant to be an audio piece. You can also find a link to Matt's video on this page, as well. On the NPR page, click the picture that matches this one, above.

Employment leads

2010-07-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

It's a fact that many people who volunteer with our programs also hope to eventually become employed in a related field. I field many inquiries about job openings, but that's hard to keep up with when so many volunteers are in the mix.

At the moment, quite a few new positions have been posted throughout the network. If you are interested in a teaching position or if you are more inclined to do case management or agency work, there's a chance there's something available now. Polish those resumes and check these Websites:

Lutheran Refugee Services (at least two positions open) http://www.lfsco.org/about_employment.php

At Ecumenical Refugee Services, there is currently an opening for an employment specialist assisting refugees with job placement. Contact Sabina Durmisi at sabina@ersden.org

African Community Center, http://www.acc-den.org/jobopeningsnew.htm
The Learning Source: http://www.coloradoliteracy.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=29

Emily Griffith Opportunity School, Language Learning Department and CRESL Program: Click here to go the DPS search page. In the second box, "Search words or phrases," type EMILY and then click the search button. This will show you all open positions at the school.

Spring Institute: Check out their jobs page: http://www.spring-institute.org/?action=opportunities

Happy job hunting!

Film screening

2010-07-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

National Geographic’s documentary,

“Inside North Korea”

featuring Lisa Ling

Tuesday, July 13 at 7pm

African Community Center
850 Holly St, Denver CO

National Geographic correspondent Lisa Ling journeys into mysterious and reclusive North Korea posing as part of an international medical team in this compelling documentary. Filmed against the politically charged backdrop of North Korea's nuclear ambitions, "Inside North Korea" is a fascinating search for the truth, and mutual understanding, inside one of the most isolated and repressed nations on Earth.

This event is brought to you by LiNK, (Liberty in North Korea) an organization currently working on a modern day underground-railroad, helping refugees who have escaped North Korea. By North Korean law it is illegal to leave the country; however, many North Koreans face starvation and complete religious oppression and persecution if they stay. Those who risk their lives to flee to China must live in hiding. If caught, they will be sent back to North Korea and executed or put into a concentration camp.

Learn more on the LiNK Website, http://www.linkglobal.org/.

Call for Volunteers

2010-07-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

Help organize a speaking event featuring

Valentino Achak Deng

Valentino Achak Deng is a Sudanese refugee and the subject of the bestelling book, What is the What by Dave Eggars. Since the publication of the book, he and Eggars have established the The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization working to increase access to education in post-conflict Southern Sudan by building schools, libraries, teacher-training institutes, and community centers.

In May of 2009, the foundation opened The Marial Bai Secondary School in Marial Bai, Valentino’s hometown. To learn more about the foundation, you can see their website at http://www.valentinoachakdeng.org/.

Valentino will be in Boulder from September 11 to September 13. Sara Beth Ford, who has worked with refugees extensively, along with several others, is putting together a group to set up a speaking event in the Boulder-Denver area. Sara's group needs the assistance of dedicated volunteers who are interested in helping with this project. This is a wonderful opportunity to be involved in raising money for the foundation and educating people about the lives of Sudanese refugees.

If you are interested in being a part of this project, Sarah would love to hear from you. Please contact her ASAP with your name and phone numbr. Include a brief note telling how you would be interested in helping out. A preliminary planning meeting is planned for Tuesday, July 13 or Wednesday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Lousiville.

This is a rare opportunity to work on a short-term project that will raise awareness of refugee issues both here and abroad.

You can contact Sara by email at sara@ersden.org.

In April of this year, New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof wrote an excellent Op-Ed piece about Valentino Achak Deng's work in Sudan. You can access the article by clicking here.

For those who want some online practice

2010-07-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

If you haven't found it already, I highly recommend a self-study ESL site called U.S.A. Learns.
According to the site creators:

U.S.A. Learns is an outgrowth of a project that was conceived by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL). DAEL promotes programs that help American adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens. The major areas of support are Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English Language Acquisition. These programs emphasize basic skills such as reading, writing, math, English language competency and problem-solving.

The lessons are lively, interactive, and self-paced. Please visit the "About us" page to learn a bit about how the site is structured and what it has to offer both the teacher and the student, then tour the video introduction. I recommend that tutors go through the course to get lesson and curriculum ideas, as well as to see how you can assign homework to your student. Take some time to explore and get to know the site--there is a lot available in this rich resource.

The site offers multiple levels of English lessons, videos, listening, reading, and writing modules, and tests.

Help your student register and set up an account--this allows her (or him) to save and resume lessons and keep a cumulative record of test scores.

This is an excellent free resource. Many of our in-home students have computers for their school-aged chuildren but may not understand what need they have for them themselves. Others, particularly the Iraqis, are computer literate but don't know where to go for extra English practice.

Check it out and enjoy!

Fourth of July fun and fretting

2010-07-02T09:05:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that the sounds of July 4th weekend can be frightening to a survivor of armed conflict. Please read my earlier post about this by clicking here.

Wishing you all a safe and happy
Independence Day weekend!

Video lessons online

2010-06-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

You don't need to be a technology wiz to bring multimedia into your language lessons. CRESL teacher Katie Collins recommended a Website that has a good collection of free ESL video lessons online.

http://www.englishmedialab.com/beginnervideos.html

The site, English Media Lab, presents a series of very simple speaking and listening lessons in either Flash or MP3 format. the site is best using the Internet Explorer browser, and not Firefox.

Simply choose a lesson from the list, and it will launch automatically. Students can study on their own if the have a computer (with speakers). there does not appear to be a way to save the videos to your computer.

The site has a distincltly British accent, but this should not cause any misunderstandings for the students.

This site also includes many ESL games, matching activities, and interactive lessons that will be beneficial for both the students and their teachers. Scroll down, click around, and check it out.

Happy viewing!

What are you doing early on Saturdays?

2010-06-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

We could really use some help with our Saturday's women's class at Grace Apartments. The class meets on Saturday mornings at 8:30 and finishes at about 10:00. It's a large class, but it's a hybrid class/tutoring situation.

The students meet in one room, but work individually or in small groups with the tutors. There is a lead teacher who presents the main lesson, and everyone follows up from there.

the class is lively, fun, not at all intimidating, and there is plenty of mutual support--for both students and teachers.

If you're interested, please send an email to sharon_mccreary@dpsk12.org. Soon.

Get out and have some fun!

2010-06-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's summer, and even if you're on a budget, there's plenty you can plan for yourself and your student. Many of Denver's cultural attractions offer free days to Colorado residents. Get your ID ready and take a trip right here in town!

1. Denver Art Museum
100 West 14th Avenue Parkway
Denver, CO
720-865-5000

•January 2, 2010
•February 6, 2010
•March 6, 2010
•April 3, 2010
•May 1, 2010
•June 5, 2010
•July 3, 2010
•August 7, 2010
•September 4, 2010
•October 2, 2010
•November 6, 2010
•December 4, 2010

2. Denver Botanic Gardens
1007 York St.
Denver, CO
720-865-3500

•January 18, 2010
•February 15, 2010
•April 22, 2010
•July 22, 2010
•August 25, 2010
•September 26, 2010
•October 28, 2010

3. Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield
8500 Deer Creek Canyon Rd.
Littleton, CO
303-973-3705

•January 1, 2010
•February 5, 2010
•March 5, 2010
•April 2, 2010
•May 7, 2010
•June 4, 2010
•August 6, 2010
•November 5, 2010
•December 3, 2010

4. Denver Museum of Nature & Science
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO
303-322-7009

•January 11, 2010
•February 21, 2010
•March 1, 2010
•April 18, 2010
•August 8, 2010
•August 30, 2010
•September 13, 2010
•September 19, 2010
•October 3, 2010
•October 18, 2010
•November 14, 2010
•December 6, 2010

5. Denver Zoo
2300 Steele St.
Denver, CO
303-376-4800

•January 9, 2010
•January 18, 2010
•February 7, 2010
•February 16, 2010
•October 13, 2010
•October 21, 2010
•November 7, 2010
•November 13, 2010

6. Denver Center for the Peforming ArtsThe Denver Center for the Performing Arts offers free tickets to performances through a lottery system. To enter the drawing for free tickets, fill out the online form.

7. OK, not free but maybe worth a splurge. Swallow Hill Music Association offers an outdoor concert series in Glendale's Four Mile Park throughout the summer. The Shady Grove Picnic Series continues every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., from June 23 to August 25, presenting traditionally American folk & roots artists. Come with your family, your student, and a basket of yummy goodies, sit on the grass and enjoy a relaxing summer evening.

Tickets at the door: $10/$7 members; $2 for children 12 & under. Bicyclists get in for member pricing throughout the 2010 season! Click here for the lineup and more information.

Illustrating your point

2010-06-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

When you create a lesson for your student, it's an excellent idea to use pictures when you can. Pictures are also good for making flashcards or using as part of a vocabulary lesson.

Microsoft clip art (included with MS Office or available online) has good collection of everyday themes. Click here to access the library online. Use the search feature at the top of the page to enter specific keywords, or look on the right side of the screen and click on a category to search by topic.

Another free and very helpful site comes courtesy of Florida's Educational Technology Clearninghouse. Click here to see more than 58,000 pieces of free clip art collected specifically for teachers. In fact, go to the FETC home page, scroll down, and explore the many free resources available in content area and ESL instruction. Great ideas here!

Do a Google search "free clipart" and see what else you can find. Many school districts and state educational systems have put together excellent resources, as have many homeschoolers.

To copy a picture quickly and paste it into a document,

right click on the picture with your mouse
select "copy"
return to your document and click where you want to place the picture
push the CTRL and V buttons together on your keyboard

To save a picture, right click on it and choose "save picture as."

That was easy!

From the Denver Post

2010-06-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

Recently, the way refugee resettlement is funded has changed in Colorado and most other states. One result of this change is that less emphasis may be placed on the perceived value of refugees spending time attending English classes.

Kevin Mohatt, who has worked with refugees both at a resettlement agency and in an educational setting, wrote a guest Op-Ed piece that was published in today's edition of the Denver Post.

Please take a few moments to read this commentary. We encourage you to share your comments on the Post's Website.

A better lesson in English

By Kevin Mohatt
Posted: 06/03/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

I work with refugees at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School in Denver. Last year, more than 2,000 of them made Colorado their new home.

They come from places like Iraq, Somalia and Bhutan, and look for a way to communicate at the Language Learning Center. When I greet them, most return my smile with a blank look, offering a crumpled piece of paper with a referral. Weakly, some will murmur: "Englesh."

Oumy came from Senegal. Though she spoke few words, she was eager to learn more. She studied every day and quickly learned enough English to find a job in a local ice cream factory. But Oumy yearned for more. She was able to pass the GED. After that, Oumy was accepted to study in an aircraft maintenance program on scholarship (she was the only woman enrolled in the program at the time). Throughout school, she kept her job at the ice cream factory.

Now, as a trained aircraft mechanic, Oumy will be able to comfortably provide for herself and her family.

Oumy's path to success in the U.S. started with learning English. For all foreigners, learning the language is the most important skill to obtain employment and support a family. Without adequate English, refugees would struggle for jobs and rely on cash assistance for longer periods of time.

Unfortunately, helping refugees like Oumy learn English may soon prove to be more difficult.

Click here to continue reading this article

Listen and be inspired

2010-05-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

(Photo: Colorado Public Radio)

In case you missed this edition of Colorado Matters on Colorado Public Radio, please take a few minutes to listen.

This year, African Community Center celebrated the occasion of ten refugee students graduating from high school. Each of the students also received $1,000 scholarship to put toward their college expenses.

For many of these students, just having the opportunity to complete high school is a gift on its own. To do so here--after having to first understand the culture, learn the language, and get caught up with the academic load--seems nothing short of a miracle.

When members of our community put their time and effort into helping refugee parents, entire families benefit. Most refugee parents will tell you that one of the things they value most about resettlement--a long, hard road, for sure--is the opportunity for their children to have a brighter future. This story is one example of how many small acts of kindness help shape a generation.

Click here to follow the link and be inspired!

Social Networking

2010-05-13T20:45:00.001-07:00

We now have a page on Facebook. Take a second to "Like" us, and you'll get updates as soon as they're posted.

Use the FB page to ask questions, share pictures and stories, or start a discussion.

Looking forward to networking with you!

Click here to see our page.

Going on right now!

2010-04-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

GEAR SALE (and food drive)
Friday April 30th

Your support helps to send refugee kids to camp! Big City Mountaineers is supporting 10 Refugee Youth Program participants for a weeklong trip to the mountains this summer !

Great deals on new and used outdoor gear!

Tents, sleeping bags and pads, headlamps, hats, beanies, water filters, water bladders, shoes, hiking boots, winter gloves, fuel, misc. camp gear, clothing, backpacks, daypacks & more.

EVERYTHING MUST GO! SPREAD THE WORD!

When: Fri. April 30th
Time: 3pm 'til dark

Where:
BCM office
1667 Vine St
Denver, CO 80206
303-271-9200

HELP SUPPORT OUR FOOD DRIVE, TOO!
Bring with you: Cans of tuna, plastic jars of peanut butter, or summer sausage to help feed the hungry backpackers on our summer expeditions!

Training date set!

2010-03-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

The next training session for new in-home tutors will be:

Saturday, June 5, 2010

8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Your application serves as your registration for training. If you already submitted your application, additional details about the training will be sent to you.

If you wish to become an in-home tutor but haven't applied yet, please go to our Website, http://www.refugee-esl.org/ to print out an application. The form is not electronic! Please do not try to modify the form or send it via email--our email system is very "attachment-hostile," and there is a strong chance that your message will be blocked from the system. Please send in your form via fax or regular U.S. mail. All of the contact information you need is on the form itself.

Please note that currently, the overwhelming majority of refugee students live in Aurora, east of I-225 and north of 6th Ave., although several are also housed near S. Parker Rd. and the I-225 park-and-ride facility (at Peoria).

Thanks!

Sisters around the World

2010-03-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

March 8 is International Women's Day!

This day is commemorated worldwide, and although it started in the United States, it is no longer acknowledged here. The rest of the world, however, celebrates this day of sisterhood, empowerment, and recognition of the critical roles of women socially and economically.

Worldwide, women face oppression and social injustice in ways that men do not. On March 8, we take the time to remember how far women have come and far there is yet to go.

Photo UNHCRThis year's United Nations theme for International Women's Day is "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All." This follows what a large body of research has already shown: When women are empowered, when they have more opportunities and choices related to their future and well being, entire communities benefit. Previous posts on this blog visited on this topic when we wrote about Nicholas Kristof's project, Half the Sky, and work of the Girl Effect project at http://www.girleffect.org/.

Many organizations have events scheduled for International Women's Day, including UNHCR. According to the UNHCR's Website:

In any refugee population, approximately 50 percent of the uprooted people are women and girls. Stripped of the protection of their homes, their government and often their family structure, females are often particularly vulnerable. They face the rigours of long journeys into exile, official harassment or indifference and frequent sexual abuse - even after reaching an apparent place of safety. Internally displaced women often suffer similar experiences.

In the last few years, UNHCR has developed a series of special programmes to ensure women have equal access to protection, basic goods and services as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Special attention is given to forcibly displaced women who may face risks because of their specific circumstances, such as pregnant and lactating women, older women, and female heads of households

Women are active and positive change agents - when given the proper resources - and are capable of improving their lives and the lives of their children, families and communities.

Here is an excerpt from the A Little Something blog that details interesting projects focusing on women's empowerment:

Weaving together a community of hope

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Website currently features a story about a weavers' co-op in Bangladesh. Ethnic Chin refugee women from Burma are using their traditional weaving skills to earn their own money instead of depending on handouts from UNHCR or local Bangladeshis. the goal of the program is to empower the refugee women in the co-op as well as to help them become self-sufficient in a country where it isn't easy to do so. When women have their own money and they have the leeway to make choices for themselves, their families benefit, as well. This project rings a familiar note for us at A Little Something since our goals and beliefs are very much the same. Click here to read the entire story.

The Blue Sweater
The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World is author Jacqueline Novogratz's memoir of a life spent trying to understand and document global poverty. From her Website, thebluesweater.com,

It all started back home in Alexandria, Virginia, with the blue sweater, a special gift that quickly became her prized possession—until the day she outgrew it and gave it away to Goodwill. Eleven years later in Africa, she spotted a young boy wearing the sweater, with her name still on the tag inside. That her garment had made it all the way to Kigali, Rwanda, where she was helping a group of African women start a micro-finance bank, was ample evidence of the way we are all connected, and how our actions—and inaction—touch people every day
across the globe, people we may never know or meet. This awareness continues to
drive her efforts to fight poverty, and to bridge the gap between rich and poor.

Novogratz has managed to tie together her experience as a venture capitalist in developing nations with her idealism and optimism into a story that will inspire readers to look for ways to effect real change.

Women Leading for Livelihoods
Imagine our surprise at coming across this project on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Website. It was like reading a page from our own book, another telling of the A Little Something philosophy:

This UNHCR initiative is aimed at promoting the economic independence and
empowerment of refugee and displaced women and girls around the world. For WLL, women are not victims or passive recipients of aid; with access to the proper
resources, they are capable of changing their lives and those of their children,
families and communities.

Refugee and displaced women face a series of barriers to work: legal restrictions, physical and psychological trauma, lack of financial resources, child care issues, the wrong skills for their environment, and much more. WLL aims to break down these barriers through the funding of a full range of programmes aimed at empowering refugee and displaced women. Projects range from language and vocational training to classes on farming , marketing and computer literacy as well as basic courses in finance and how to get access to business centres and savings and loan schemes.

Read more about Women Leading for Livelihoods here.

Photo: UNIFEM

The Women’s Crusade

The liberation of women could help solve many of the world’s problems, from poverty to child mortality to terrorism.

In August of this year, New York Times journalist Nicholas D. Kristof and and investment banker Sheryl WuDunn wrote an extensive article about the plight of women struggling to survive and get a foothold on basic human rights throughout the developing world. Thanks to the availability of micro-finance business and development programs, women are making progress toward a better life, one at a time. The article points out the powerful effects of micro-finance projects and specifically addresses the benefits to women in parts of the world where they often suffer the most and have the fewest rights. With structured programs, small loans, and the opportunity to begin entrepreneurial ventures, women are changing lives far beyond their own.

To access the entire article, click here.

The article includes an audio slide show and a short video about women who are newly empowered and whose lives are being transformed by their participation in the micro-finance movement. Additional information about the Kristoff and WuDunn's Half the Sky Movement (get involved!) can be found here.

Finally, the UNHCR Website has some details about how this organization works to protect and help women. Please look on lower-right side of the screen for the slideshow about International Women's Day. (It's running very slowly today, but should lighten up later in the day.)

A recent article on the site struck a chord for those of us who work on the A Little Something empowerment program here in Denver. Here is an excerpt. Read the entire (brief) article by clicking here.

Urban refugee women teach themselves knitting - and self-confidence

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, December 7 (UNHCR) – A beehive of activity surrounds Kyu Manda as seven of her fellow Myanmar refugees bend over worktables in a small room in Kuala Lumpur, sewing Christmas wall-hangings and knitting Christmas tree ornaments.

"Right now we are learning how to knit Christmas decorations," says Kyu Manda, like the other women a member of the Chin ethnic group. "The women will take home these materials and finish the items at home," she adds.

Kyu Manda is coordinator of a self-help project for refugee women in Malaysia called Mang Tha, meaning "Sweet Dreams" in the Lai dialect spoken by some of the Myanmar Chin community. "We will be selling these items at Christmas bazaars, and 90 percent of the sales go back to the women," she adds.

All photos copyright UNHCR

Serbia

Kenya (Somali girls)

Iraq

Eritrea/Ethiopia

Bhutanese in Nepal

Afghanistan

Refugee case managers

2010-01-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, January 12, NBC Nightly News featured a refugee-related story in its "Making a Difference" segment. The story is about an Iraqi woman--a single mom--who became a case manager once she felt comfortable in her own resettlement. This is a very nicely-produced piece that gives a good snapshot of why so many case managers were once refugees themselves. the next time your student tells you there is no case manager helping her, take a moment to think about what you see in this news story.

The story is about two minutes long, but there is a mandatory 15-second commercial at the beginning. You can watch from this screen, or click here to see the full-screen version on the NBC Website.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rain Memories from Burma

2010-01-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

As I've been preparing today's blog post, the temperature has been steadily dropping outside. My office is chilly, but I'm prepared for the trip home later today--I have my gloves, heavy coat, and extra-long wool scarf. As much as I dislike the cold and snow, I take it in stride because I know what to expect and how to prepare. Still, memories of the 2006 and 2007 Christmas blizzards have left me with Post-Traumatic Snow Disorder; that is, it doesn't take much to raise my snow-related anxiety level.

Our weather-related memories are part of us on an almost cellular level. At least when you understand what is or isn't normal, you tend to feel more in control of your own world. How we interpret what we see when we travel to a new climate is based almost entirely on the experiences we've had elsewhere. It is important to keep this in mind as we attempt to help newly arrived refugees adjust to their new environment. We all assume wrong at some point. Read on for some insight about how and why this happens. --SM

A snow shower or storm evokes reactions of glee from sledders, moans from drivers and shovelers, but terror from those unfamiliar with snow but familiar with cyclones. Please be aware of the fears and terror invoked during snow showers and storms where winds blow snow flakes and clusters laterally, sometimes almost to the horizontal. People unfamiliar with snow may equate winds that blow snow laterally with cyclones and other storms that have caused massive death and destruction in their tropical homelands. Snow and rain are both precipitation, but snowflakes are much lighter and are more easily (and dramatically) blown by wind.

I visited a Karen family during such a laterally falling snow shower. I was struck by the terror on their faces, blankets over windows, and their self-induced seclusion in their bedrooms. The daughter finally told me that trees were being uprooted by the snow storm. Upon further questioning I realized she was assuming that must be happening if the snowfall was lateral. They equated the winds that blew snow laterally with that of a cyclone.

Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in May 2008. The death and destruction affected the whole country and its memory still terrorizes people from Burma. Stories have emerged about Nargis survivors, especially children, who become paralyzed with fear whenever it rains. Many people in other areas lost family and friends. Others who were untouched were still affected by the terror, suffering and destruction and the inhumanity connected with Burma's ruling military's actions toward survivors in the cyclone's aftermath. This affected everyone from Burma whether or not they were or knew any victims.

During Burma's rainy season, June through October, it can rain for days and travel is very difficult. Malaria and other mosquito and water born illnesses flourish. Despite the heat and high humidity, upper respiratory infections (URI's) are very common during the rainy season. Chronic malnourishment contributes to these URI's and the many secondary pneumonia, skin infections and other sequelae we see as the exception in the United States.

The rainy season is also the time of year that large-scale and lengthy attacks by Burma's military repeatedly occur upon ethnic minorities. Civilians are not just driven off their land; they are also hunted down and raped, tortured and/or killed if caught. So, their escape into the jungle is fraught with multiple barriers to reaching safety, including rain, muddy terrain, constantly wet clothes, inadequate clothing and gear due to a hasty escape, the chill that accompanies constant wetness, forbidden warming or cooking fires that will send a signal of their location with the smoke, and forbidden crying, coughing or talking that may alert the hunting military.

Think of the emotions during the escape: Memories of the attack, seeing loved ones attacked or finding their body parts amongst ashes, not knowing who survived, having been attacked and/or raped, running while injured and suffering, being a child thrust into this world of constant fear and discomfort, having to run while in labor, miscarrying, or with a dying child.

These memories and fears may contribute, in addition to the extreme discomfort from the cold, to the reluctance of refugees from Burma to leave their homes during snowy or rainy weather. When I have taught English to refugees from Burma, I have been confused and frustrated at the lack of class attendance during the smallest of rain fall. Rain is a part of life in Burma, but memories of the Cyclone and lack of rain gear in a new environment contribute to their self-induced seclusion.

Our refugee clients don't want to be pitied. They felt weak and helpless during the hard times. Many don't want to revisit what they have been through to talk about it. Encouragement and acknowledgement of the strength that they had to possess to survive is essential.

Our awareness, patience, and information about snow and winter weather apparel may help ease the transition from fear or moans to glee.

Dr. Nora R. Rowley is a physician who practiced Emergency Room Medicine for 15 years, mainly in the Midwest. After leaving her hospital career to pursue humanitarian work, she volunteered with Doctors Without Borders inside Burma where she worked as a field medical doctor for six months.

Since returning to the U.S. in early 2007, she has dedicated a great deal of time to learning about the human rights crisis in Burma. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Campaign for Burma(USCB) www.uscampaignforburma.org.

Next training date

2009-12-14T10:48:00.000-08:00

The first new-tutor training session

of 2010 will be

Saturday, February 20.

Potential in-home tutors who wish to volunteer should visit our Website, http://www.refugee-esl.org/ and print out an application. The application serves as your registration for the training.

Please note that the application is not an electronic form! Do not try to fill it out electronically. Do not send it via email.

New for 2010: We need to have 10 volunteers in attendance for a training session. If fewer than 10 people confirm their attendance, the session will be postponed. Our training activities and group dynamics just don't work when there are only a few people in attendance.

If you have questions about the program, please visit our Website, send an email to sharon_mccreary@dpsk12.org, or call 720-423-4843.

My movie is missing!

2009-12-14T10:04:00.001-08:00

At the fall inservice, someone borrowed one of my

copies of Rain in a Dry Land.

I don't remember who has it.

I really need it back ASAP.

If you have it, please return it.

Thanks.

A job posting

2009-12-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

Catholic Charities is hiring an English as a Second Language teacher for adults during the evening hours. This position is thirteen hours a week in Southwest Denver. The curriculum is based on life skills acquisition using the Step Forward curriculum.

The ideal candidate will have a fun, welcoming and creative classroom atmosphere with experience teaching lower and advanced level students. Must have a High School Diploma/GED and six months to one year related experience. Submit resume and cover letter to:

CATHOLIC CHARITIES HUMAN RESOURCES
4045 Pecos St. Denver, CO 80211

Or Email: hr@ccdenver.org

In the news lately

2009-11-30T11:25:00.001-08:00

Denver's refugee community continues to be in the news lately. In addition to the article in the previous post (scroll down), Here are some other stories you may have missed.

From the Denver Post, columnist Tina Griego wrote about Deg Adhikari, one of many Bhutanese refugees trying to make a new life in Denver. Click here to read the column. A couple of columns later, she wrote a followup piece with more information about refugee resettlement in Denver.
Colorado Public Radio,NPR, and NBC Nightly News all covered the death of Haiffaa Ali, an Iraqi refugee attending Emily Griffith Opportunity School. Haiffaa's story really clarified the issue of why being safely resettled is not the same thing as finding a home.

Click here to watch the NBC story (about two minutes).
Click here for the Colorado Public Radio story (about five minutes).
Click here for NPR's "All things Considered" version of the CPR story (about three or four minutes).

Do you know a journalist? Share the refugee story. Share the story of your experience in this program. The more we keep these stories in the news, the more we can raise awareness about an often-overlooked subject that could use a lot more exposure.

From UNHCR.org: Telling the Human Story

2009-10-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, I was looking for a video on the UNHCR Website, when a picture on the home page caught my eye. The story I saw was about Hodan, someone who is currently going through the resettlement process--and someone I know personally. Her story is compelling and heart-breaking, yet ultimately one of hope and a better future. The story follows in its entirety. --SM

Young Somali refugee born in exile looks forward to
resettlement after a hard life

Hodan gets ready to board a bus that will take her to Addis Ababa from Kebribeyah Refugee Camp.

KEBRIBEYAH REFUGEE CAMP, Ethiopia, October 1 (UNHCR) – Hodan Mawlid has spent almost all of her life in a baking, dusty refugee camp in Ethiopia, yet the 18-year-old remains remarkably optimistic despite suffering the loss of her parents at an early age and the hardship that followed.

"I have led a very painful life," she told a UNHCR visitor here recently. "But I always find solace in my belief that the best way to prevail over the cruelties and ills of the past is to forget them altogether and start all over again."

Now, things are changing for Hodan: last month she flew to the United States after being accepted for resettlement and her positive attitude should help her face the challenges that will arise in an alien land and culture. "Just how smooth the new beginning is depends so much on the individual and the situation," said UNHCR Senior Resettlement Officer Larry Yungk. "I think there tend to be opportunities out there, but there is no guarantee of success," he adds.

Hodan was among a group of 23 vulnerable Somali refugees, including her uncle and his family, who were accepted by the US under a UNHCR-organized resettlement programme and flown to Denver, Colorado. They cannot return home because they originate from volatile southern or central areas of Somalia, where people continue to flee their homes to escape conflict.

I've known suffering all my life. Compared to what I've endured, language and cultural barriers will be nothing to worry about. -– Somali refugee Hodan Mawlid

Before leaving Addis Ababa, she said she knew there were tough times ahead, especially to begin with as she struggles to learn English. But she's had a lifetime of preparation. "I've known suffering all my life. Compared to what I've endured, language and cultural barriers will be nothing to worry about."

Hodan was born and brought up in eastern Ethiopia's Kebribeyah Refugee Camp after her parents crossed from neighbouring Somalia in 1991, fleeing the chaos that followed the collapse of the Siad Barre regime. They were among more than 600,000 people who fled to Ethiopia and found safety in eight refugee camps.

"When I grew old enough to enquire about my parents, I learnt from my uncle, who took care of me while in the camp, that my mother had died as a refugee when I was four years old and that my father returned to Somalia some months later," she recalled.

The news was a devastating blow, especially as Hodan had no siblings who could comfort her. Her uncle and aunt and their children became her surrogate parents and siblings, but she had to drop out of school after Grade Four to supplement the family's monthly food ration by working as a housemaid in a nearby town.

Meanwhile, relative stability in Somaliland and northern Somalia's Puntland led to the repatriation of well over half-a-million Somali refugees from Ethiopia between 1997 and 2005. But Hodan's kin were from southern Somalia where continuing insecurity has prevented their return. Resettlement became an option.

The Somalis still living in camps in eastern Ethiopia, including Hodan and her relatives, were caught in a protracted refugee situation with no end in sight. As part of the efforts to resolve the problem, the US government agreed in 2007 to accept thousands of these Somalis for resettlement. To date, UNHCR has referred the names of some 5,600 for possible resettlement.

"While UNHCR's primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees, our ultimate goal is to help find durable solutions that will allow them to rebuild their lives in dignity and peace," explained Moses Okello, UNHCR's representative in Ethiopia.

The Somali community in the United States is closely-knit, UNHCR's Yungk noted, adding that this could help the young Hodan settle in well. Her biggest hurdle could be education.

"Unfortunately, if one is over 18 and arrives in the US, one is generally not eligible to finish public schooling," Yungk said, while adding that refugees like Hodan were usually steered towards General Equivalency Degree programmes, English-language courses and vocational training.

Hodan welcomed the opportunity for a new life with plenty of opportunity. There is no looking back for her. "I do not think I have any incentive to go to Somalia any time in the future," she concluded.

© UNHCR/K.G.Egziabher
By Kisut Gebre Egziabher in Kebribeyah Refugee Camp, Ethiopia

Taking my own advice

2009-10-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Photo © UNESCO/Nicolas Axelrod

Back in August, I started teaching a new class--a new level, to be specific. It has been a few years since I last taught the just-slightly-higher than level zero/level one, and for the first month back, it left me exhausted as each class session wrapped up.

There has been a lot to remember: Speak slower, repeat often, write larger, use less paper, interact more, be physical, and never, ever ask, "Do you understand?" At the end of each day, I thought, "Slower. Lower. Simpler. Tomorrow."

My students fall into two categories: Those who have had little or no formal education in their first language, and those who understand the skills required to learn but just don't speak English yet. (If the word I most want my students to know is "Try," then my word of encouragement is "Yet.")

For those who have been in school, activities we consider familiar tasks are often daunting and frustrating for those who have little formal education. Here are some things I've had to remember:

Copying from the board and transferring that information to paper is very difficult. Start by coping single words that are on the paper. Put the lines underneath the word to be copied so the student can line up the letters (stacking). Later, have the student copy the letters or words to the right (linear, not stacked).

Never assume my students are going to remember the material we covered days ago. There's a solution to this...stay tuned.

Your student's job is to try. Your job is to facilitate learning. It is not your student's job to please you. Your student's inability to learn something new is just a reminder that you need to try another way.

Remember--the more senses you involve in an activity, the more parts of the brain are engaged in the learning process. More brain = better chance of success and retention.

Last week, my class was studying how to read and write an American address. We had already covered all of the components, but the class was not together when it came to actually writing address information in order and in the correct format.

Suddenly, it was like a little me popped up in a thought balloon over my shoulder saying, "Manipulatives are less abstract than writing." Aha!

I quickly printed out some address information (size 16 type/Comic Sans font) and cut apart the address into a separate pieces. I put the pieces in front of each student who needed support. I asked the student to only identify the following:

Where is the street?
Where is the building number?
Where is the apartment number?
Where is the city?
Where is the state?
Where is the ZIP code?

And then I asked, Where is the building number? I pushed the student's finger to place the piece of paper. What's next? Is this the apartment number or the ZIP code? Once the address was in order, I mixed up the pieces and asked the student to do it again and again, but each time with less help from me. When the task was learned, the student copied the address onto paper. And then we started again with a new address.

Sometimes, low-tech is astoundingly effective.

Don't forget to spiral. Language and literacy are not learned in a straight line (learn item. Continue. Learn item. Continue...) or on a continuum. This is a spiral, so you introduce, add, revisit, introduce, add, revisit, incorporate, add, etc. If you have ever made bread, think about how, when you get to the kneading stage, you continue to incorporate more flour via the kneading surface. The dough can't absorb all the flour it requires right away, so you build on what's already there.

At any level of teaching--and learning--there is a certain amount of trial and error. The same thing doesn't work the same way for different students or even the same way for the same student every time.

Go forth and, well, hang in there. This is a two-way learning process.

--Sharon

A ten-day Hindu festival season

2009-09-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

In the United States, the big national holidays last a single day or a weekend, at most. In the life of a practicing Hindu, however, celebrations may last a week or more.

This weekend marks the overlap of
three Hindu festivals and observances related to Mother Goddess. If your student is from Bhutan (ethnic Nepalese), her family is spending this weekend immersed in Hindu practice involving prayer, rituals, dance and food as part of “Dusshera” and “Vijayadashami,” or in Nepali, विजया दशमी

For more information on these Hindu holidays and their significance, visit Wikipedia and Hinduism at About.com.

The next major festival in 2009--and it's big--is the five-day celebration of Diwali on Saturday, October 17. According to Wikipedia, in Hinduism, across many parts of India and Nepal, it is the homecoming of Rama after a 14-year exile in the forest and his victory over the Ravana. In the legend, the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed Rama by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (dĭpa), thus its name: dīpāwali. Over time, this word transformed into Diwali in Hindi and Dipawali in Nepali, but still retained its original form in South and East Indian Languages.

Like many major cultural observances, Diwali includes holiday-specific songs, special food, new clothes, sweets, and the exchange of gifts.

In India and Nepal, Diwali is now considered to be a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians and Nepalese regardless of faith. For more helpful helpful background on this festival, visit Wikipedia and Diwali Festival.

From the New York Times

2009-09-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

A recent article in the New York Times gives a glimpse into the lives of newly resettled Bhutanese refugees in the Bronx, New York. The article is accompanied by an excellent photo slide show by photojournalist Suzanne DeChillo.

An excerpt of the article follows. Click here to read the entire story, but do it soon--articles in the Times aren't available online indefinitely.

Bhutan Refugees Find a Toehold in the Bronx

By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: September 24, 2009

Nearly every immigrant group in New York City has a neighborhood, or at least a street, to call its own. But for refugees from the tiny South Asian nation of Bhutan, the closest thing to a home base is a single building in the Bronx — a red-brick five-story walk-up, with a weed-choked front courtyard and grimy staircases.

Eight families — more than 40 people — have taken up residence here in the past several months, part of a stream of thousands of Bhutanese refugees who have flowed into the United States in the past year and a half. With the help of resettlement agencies, many have found apartments in the Bronx, and the largest concentration has ended up here in the building on University Avenue.

This is their small toehold in a strange new world. The only life most have known was in the rural plains and Himalayan foothills of Bhutan and the dusty refugee camps of Nepal. Few have ever lived in homes with electricity or indoor plumbing, or between walls made of anything but bamboo. continued online

Mentioned in the article...

T.P. Mishra was a journalist in Nepal before being resettled in New York in 2009. He maintains a blog called Journalism in Exile, detailing his firsthand accounts of life as a refugee in the urban U.S. The current post is on top; to read previous and archived posts, scroll down or click on the months listed on the right side of the page.

Upcoming training sessions

2009-09-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

There will be two more training sessions for new tutors in 2009.

Saturday, November 7

Saturday, December 12

Training sessions start at 8:00 a.m. and finish at 4:00 p.m.

If you would like to become an in-home tutor, or if you know of someone who would like to join our program, please visit our Website, http://www.refugee-esl.org/. Once you have explored the information there, click on the tab for "Application." The form you need is first on the list.

Please note! This is not an electronic form, nor is it intended to be! Complete the form by hand, and either fax it or mail it in. The application form serves as your training registration. You will be contacted with training session specifics once your application has been received.

We currently have more than 30 women waiting for a teacher!

Consider becoming a business partner

2009-09-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce that the ESL Department at Emily Griffith Opportunity School recently introduced the Pathways to Employment program for refugee students. It is a nine week job-readiness program focused on preparing students for clerical jobs in corporate and medical fields.

Students will attend classes six hours a day for eight weeks, studying basic computer skills, introduction to American business culture, customer service skills, clerical skills, business writing, introduction to medical occupations and how to find a job. In the ninth week of the program, students will job shadow or intern in a business for one week. The goal of this internship is to provide students an opportunity to have hands-on experience in the American business environment.

We are looking for organizations that would be interested in partnering with Emily Griffith to provide shadow opportunities for our students. If you, a friend, or a family member work in an organization that might be interested in having one of our students as an intern for a week, please contact Jaclyn Yelich at 720-423-4854 or email her at Jaclyn_Yelich@dpsk12.org.

No, I didn't get your fax

2009-09-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

The fax machine in the ESL department is currently out of order. No faxes have been received since Friday, September 11. The machine is not expected to be repaired until at least Friday of this week.

If you are waiting for a response to a fax, or if you sent in your training application/registration, please be patient.

Thank you.

Because I always do the talking

2009-09-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

Speak!

Your in-home tutoring coordinator has an opportunity for you to share your experience as a volunteer in the CRESL program. You don't need any special training for this assignment.

On Saturday, September 19, I will have a booth at Festival International in Aurora. I'll be there all day, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 pm.

Alas, I will be alone.

I am looking for two or three current or former volunteers to assist me in the booth.

Greet visitors
Explain a bit about refugees
Explain the basics of the in-home tutoring program
Talk about the volunteer program at Emily Griffith (if you're familiar)
Hand out brochures
Talk about your experience as an in-home tutor.

This is actually quite fun--especially if you enjoy talking to people. If you would like to help out (and I really do need help!), please call me 720-423-4843 or drop me a line at sharon_mccreary@dpsk12.org before Thursday, September 17.

I look forward to spending quality time with you! --SM

Inservice confirmed!

2009-08-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the final details about the upcoming in-service training. This session is open to all program volunteers, including those who are "on hiatus" from tutoring and those who will be attending the new-tutor training on September 26.

Refugee Resettlement and
Stateside Case Management
Your questions answered until your brain is full

Presenter:
Susan Anderson, Case Management Administrator
Lutheran Family Services, Refugee & Asylee Programs

Thursday, September 24
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Emily Griffith Opportunity School
1250 Welton St. (Room TBD)
Denver
We are located downtown, next to the Colorado Convention Center,
and just one-half block north of Colfax.

Join us for an informative discussion of the many details involved in resettling refugees. Find out how the national program is structured, where the money comes from, and who oversees resettlement locally.

Susan will explain the benefits and financial assistance that refugees receive once they are in the United States. She will also talk about the responsibilities that refugees have upon entering the program, expectations on both sides, and what happens when the resettlement relationship breaks down. Susan will also share information regarding refugee education, housing, and why access to services changes after the first year of resettlement has finished.

Bring your questions! If possible, email your questions in advance so Susan can address your specific concerns. This is your opportunity to gain an understanding of why the refugees you meet appear to have different levels of support.

Susan Anderson oversees case management services to refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking for four federal programs throughout Colorado and the region. Ms. Anderson is a member of Colorado’s Network to End Human Trafficking, which works to prevent human trafficking in the state. Ms. Anderson has traveled throughout the country assessing the U.S. refugee program, providing training to Lutheran social ministry organizations and ensuring appropriate services are provided to refugees, asylees and others.

You must RSVP if you are planning to attend. We need an accurate headcount so we can book the appropriate room. Click here to confirm attendance via email no later than Monday, September 22. Persons responding after 9/22 will be accepted on a space-available basis.

Yes, there will be training!!!

2009-08-25T14:53:00.001-07:00

If you have not yet attended a training session for incoming in-home tutors but you are ready to volunteer in the program, mark your calendar!

Training for new tutors

Saturday, September 26

8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

To download an application (you have to print it out and use a pen!), please go to www.refugee-esl.org You cannot attend the session if you have not submitted an application.

Details will follow by regular U.S. mail--if you turned in your application.

Hope to see new tutors soon!

The blog lives (as does the blogger)

2009-08-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Updated blog posts coming soon! In the meantime, please note the following:

In-service Training

For all volunteers!

Saturday, September 12*

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Emily Griffith Opportunity School

Topic: To be determined!

Date is very, very tentative

We haven't yet chosen a topic or a speaker. What would you like to learn about? In the course of the year, we offer eight hours of in-service training.

four hours of language teaching techniques or curriculum topics
four hours of refugee resettlement topics, including updates on overseas developments, new populations, health, benefits, cultural information, etc.

This time around, we are due for a resettlement topic. What would you like to know? Is there something about refugees you've wanted to learn but didn't know how to find the information?

If you have a suggestion or request, click on the word "comment" below this post to share your ideas. You don't need to have an account--just select the "name" option. Others will be able to see your comment, and that might get a good conversation going.

Don't delay in making your suggestions--I need time to line up a speaker. Let those ideas flow!

Dispatch from the field

2009-06-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

One of the most rewarding--and interesting--aspects of being an in-home tutor is learning about your student's life: past, present, and future aspirations. As Americans, we live in a culture where we hesitate to ask about personal sstories for fear of stirring up bad memories. The truth is, our students are adults and they wholly reserve the right to say they don't want to talk about it. Making the effort to get to know your student on a personal level, though, is a gift you give to both of you.

Our guest blogger today is Jean Clark, who has been tutoring a group of Burmese Karen women. Along the way, she has also become a close friend of the families and some of their friends. Jean encourages her students to speak so they are comfortable using what they learn. As a result, she has learned a few things, as well.

Recently, I had the opportunity to be alone with Htee Ku Paw as we drove to one of her (many) appointments. She is doing so well learning English. The joke is that Htee Ku Paw is everyone's English student because she goes to any class that is available. One thing that she does not like to do is speak extemporaneously. I thought that since we were alone, I'd push her to do just that. I explained what we were going to do but that I'd go first. Our rule is, if she doesn't understand a word, she must stop me. So, I talked to her about my childhood. Then I asked her to do the same. Quiet, quiet and I didn't interrupt the quiet. Finally, she started to talk. I did help her by asking questions. This is what I learned.

She was born in a small village, the oldest of five children, four girls and one boy. She told me that her father and mother were farmers—rice and vegetables. She also told me that her father was a tailor and her mother was a weaver. Htee Ku Paw learned to sew and weave from the age of 8. Her mother wanted her to carry on the Burmese Karen weaving tradition.

Her father had a sewing machine and people would come to their home to have clothes made. They would bring their own fabric. Htee Ku Paw's mother would weave things that people would buy.

Htee Ku Paw’s father started a school for tailoring. Students would sign up for six months, and he would give them a certificate when they finished the term. I don't know where he got the machines for the class, but I do know that he found a building that he could use for these classes.

When Htee Ku Paw was about 17, Burmese soldiers came to their village to capture all of the men. Her father and brother escaped into the jungle and returned when it was safe. At 18, she and a friend decided to go to the refugee camp in Thailand. She didn't tell me much about their journey other than the fact that it was dangerous.

Htee Ku Paw had an aunt and uncle at the camp, so she lived with them until she met Thaw and married him in 1997. Htee Ku Paw's youngest sister, Paw, moved to the United States before her. Paw married an American (Anglo) in Colorado. They have a 1-year-old daughter and they currently live in a Denver suburb.

I believe that Htee Ku Paw’s father is dead and that her mother and another sister left the camp recently to return to their village. The village is not a safe place to live. It is raided by government soldiers periodically, forcing everyone to flee into the jungle. Htee Ku Paw has no way to get in touch with them. I cannot stop thinking about how I might to go about finding them.

If you would like to try your hand at sharing your in-home tutoring experiences as a guest blogger, send your essay to sharon_mccreary@dpsk12.org

Share what you know!

2009-05-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Although we work with adults in our program, some of the tutors also have experience tutoring children. A group in Minneapolis has asked us to join in their dialogue about working with kids. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions for them? If so, post your comments over at http://www.nayapaila.org/.

UNHCR kids' poster contest

2009-04-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Do you know a young artist who has talent, awareness, and compassion? UNHCR will once again sponsor its World Refugee Day poster contest, under the continued patronage of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie. Elementary, middle and high school students are invited to design a poster around the theme “Real People, Real Needs.”

“Refugees are real people, just like you and me; they have very real needs, such as shelter, food, water, medical care and education. Think about what you would need to survive as a refugee. How would you want people to treat you? Design a poster using your imagination and creativity to show how we can help refugees.”
- Angelina Jolie
Posters should creatively illustrate what life is like for the millions of refugee children who flee their home countries due to war, persecution and human rights violations.

Prize: UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie will present an award to the winner in each category at the World Refugee Day ceremony on June 18, 2009, in Washington, DC. Winning posters will be exhibited at the National Geographic Museum.

Eligibility: Students in grades 4-12 in US public, private, parochial and home school programs are eligible to enter the contest. Each entry must be sponsored by a teacher or principal from the student’s school. All entries must include the entry form listing the student’s name, grade and age, educator’s name and email address, school name and address. Schools must be willing to sanction and coordinate this event. (This is probably just a matter of asking.)

Entry Categories: Entries will be judged in the three following age groups: Grades 4-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12.

Format: Posters should be no larger than 11 by 17 inches. Sculptures, clip art, and computer generated entries cannot be accepted.

Deadline: All entries must be postmarked by midnight, Friday, May 15, 2009.

For the full rules and entry form, click here. To see examples of previous winning posters, click here. Click on any of the small pictures to the left to see more examples.

UNHCR has an abundance of materials on its Website to help young people learn about refugees and human rights. The Refugee Stories page gives kids an oportunity to read what young refugees have written about their lives in exile. Some refugee children tell their stories with pictures, not words. you can see some their drawings on the Refugee Artwork page. Finally, UNHCR has some ideas about what any of us can do to help refugees living abroad and those who have resettled here. Click here find out how to help.

Puppets, planning, and pipe cleaners

2009-04-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

The weather reports sounded dire and it appeared that the inservice training would be postponed--again. In the end, there was no blizzard, almost no snow at all, and it was a good morning to get together and learn something new.

Only ten in-home volunteers joined us for the training. Although the turnout was lackluster, to say the least, enthusiasm was high among those in attendance. Having such small groups meant we had the luxury of lots of one-to-one instruction and an opportunity to tailor the training to the specific needs of the attendees.

Kim Hosp and Cayenna Johnson helped walk the tutors through the process of lesson planning, linking the four skill areas within a lesson and then carrying over the material from one week to the next, and effectively incorporating text books into a lesson. Each time I peeked into the room, the tutors were deeply engrossed in the presentation. As soon as I get the highlights of these presentations, I'll post them here.

The other two presentations came courtesy of Kate Goodspeed and Sharon McCreary (me). Kate's lively presentation addressed the needs of our most prevalent type of student in the home-tutoring program--the pre-literate, zero-level English learner. When I poked my head in and checked on Kate's session, the five volunteers were actively engaged in activities meant to elicit speaking from the absolute beginner language student. The use of puppets was particularly original, and Kate's lesson underlined the need to present material in ways that are interesting, effective, and fun.

The final presentation was truly hands-on. I demonstrated many different ways to use index cards as teaching tools, how to break away from keeping lessons on paper, and how to use a wide variety of manipulatives including pipe cleaners, picture cards, textured letters, and musical instruments.

Huge, huge thanks to Cayenna, Kate, and Kim for putting in the time to prepare excellent, targeted lessons (entirely based on your questions and requests for help), and for giving up part of their weekend to teach for free.

The next inservice training will be sometime this summer. If you would like to suggest a topic, be sure to let me know. I hope to see you then--many more of you!

Are you intrigued by this picture? Most things about our inservice trainings are intriguing--but only to those who attend!

2009-04-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

Join Denver's Bhutanese refugee community for

Bhutanese & Nepalese

New Year Celebrations

Sunday, April 5th--4:00 pm

New Covenant Christian Church
825 Ivanhoe St.
Denver, CO 80220

Chief Guest : Paul Stein, Director, Colorado Refugee Services Program

This event commemorates the Bhutanese new year with exciting cultural programs, folk dances and authentic Bhutanese food.

The dance dramas are common traditional features usually accompanied by traditional music. Energetic dancers, wearing colourful face masks and stylized costumes, depict heroes, demons, death heads, animals, gods, and caricatures of common people. The dance performances preserve ancient folk and religious customs.

Heavy weather

2009-04-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

If you are planning to join us for the inservice training on Saturday...

Currently, the National Weather Service is predicting light snow for Saturday morning, with snow and wind increasing later in the day.

If this forecast remains as it is, the inservice will take place as planned. I'll be sure to have tea and coffee on hand.

If it looks like the snow will be heavy or the conditions will be dangerous, I will postpone the session until a future date. In the event the training session is canceled, I will post something here and I will also try to personally reach everyone who told me they were planning to attend--if I have their phone numbers.

Stay tuned.

More on the inservice

2009-03-12T11:19:00.001-07:00

Saturday, April 4
10:00 a.m. to noon
Emily Griffith Opportunity School
Rooms 146-148

There are two more sessions for the volunteer inservice training...
Open to all CRESL Tutors (even those on hiatus)

Linking it together!
Do you need help creating a lesson that hits all four language skill areas: listening, speaking, reading, writing? This session will help tutors understand how to recycle lesson content to incorporate all skill areas while working within one lesson or topic. In addition, the instructor will show how to use a textbook as one tool in the teaching/learning process. Tutors will explore a variety of textbooks as part of a lesson planning exercise.
Kim Hosp, CRESL Instructor

Index cards and manipulatives
Learn fun and interesting ways to use simple index cards and everyday items to provide texture, touch, and movement in your lessons. Add a dash of fun and involve the senses in any lesson you plan!
Sharon McCreary, CRESL Instructor

Don't forget the rest of what's being offered!

Lesson planning: Effective lesson planning suited to in-home tutoring will be explained, as well as how to incorporate and revisit lesson material throughout all activities in a session. Cayenna Johnson, CRESL instructor

Getting started speaking & Language lessons without literacy: How do you help someone learn to speak English now when she has no familiarity with the language and no experience with printed materials? Conversation strategies, vocabulary building, and person-to-person activities will be included. Information can be adapted for higher-level students. Kate Goodspeed, CRESL instructor

Two sessions will run concurrently each hour. Please choose your sessions and let us know ahead of time which you plan to attend so the presenters can prepare.

RSVP ASAP

Welcome to America

2009-02-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

There is really no shortage of media coverage about good people doing extraordinary things. I make a point of watching the last five minutes of the national news every Friday night--any broadcast network will do--because those few minutes of the week highlight the contributions of normal people making a remarkable difference in the world.

CNN devotes a whole year of stories to this concept, culminating in distinguishing honors for a group of ten people every year. Not all are from the U.S., but most are. The reason I mention the geography comes from a bit of frustration I tend to harbor. In the course of the year, the volunteer coordinators in the Colorado Refugee Network attend nonprofit fairs throughout the metro area. When people approach our booth for information about our programs, we are frequently asked the same question: "Do you have volunteer positions overseas?" Or, with a measure of disappointment, "Oh. So, you only help people who are here?"

All three of us are quick to point out that a refugee arriving on American shores has just begun a whole new struggle. There are plenty of ways to contribute to world peace and international relations right here in the town where you live. Many people are surprised to find out refugees are here at all. If you aren't aware of their presence, it's because they're often all but invisible...Except to those of us who devote our waking hours to this particular cause.

Even those who are familiar with the refugee resettlement program are often unaware of just how truly grassroots most of the programs are. Our programs cannot exist without community support, church partnerships, devoted teachers, tutors for adults and kids, mentors, first friends, a small army of volunteers, plus all of the people who donate money, furniture, household goods, and time setting up apartments and taking refugees to their many appointments. Refugee resettlement works because it takes a community to welcome a new one to the mix, and communities have a way of knowing what to do.

One of CNN's 2009 Heroes is Carolyn Manning of Phoenix, Arizona. I'll say this for CNN: The network has consistently shown a commitment to telling the story of refugees and the resettlement process. That Ms. Manning was chosen to be honored by CNN this year is one more example of CNN's understanding that this work matters.

Carolyn Manning started an organization called The Welcome to America Project. Her program assists newly arrived refugees by furnishing apartments and providing support and guidance in the time immediately after arrival. To find out more about The Welcome to America Project and Carolyn Manning, click here to visit CNN's Website. This link takes you to an entire web page with videos dedicated to this topic.

Congratulations to Carolyn Manning and her team of volunteers. They do the same work as many other people assisting refugees throughout the U.S., so as a 2009 CNN Hero, Ms. Manning carries the torch for all of you who volunteer your time and open your hearts to refugee newcomers every day. To the volunteers in the CRESL program and others like it, congratulations to you, too, for your fine work! You are all my heroes every day.

Inservice training rescheduled!

2009-02-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

Open to all CRESL Tutors (even those on hiatus)

Saturday, April 4

10:00 a.m.

Emily Griffith Opportunity School

So far, two presenters are confirmed and they will teach about:

Lesson planning: Effective lesson planning suited to in-home tutoring will be explained, as well as how to incorporate and revisit lesson material throughout all activities in a session. Cayenna Johnson, CRESL instructor

Getting started speaking & Language lessons without literacy: How do you help someone learn to speak English now when she has no familiarity with the language and no experience with printed materials? Conversation strategies, vocabulary building, and person-to-person activities will be included. Information can be adapted for higher-level students. Kate Goodspeed, CRESL instructor

We hope to add two more sessions, so watch this blog for updates!
RSVP by March 31.

At a later date...

2009-02-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

Inservice training postponed

Sorry about that. There has been a problem coordinating with presenters and their schedules. We can't have a training session with no one to teach it!

Watch this space for the new date and topic.

--SM

African Extravaganza!

2009-02-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

The African Community Center and the University of Denver present

African Extravaganza 2009

February 18th-20th
University of Denver
Driscoll Hall

Voices of Refugees
Wednesday, February 18th, 6pm – 9pm
Davis Auditorium in Sturm Hall, 2000 E. Asbury Ave.

Hear the extraordinary and powerful stories of a diverse group of refugees who will share personal narratives of flight and refuge. Refugees from Iraq, Bhutan and Congo will give insights into the challenges and triumphs of living as a refugee and being resettled in the United States, and of joining a new community and finding new hope.

Kutaiba Abdulmahdi from Iraq will speak about his work with the US government during the war in Iraq and his subsequent resettlement in the United States.

MacGoddins Lushimba from Congo will talk about his advocacy efforts to bring awareness of refugee issues in Congo and throughout the world.

The Dhakal Family from Bhutan will paint an intergenerational picture of life between their two nations: Bhutan and Nepal, and 17 years in a refugee camp in Nepal.

African Extravaganza
Friday, February 20th, 6pm-9pm
Driscoll Ballroom, 2055 East Evans Ave.
Take part in a night of delicious food, an international marketplace, and extraordinary singing, dancing and drumming by African performers! Meals will be available, for purchase from Café Africana (Ethiopian food), Marrakesh (Moroccan food), and the Palava (Pan-African food). A Little Something will be there selling our handmade jewelry and weaving!
Suggested Donation: $5

Photography Exhibit
February 18th – 20th
Peruse the photo exhibit in the Gallery at Driscoll Center.

Dentists Across Colorado Give Kids a Smile by Providing Free Dental Care

2009-02-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

Every February the Colorado Dental Association organizes the statewide Give Kids a Smile Day program – a program that offers FREE dental care to low-income families without dental insurance or the ability to afford dental care. This program is in its seventh year and was created to provide free dental treatment and education to qualifying kids and to draw attention to the struggle that many families face when trying to obtain basic dental care. It also lets legislators know that these kids deserve a better health care system.

Give Kids a Smile Day is Friday, February 6, 2009. Participating dental offices across the State are in need of qualifying kids to treat for this program. There are still 300 appointment slots available throughout the state. The majority of the appointments, however, are in the metro area, including Aurora, Boulder, Centennial, Denver, Englewood, Lafayette, Lakewood, Littleton, Lone Tree, Louisville, and Thornton. Click here for a list of specific offices and their contact information to make appointments.

The Colorado Dental Association would LOVE your help in communicating this opportunity to families.

Please remember that appointments are first-come, first-served, so the sooner families can call, the better. When making an appointment, the caller should say that he/she is "calling to make an appointment for Give Kids a Smile Day." Please note that only a limited number of appointment slots are available.

NOTE: To qualify, families must meet ALL of the following criteria:

Be low-income and/or a part of the free and reduced lunch program.
Be dentally uninsured (no insurance or CHP+ coverage).
Unable to afford dental care.

For more detailed information, please call Molly Pereria at 303-996-2844 (please do not have patients call).

2009-01-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

Our hearts go out to the family of Bishnu Adhikari, who passed away last night. Bishnu was in her mid-forties. She leaves behind her husband and four children.

The Bhutanese family arrived in Denver in January of 2008 from Nepal. Ferdi Mevlani of Ecumenical Refugee Service has set up an account at Wells Fargo to accept donations to help the family with funeral expenses. Donations may be made at any Wells Fargo Bank; reference Bishnu Adhikari or Ferdinant Mevlani.

I will post the funeral information when it is available. Thank you for any support you can give--the family is in great need.

Mark your calendar

2009-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

February 28

(It's a Saturday)

Inservice training for all in-home tutors.

Details to follow. For now, please pencil this in on your calendar. Unless you use a Palm Pilot.

I have no idea what I'm doing!

2009-01-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

You've attended training, read the handbook, and been assigned to a student. You watched the language and literacy assessment. The volunteer coordinator has packed up her materials and headed out the door. Now, it's the moment you feared: You are alone with your student and you have no idea where to start.

Don't panic. There are a couple of things to know.

First, you can't do this wrong, and you won't inflict any permanent linguistic damage.
Second, there are a wealth of resources available to you, and many of them are free and online.

A week ago, we had the good fortune to attend a training session with Kathy Santopietro Weddel (see the post below this one). Her presentation focused on addressing literacy with the nonliterate student. Kathy encouraged us to go online and check out the teacher's toolkit at the Website for the Center for Applied Linguistics.

The document is over 200 pages of valuable and practical information. Again, don't panic--you can read it online, print it out, print out the sections you want, save it to your hard drive, etc. It's a pdf file, but you probably have Adobe Acrobat's reader already installed on your computer.

This toolkit has something helpful to address almost any ESL or literacy tutor (or classroom teacher). You don't need to enroll in a university class--the information you're looking for is in this toolkit!

To access the toolkit, click here. While you're on the CAL/CAELA site, look around--there is a lot of valuable information here to support your teaching. Remain calm--there is no need to panic!

An exceptional opportunity!

2009-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

ESL Literacy Q & A and Training

Kathleen Santopietro-Weddel is coming to Denver!

Kathleen Santopietro-Weddel, a teacher trainer for the Northern Colorado Professional Development Center in Longmont, has experience as a classroom teacher, project coordinator, teacher trainer, speaker, and curriculum development consultant. She has authored several literacy textbooks and is a sought-after trainer and popular presenter at conferences.

What: A teacher trainer with amazing expertise is coming in from Longmont to answer questions and discuss how to help our ESL literacy students more effectively.

When: This Wednesday, January 14, 2009 3:00 – 4:30 or 5:00

Where: Emily Griffith Opportunity School--Room 433 (tentatively)

Who: Anyone who works with literacy-level ESL students or who just wants to learn more about helping adults learn to read. Classroom and in-home volunteers are encouraged to attend.

Cost: FREE!!!!
(You can’t beat that! What a deal!! What an opportunity!)

Bring your questions and examples of your most frustrating, difficult cases.
Please RSVP (ESL Office, 720-423-4752) ASAP so we can ensure seats for all.

Emily Griffith Opportunity School, 1250 Welton St., Denver, Colorado

2009-01-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

Save The Date For
THE LITERACY COALITION OF COLORADO’S

2009 MINI CONFERENCE

Friday-Saturday February 6-7, 2009
8am-1:30pm (Lunch provided)

FREE!

Focus Points Family Resource Center
3532 Franklin Street
Denver, Colorado 80205

Workshop schedule and details to follow
Topics will include ESL, Family Literacy, Math, ABE, GED and more!

** Workshops are approved by CDE/AEFL (Colorado Department of Education/Adult Education Family Literacy) for Professional Development Hours.

For early registration, please send your name, email address, telephone number, and the town where you’re from to:
Molly Elkins 303-688-7646 or melkins@dclibraries.org

UNHCR, Ben Affleck, The Stones, & You

2009-01-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

It's interesting how things that come into our heads have a way of appearing and reappearing in our consciousness. For many years, I loved the Rolling Stones' song, Gimme Shelter. In fact, it's one of the top-three songs on my favorites playlist on my iPod. I've always thought the song's message was somewhat out of character within the Stones' musical collection, but it stands on its own as a strong piece of music with one heck of a powerful message. I saw the Stones play live in Atlantic City in late December 1989 (16 rows from the stage!). That night's version of Gimme Shelter gave me chills and cemented it in my mind as one of the most meaningful songs of our time. Silly, you say? Have you ever listened to the words? Here are abridged lyrics, reprinted without any type of permission whatsoever:

Gimme Shelter
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad dog lost its way

War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

The floods is threat'ning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

I tell you love, sister, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away

This song is brought to mind because just this week, UNHCR launched a Global Appeal to raise funds for humanitarian efforts in Eastern Congo, featuring a film called Gimme Shelter that was directed by actor Ben Affleck. The film is currently available on YouTube.

"We made this film in order to focus attention on the humanitarian crisis in the DRC at a time when too much of the world is indifferent or looking the other way," said Affleck, who launched the film at a special briefing with UNHCR at the United Nations in New York on Dec. 17. "The suffering and loss we've all seen first-hand is staggering; it is beyond belief."

Affleck traveled this fall to the strife-torn North Kivu region of the DRC, where thousands have fled their homes since August. The film is set to the Rolling Stones' song Gimme Shelter, which Jagger and the group donated to the campaign.

Jagger described the human suffering in the DRC as appalling and expressed strong support for Affleck’s awareness-raising efforts.

"The Rolling Stones are very happy to contribute Gimme Shelter in support of Ben's efforts to raise the profile of the conflict in the Congo," Jagger said. "I hope this video will help highlight the plight of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people and also the thousands of innocent people who are needlessly losing their lives there."

Gimme Shelter captures the unseen suffering of Congolese families who fled the fighting with next to nothing and are now forced to find refuge in makeshift huts with little to live on. Some 30,000 others have fled to neighboring Uganda and are receiving help from UNHCR.

There are currently 1.3 million displaced people in the DRC, many of them earlier victims caught up in an ongoing cycle of violence. The effects of the conflict have claimed as many as 5.4 million lives in the last 10 years, with an estimated 1,000 people still dying every day. In some areas, two out of three women have been raped. Abductions persist in all brutal forms and children are forcefully recruited to fight. Outbreaks of cholera and other diseaseshave increased as the humanitarian situation deteriorates.

Click here to watch this short film.

for more information on the Gimme shelter campaign and the events in DRC, go to http://www.unhcrshelter.org/

The most wonderful time of the year

2008-12-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

To all of my fabulous, outstanding, and amazing volunteers:

I wish you a wonderful holiday!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

May your life be filled with joy, your heart filled with love, and your mind quieted by serenity.

Peace to you.

--Sharon

Our office will be closed for two weeks, beginning December 22. We will return on Monday, January 5.

Email glitch!

2008-12-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

The DPS email system is experiencing serious difficulties. For the past week, we have been unable to send mail to any Hotmail or MSN email addresses.

Since last night (December 18), email has been completely unavailable--the server is down and we can't even open the email program!

If you are waiting for an answer to a message you sent, it may take a while before I am able to respond. Sorry!

Still here!

2008-12-16T15:37:00.001-08:00

Contrary to popular belief, your blogger/volunteer coordinator has not absconded with all of the picture dictionaries and fled to Tahiti.
She'll be back in the swing of things very soon. Actually, she's in the swing of too many things--that's why it's been so silent around here!

Denver's refugees featured in Rocky Mountain News

2008-11-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News contacted various people within the Colorado Refugee Network regarding a possible series of articles on the topic of local refugee resettlement. After many interviews, the stories were published this week.

Here are links to all of the RMN articles in the series. Click on a story title to read that article. (Photo: Darin McGregor/Rocky Mountain News)

300 Refugees give thanks for a year in America (Thanksgiving at ACC)

Iraqi refugees carve out a new life (Jafaar Al Saad and family, Iraq)
Companion video/slide show for the Iraqi refugees story (it's very good!)

Healing hope for refugees (about two of the Lost Girls of Sudan living in Boulder)

Escaping the past, believing in the future (feature article)

Seeking a better life for children (Som Baral, Bhutan)

A high price for peace: Leaving family behind (Josefina Castro, Colombia)

Notes from the field

2008-11-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

A is for "apple." But, what's an apple?

Wa Kyi and I have worked on some very basic conversational language, numbers to 100, telling time, and days of the week, and now we're working on money.

As I teach new material, I keep being reminded of how many prerequisite skills there are to learn (like reading a clock or a calendar, or doing mental math, or grasping the concepts of coins and bills) before we can really get into the new language...Today I got to try some wonderful Burmese food and learned the words for fried rice, cake, water, and delicious in Karen.
--Erin Gotwals

Still waters and relative progress
Moo Na...has been the most quiet of my little group. Today when I got there, she was alone and she took the time to show me her "stuff". She walked across the floor and said, "I am walking." We got to the kitchen and she turned on the light and said, "the light is on"--turned it off and said, "the light is off." Turned on the water and said, "the water is on"--turned it off, "the water is off."

This is the first time that she has really come out of herself and wanted to "show off". I was so touched. She and her husband lived in a village in the mountainous region of Burma and owned two elephants and a number of water buffalo. The Burmese soldiers killed her husband and stole her money. His brother came and took all of the animals and left her destitute with her son being only about 8 years old. I'm sure that you've heard all of the stories and wept. This touched me so deeply.
--Jean Clark

The personal cost of conflict

2008-11-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

Today is November 10, a day that bloggers around the world are dedicating their space to raising awareness of refugee issues. The issue most in the spotlight, though, is the impact the world's conflicts have on families.

Think about the dream you had as a child. Do you remember? It was the dream where you were standing alone in a strange place with nobody familiar anyplace nearby. You were physically OK, but the fear and swelling panic in your chest were almost unbearable as you realized there was no familiar face to anchor you, no family member to accompany you as you stumbled through the chaos.

That dream.

Around the world, millions of refugees have lived this scenario as a frightening reality. Fleeing for their lives, they became separated from family, from their spouses, from their young children. They didn't know where to look for their loved ones, and there was no way to find out where to start. But they do look, and they start in some of the most dangerous places they have just fled.

This reality isn't characteristic of just one conflict; it is a running theme that has continued across continents and through centuries, snaking its way from family to family, war to war.

1995. Somalia. Sitey was awakened by the sound of gunfire outside. She lived in the same village her family had lived in for generations. They were pastoral farmers, poor, but self-sufficient. She gathered her infant son close to her chest and looked out the window. Somali soldiers were attacking her neighbors outside, and homes were succumbing to bright fires that snapped like angry, biting jaws. Sitey roused her other children and her husband, and all fled into the night.

When dawn came, Sitey was missing two children. She waited for as long as she could--long after her family and neighbors had run to safety. Her children were nowhere to be found. She started walking toward the Kenyan border, but when she caught up with relatives, she asked them to take her baby--she would not go on without looking for her kids.

Aliza is tall and dark-skinned, a Sudanese woman of Chiluk heritage. She stands tall and walks gracefully, and her beautiful smile is enhanced by her high, striking cheekbones. She is soft spoken. For the first time in the three years I've known her, Aliza spontaneously begins talking about her life in Sudan.

Shortly after her first wedding anniversary, her husband disappeared. He vanished without a trace. Aliza had an infant son and no money. She braved her first ride in a rickety rowboat as she set off to look for her husband in the last place he had been seen. All she could think about was that when her older brother was only ten years old, he was taken at gunpoint by soldiers. He was forced to serve, forced to fight. Neither Aliza nor any family member saw the boy again, although they searched frantically, asking strangers in nearby villages for any information about the child. He wasn't seen again until he was 26 years old and very, very far from home. By then, years of a brutally hard life--most of it spent firing a gun--had taken their toll. His family tried to scrape together the money to go to him, to bring him medicine, but time ran out. He died less than a year later of respiratory illness. Aliza said, "And he died alone, not even one person to be there with him. Nobody knew where was this boy. Nobody saw him. He was alone. He was my brother. I waited for him all those years, but I didn't see him."

Selver watched his home burn at the height of conflict in Kosovo. He gathered his kids and headed out of the village, nervously taking note of the bodies of his neighbors strewn along the side of the road. Villagers came on foot and on tractors--their cars had been confiscated by the Serbs. The family made its way out of town, only to be stopped by soldiers at a Serb checkpoint. The Serbs collected everyone's documents and identification, stripping the Kosovars of their proof--proof of everything they were or had been.

When Selver made his way to the Albanian border, it was raining. A makeshift refugee camp had started to emerge from the empty fields, and a growing number of plastic tarps stretched across the uncertainty. Selver kept his kids close. Several of his friends were missing, and he knew that once a person strayed from sight here, it was possible they would vanish with the morning fog. Selver knew that no matter what else he and his family did, they must stay together. He told me once that so many people from his village disappeared, he couldn't name all of them anymore.

To be a refugee means many things. It means starting over with the never-completely-lost hope of going back to what ended. It means having nothing but your life. It means knowing how strong you are and how resourceful you can be and that's how you survived. It also means facing loss. Loss of home, loss of the familiar, loss of the past and perhaps of the future only dreamed of. For many, it also means the loss of loved ones.

Liberata lost her children on a dark night in eastern Congo. When they fled, they ran to the forest. In that night of chaos, Liberata had to keep going, hoping against hope that her kids were doing the same thing somewhere close by. Liberata walked through the jungle for months. She made it all the way to the Congo River and headed north, walking, walking, until she crossed the border into the Central African Republic where she officially became a refugee. She has no idea where her family members are. None. She is here with a daughter and a nephew. She is down one husband and four children.

For anyone who has never experienced war, there is no way to comprehend all of the levels of loss. Losing everything has no real meaning until a survivor realizes there is no family, there are no friends. They might be alive, they might have perished. Are they looking for me? Does someone know where they are? It is the not knowing that ignites both hope and gut-clenching anxiety. To lose something precious is painful; to lose something and not know if it is really lost or just waiting to be found is maddening.

Aliza was eventually reunited with her husband, but friends who were secretly jailed never came home. Sitey located her two children in the orphanage at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Unfortunately, it was a brief moment of reunion--Sitey's immigration documents were ready, and her departure to the U.S. was imminent. She hasn't seen her kids in five years, and they are not eligible to come to the United States. Sitey grieves deeply about this, but she is comforted by at last knowing where her children are in the world.

After World War II, the Red Cross spent a great deal of effort trying to reunite Europe's war refugees. It was a tedious and difficult task since so many people had perished or moved on. The Red Cross continues this work in post-war settings today.

There is another group, though, that is using the power of the Internet to help refugees worldwide connect with their lost loved ones. Refugees United is a very small nongovernmental organization providing a secure and widely accessible portal service for separated refugees. Check out their Website, read about what they do, and spread the word.

Silence is the enemy of the lost.

International Crafts Boutique November 5!

2008-10-27T13:42:00.001-07:00

Please join us for the second annual International Crafts Boutique at Emily Griffith Opportunity School. Student crafters from the ESL Department will sell their handmade items for one day only. The sale will also feature the work of our very own A Little Something: The Denver Refugee Women's Crafts Cooperative.

International Crafts Boutique
Wednesday, November 5
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Emily Griffith Opportunity School
Room 238
1250 Welton St.
Denver

The sale will be on the second floor, just down the hall from registration. Please note: All sales are cash only! There is an ATM very conveniently located about 30 feet from the sale location.

We expect to have jewelry, knitting, crochet, weaving, leather work, embroidery, and more. Start your holiday gift shopping early, or buy a lovely one-of-a-kind gift for yourself. All of the proceeds from this sale go directly to the artists themselves.

We hope to see you there!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

Imagine that you know nothing of a culture and you are a newcomer living within it. You wander into the supermarket or Walgreens and you are immediately face to face with: A plastic skeleton that laughs menacingly when you walk by. There is a disembodied hand that wiggles its fingers if you touch it. There are orange and black colored things everywhere, and there is so much candy around, it seems as if everyone has suddenly gone on a sugar binge.

Confused? The next time you're out and about, think about how baffling this holiday time must be for our students. Yesterday I was shopping and I stumbled upon a huge Christmas display with shelves stocked for a holiday that isn't even this month or next.

There are many potential lessons wrapped up in our holiday traditions. I've often told my students (at the higher levels) that most American holidays came from Europe where they were already a mixed up combination of ancient animist traditions and newer Christian holy days that were sometimes moved to coincide with the less religious celebrations. Personally, I get very frustrated when I hear someone say that Halloween is about death or the devil or satanism. Who started this rumor?

If you want to know the true origins of Halloween and get some great lesson activities as well, check out these online resources or do a Google search using the keywords "ESL Halloween." Click the underlined text to go to a link.

For the teacher: A fact-packed Halloween history lesson from The History Channel.
A short, easy history of Halloween with worksheet
Color flashcards of Halloween symbols
Board game featuring Halloween colors. The game helps identify letter sounds. The instructions follow the game board and picture cards.
A variety of Halloween lessons. Scroll to the bottom of the first page for links to activities you can print and use!
Bogglesworld always has something for everyone whenever you need a lesson or worksheet. Halloween is no exception.

Finally, you should definitely explain to your student that on Friday night, little costumed creatures will be knocking on the door and looking for candy. those with kids in elementary school may be expected to provide party treats or a costume for their child at the very least.

Here's hoping your Halloween is more treats than tricks. --SM

Greetings to our Muslim friends and students

2008-10-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Potty training: A global perspective

2008-10-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I hear about refugee resettlement issues that are relevant to volunteers who are regularly in refugees' homes and familiar with aspects of the student's everyday life. This week, the topic is toilet training. I have been asked about this before, but since I do not have children, the process has always been somewhat of a mystery to me.

Let this be one more opportunity for you to be a cultural broker. (The following conversation is between IOM Cultural Orientation personnel and resettlement workers in the U.S. )

Throughout the course of our work at the Refugee Housing Program at Mercy Housing, we have regularly heard complaints about young refugee children urinating on carpets, in common areas and other places other than in the bathroom. This is a problem that seems to transcend ethnicity and nationality. Regardless of its commonality, this can cause serious problems, including expensive cleaning charges and eviction for refugee families. Does anyone have any background information on various potty-training practices refugee families are bringing with them? Better yet, has anyone found any approaches that help to address this problem in a sensitive-but effective-way?
Thanks.

Leslie Olson
Refugee Housing Program
Mercy Housing
***
I can imagine a couple of dynamics here:

1. Some amount of urination on the floor can be part of the learning process -- figuring out the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not; reveling in the control the child has over their bodily functions. In my experience as a parent, this can be more of an issue for boys than for girls, and for boys, "drawing" with urine can be a temptation. However, the parent's response to the action can be a factor in its recurrence. The parent has to also view urination on the floor as a problem -- if they do not, then the issue is educating the parent about the expense, smell, U.S. norms, potential for eviction, etc.

2. Refugee parents coming from places where it was normal to go to the bathroom outside, or to use the ground as the toilet, may not have experience potty-training a child in the way it is done in the U.S. They may be at a loss to know how to redirect the child's behavior, if the use of flush toilets is new to them as well. A positive parenting approach is to reward children for correct behavior (stickers, etc.) rather than punishing them. These methods will be unfamiliar to many refugees, and may be culturally uncomfortable for some. But it is worth offering them to refugees as a parenting tool. (A reward system assumes that a family has some kind of reward to give, but this may not always be the case, or may require some creativity around what to use as a reward -- if it is TV time, or junk food, this can raise other issues.) There is some discussion of discipline methods in our BRYCS illustrated parenting booklet (p. 11-14):
http://www.brycs.org/documents/RaisingChildren-Handbook.pdf

3. A refugee parent who is depressed or overwhelmed may not have the energy to respond to the action, which can also affect its recurrence.

Changing the behavior will require a consistent parental response. The parent may also need to discourage older siblings from laughing at the behavior, since laughter may encourage it (siblings also have an interest in not having a smelly home.)

4. Often, children just don't realize they have to go until it is almost too late. Putting a potty chair in a child's room, the place they are playing, or even outside, can help a child to avoid accidents, particularly if they are afraid of the flush of the toilet, or the bathroom seems too far away, or the toilet is too tall for them.

5. Again, as a parent, two other methods recommended to us were giving M & M's for using the potty (1 M&M for liquids, 2 M&M's for solids), or with a boy, putting a couple of Cheerios into the toilet and using them as target practice (apologies for the graphic descriptions!)

6. Involving the child in cleaning up the mess can be a deterrent.

Here are a few on-line potty training resources (I've not reviewed
them):
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/potty-training/CC00060
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/parenting_tips/potty_training/index.html
http://neenmachine.com/2007/06/04/10-steps-to-successful-potty-training/

Good luck,
Susan Schmidt, MSW
Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS) Consultant

***

Regarding potty training as practiced by Karen refugees from Burma, one of our Burmese/Karen CO trainers states that infants may wear cloth diapers; slightly older children, however, usually run around without any underpants or diapers. When nature calls, they "just go anywhere inside the house, and then the parents will clean up for them later." No big fuss is made about this.

While holding a child without a diaper or clothing on the bottom, people are careful about which direction they are pointing the child. When potty training does occur, the parent usually helps the child squat with their bottom over a crack in the bamboo floor (the house is made of bamboo and raised on stilts). The parent makes "a squeezing sound" as though defecating, and the child follows suit. Children are usually encouraged to attend to bathroom chores prior to bedtime so as to keep the bedding dry.

Another source told us that parents don't do potty training at all: it's left for the teachers when the children first go to school. Indeed, in the US, small accidents may happen, but it is to be remembered, they are small.

Best,
Peter Salnikowski
CO Programme Coordinator for SEA
IOM Mae Sot

***

Years ago we had a high rise public housing project in Springfield. The elevators didn't work and there were no toilets for kids playing outside. The result: they went in halls and stairwells because they didn't have time to get home.

However, my guess is that the problems with many of the refugees may be that they were living in situations where they had no diapers and in refugee camps there would have been no carpets to cause problems if little ones went where they were. Also, the cost of diapers may be a problem.

Would a community meeting asking "How did little ones manage where you came from?," and going on to explain about carpets, help? I am not sure how you convince people to pay for diapers!

Jean Caldwell
Springfield Somali Steering Committee

Net return on a small investment

2008-09-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the last time you had a mosquito bite? It was annoying, wasn't it? Did you go camping and get a lot of bites? That probably made you terribly uncomfortable, but it was probably easy to treat with some Benadryl cream or a dab of witch hazel. Did you ever, though, fear for your life when you got those mosquito bites? Probably not, but for millions of other people around the world, a mosquito bite might well be the start of a serious illness that can lead to death.

Malaria. It seems so foreign when you live in the U.S., but malaria kills millions of people every year. Refugees are especially vulnerable to Malaria because of where they live and the often poorly protected conditions in the camps. Those who contract malaria but don't die from it, may still face a lifetime of ongoing effects of the illness, including possible brain damage and full-blown relapses. Some of the refugees who come here, particularly from Africa and Burma, have lived through this ordeal or lost family members to it.

International facts:

Each year, malaria afflicts approximately a half-billion people (roughly the population of the United States, Canada, and Mexico combined).
Malaria kills more than a million people per year; 90 percent of those who die are African children.
Every 30 seconds in Africa a child dies of malaria.
Malaria incapacitates people, keeping countries poor. In addition to the health burden, malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year.

Think about it. Skip a couple of trips to Starbucks and use the money to save a life. Or two.

www.nothingbutnets.net

Uganda
Eastern Sudan
Kenya
Tanzania

A donation of $10 will buy a net. That's all it takes. Visit this part of the Website and see what this UNHCR partner program is all about. Click here to read about why Nothing But Nets has partnered with UNHCR. By all means, play the video on the home page of the Website. the music is incredible, and the message of the video will give you something to think about. Like how to spend $10.

UN Day of Peace

2008-09-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

The United Nations International Day of Peace is this Sunday, September 21. To learn more about the day and the events that commemorate it, visit the official Website: http://internationaldayofpeace.org/. The site has informative links--explore. There's a lot to learn. The news and events section was particularly interesting for me.

You can participate in the Day of Peace right here in Denver.

United Nations

International Day of Peace

Colorado State Capitol, Denver
Sunday, September 21, 2008
West Steps, 3pm

Interfaith * Intercultural * Interracial * International
Celebrating One Global Family

Featuring Colorado Musical Missions for Peace, Los Lantzmun Band,
Collegiate Ambassadors for Peace

Contact pyujiri@msn.com for information
Sponsors: Ambassadors for Peace of Colorado, UNA-USA