Refuge in the Heartland

I'm Stephanie Bird Hutchison. I'm beginning my 18th year in this position as the ESOL teaching specialist. Currently Wichita has about 51,000 students. We're a majority minority district so fewer than 50 percent are white. Very diverse. About 94 countries of birth including the U.S. We have students from all over the world that have come here. The largest populations of our refugees are coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, and then there are a variety of other countries as well. We've gone from a handful of schools to more than 50 schools now that serve English language learners, and the variety within those buildings is huge. Some of our buildings may have 20 different languages.

The degree of diversity and our awareness of that and how that impacts what we do in the schools on a daily basis has made a huge shift in the 26 years I've been here. My name is Alicia Thompson. I am the superintendent of the Wichita Public Schools. We have over 100 languages that are spoken in the homes of our students. That gives our students in our opinion an advantage over many other school districts around us. However it does create some challenges for us in the area of literacy. Having to make sure that those students are on grade level when they leave us is definitely a challenge. The refugee students access our newcomer programs.

Because of the educational background and the additional challenges that they have, we're finding that the refugees, are every bit as diverse as any other group. What might be appropriate support for one family from one part of the world might not be appropriate for another family. There's also the whole issue of trauma. Trying to wrap our heads around that and how that's impacting the classroom and how that's impacting the family at home because we need to educate the whole child not just the part that learns math and reading.

Our needs in our classrooms have grown pretty significantly with the influx of our friends from different countries. We have had to increase our professional development for our teachers so that they understand who is sitting in front of them. So that we are able to meet their needs. We've had challenges with communicating. When you have over 100 different languages, making sure that we're engaging in those families and having the resources to be able to do that. And we're very fortunate to be able to have a special intake center that welcomes them to our school district and helps them have a smooth transition.

Once we determine that they need to be here they have another language at home. We start working with the parent on that whole enrollment process, getting them entered into the district while we're testing the students for language proficiency in English. And as part of that enrollment process we actually do an interview and talk with them about the child's background, where they've been in school, what grades were they in those different schools. Were there any special concerns. And we note all that down so that that information goes to the school. We also want to make sure that we have opportunities for our families to continue to learn more about the environment in which their children are going to be in and also to help them to be able to connect to other outside agencies for employment purposes. And help them to learn a little bit of English so that they can engage further with us. Our district and our schools benefit hugely and we're so thankful to have the opportunity to educate students from other countries.

My name is Alain. I'm almost 20 years. I'm a senior and I'm graduating in December. I lived here for three years. I was born and raised in Rwanda but my parents are from Congo. We didn't live in a town it's just a camp. In my country we didn't have enough water so you have to walk a lot. But here you have water in your house and it's very good. Well I didn't have hope if I will be in a peaceful country. If we will have enough food for our whole family and living in a house that is good for us. Like our house was built by the tents and there was like two rooms. And you had to share all of us and there were eight in our family. My mom and dad they were in Congo and then they moved, and there was no peace. They moved to another camp that was in the north, Gicumbi. And we lived there our whole life.

My name is Dorcas, I'm a senior and I'm 19 years old. I was born in Congo but I grew up in South Africa. I speak more than five languages. I've lived here in Wichita for about one and a half years. When I arrived here, at the airport it was different. I was so happy to see my new house, peace, and joy. What I like most is people, they are caring especially my teachers and that is what I like most about it. When I was in South Africa my school was one hour away from home. because my father wanted a better education for us. And my parents couldn't afford paying for two children just to go to school. When we come home you have to walk. Other South Africans would wait for me after school so that they can come and hit me around. And then I would go to the hospital for two days or so. Sometimes I went home crying because they called me bad names. They never liked anyone from other countries.

I told my mom that I wanted to go back to Congo or something. My father said that the reason for him to leave Congo it was because there was a war. They were killing people, and one of my sisters was killed. So, they left to Burundi and never went back to Congo because whenever they go to Congo they will remember my sister's crying. Here is a safe place in America. Here there is one guy also from Congo. I ask him, since you are here Wichita how many times you found people be killed by the streets? He say I never see even the homeless die to the street. I say "okay". Now I ask him, you be in Soweto How many people die in Soweto? Because Soweto, per day, die 50 people, to 100 people per day. Something I like here in schools, teachers understand me when I'm asking questions and here at North they encourage people and they pick you as a student of the month and I think that is very good it encourage people to do better. I have to work hard because I don't speak English very well. So it's very hard to communicate with them. They speak very fast.

My name is Ossatha Kang. I have been working in the district school about 22 years and I have been in Curtis Middle School about 10 years and I am a para and helping other kids who are refugees that don't speak English. The best part about my job is to help the students. It doesn't matter who came from different countries and it is related to my experience that I was a refugee in Vietnam. At that time I did not speak Vietnamese language at all. So I am so grateful that I have opportunity to work with the refugees so I can help them to have good education in the United States. Many times the new refugees are struggling with the language so I told them about my life about my experiences. In 1975 when the communist regime came into the capital in Cambodia we were kicked out. So I end up with my grandpa and we live close to the mountain. At that time, my dad, my mom, and my siblings were separated by the war. My dad got killed from starvation and I survived for four countries. In 1976 the Vietnamese government announced that they wanted the Vietnamese go back to Vietnam. So my mom she lied to the communists that we were Vietnamese.

I did not speak Vietnamese language at all. So when we crossed the border line from Cambodia to Vietnam and the Vietnamese family asked me in Vietnamese language I did not understand so I cry mommy mommy and she said no they just want to ask you, are you from Cambodia, are you Vietnamese. But I was frightened. I cried because I didn't understand Vietnamese language. The Khmer Rouge regime brought us and we walked into Vietnam and we carried just one mat, some dishes, and clothes and we walked into Vietnam without having any family or friends at all. I was the one that still speaking French language and remembered my sister who at that time she lived in France. So I tried to write a letter to tell her that now we are in Vietnam. After she received a letter from us, she tried to sponsor us from Vietnam to France and I end up my life end up in the United States and I am so grateful to the United States. Some teachers they don't know how to stay with the kids because they don't have that type of experience. First you have to have the bonding with them. Smile with them, say hello with them. When they know you that you don't scare them you can talk to them. And usually if they don't know the word I do my gesture. That's how we do it with kids. That's my gift because I love kids. I like to have fun with them. I think because we have a lot of training about refugees we know what to do But regular teachers they don't know how to deal with this type of kids. I would tell the teacher that doesn't know the kid yet first I say, she or he comes from this country, does not speak English. So please slow down. Don't talk too fast. I wish that some other teachers have training about how to understand the kids. Teachers might have difficult times, but our job is to nurture them to show them we're going to help you.

I'm not just teaching eight hours a day. I want the kids to understand that the United States has a lot of opportunities to learn and show them that hey I was a survivor from the war too. If I can come this far you can too. I have to show them that. That is one of my gifts. What does it mean to teach a child in a way that's respectful of their family background. What does it take to respect the home while trying to help them learn how to navigate in our society and our culture. Any student that comes in new creates a challenge.

We have a large military presence in Kansas where students move frequently and that's always a transition that's hard. You couple that with I don't know the language, and that just doubles the anxiety and how scary this transition is going to be and how hard it's going to be. But again what we want, are for teachers to reach out and say I'm gonna establish a relationship with you and your family. And I'm going to be with you every step along this way, as we transition you into this scary new world. Acculturation to me is learning how to keep your culture while interacting successfully with other cultures. It's like the salad bowl concept of everything stays independent but it all mingles together and enhances each other. Whereas assimilation to me is more of the melting pot where you lose who you are, in order to become more like the dominant culture. Not expecting all of these families coming in from all over the world to suddenly look like a family that's been here for five generations like mine. When we see kids starting to shed who they were then we see a disconnect happening at home and that creates more social issues for the family. As well as more challenges for the child to find their way and their anchor in the world.

We always start saying that you know every culture is valuable. So we're all different and we value every culture. I don't celebrate Ramadan, but we want to hear about Ramadan. We wanna learn about Ramadan, And same, Christmas comes, we live in America. This is something you're going to see Christmas trees. Why, and we talk about that in a very natural way. Just welcoming everything and everybody. And it's an opportunity to learn. I get a lot of questions about will they be offended if I do this? And my answer is starting to become why don't you ask them? Because they'll talk to you and tell you what is and isn't OK. So dealing with the diversity within the population. It's not a one size fits all. And so we need to respect that and know that one of our strengths as a country and as a people is that we do have all of these different backgrounds to draw from. And that makes us stronger.

My name is Jacqueline Bhabha and I'm a professor of the practice of Health and Human Rights at  Harvard Chan School of Public Health. My work as a lawyer has always been focused on human rights. That's why I became a lawyer.  I knew from the start that I wanted to do human rights work. But I did a broad spectrum of different types of work. I gradually started specializing in issues to do with immigration and refugee protection and that's the area that I really dedicated myself to and so I've be working in that area for well over 20 years. When I started working in this field the only group of children we really talked about were refugees or asylum seeking children.

We used to think that any child arriving alone or arriving in a distressing situation was seeking refugee status. But gradually we realized that actually there are many different types of situations. Some children come alone because they're trying to join parents who traveled earlier who may be documented or undocumented because they want to find work. Some children come because they've been trafficked, because somebody wants to exploit them. Some children come because they've heard that everybody gets jobs, the streets are lined with go

d and so they have a dream. So it's children who are affected by migration. The reason it's a useful category is because there are certain principles and certain important protections that apply to all children on the move whether you're seeking refugee status or whether you are trying to reunify with your family. You need to have certain things that you need to be protected from harm. You need to have access to education, you need to have access to healthcare. You need to be looked after by somebody who has your best interests at heart. These are basic principles that apply to any child.

We live in a world in which there is a lot of migration of different sorts. For some groups of people migration presents no problem at all. For others, migration could be the beginning of a nightmare. People have always moved and migration brings lots of possibilities But of course migration can also bring very severe risks. I tend to think of it really as a protection crisis. It's a crisis in the ability of societies and governments that have the capacity to extend humanitarian protection, and I think that's what really needs attention.

One of the great things about the U.S. is that any child documented or undocumented has a right to be in public school and that's a wonderful protection that the Supreme Court decided on many years ago in a famous case when the Supreme Court said you can't punish children for things that parents might have done wrong. So if a parent brings in a child without documents and puts the child in school it's not the child's fault. Secondly, it's not good for the country to have children who've never been educated. Do we want to have kids who can't read and write. Do we want to have kids who have never socialized with other children. No!

So really teachers don't need to worry about the child's legal status. They are right within their rights to treat every child equally. If you come in and you're seeking refugee status, you're seeking asylum, you are legally here while you're waiting for that status. It's just like somebody legally waiting in a queue to get into the cinema. You know you're not disturbing the peace. International law and U.S. law makes it quite clear there's nothing illegal about applying for refugee status  I think for teachers, it's important to include in the curriculum a range of different subject matters. Not just on International Day or newcomer welcome day but as a general fabric of the education. So that it's not just the newly arrived children who are made to feel different but the settled children see that part of their society are these new ingredients. That's what I mean when I say that inclusion is a two-way process.

My name is Michele Green and I'm the executive director for IRC in Wichita. A refugee is someone who has had to leave their country of origin for fear of persecution for any number of reasons. Conflict, political environment, religious beliefs. Essentially for fear of their life, they've left their country and crossed an international border. There are 65 and a half million people who are displaced. That encompasses all displacement around the world. Twenty-two and a half million of those are actually refugees. Since we opened we've resettled a little over a thousand refugees. We've seen a number of Congolese, South Sudanese, Somali, and Eritreans. That's the bulk of the population that we see.

The IRC helps people, who have been affected by conflict or disastrous crises, to become self-sufficient again to regain control of their lives. My name is Marla Schmidt. I am the Field Office Director for Episcopal Migration Ministries Wichita. I've been here with this agency a little over four years. However, I've been involved with refugee resettlement off and on for the past 20 years. The average stay in a refugee camp is over ten years. The actual security vetting process if one is to come to the United States is at the tail end of the process and it takes anywhere from 18 to 36 months for someone to move through all of the different steps that are involved in that security screening. It involves many different federal partners; Homeland Security, United States Customs and Enforcement the FBI and there's a lot of crosschecking that's done through databases that these federal agencies have had for many, many years or decades.

So there's the security screening that refugees have to go through to come to the United States and there's also a medical examiner screening that has to happen as well. Each of those clearances are only good for a certain amount of time. And so everything has to line up. The security screenings have to be in the green and the medical screenings in the green at the same time for every member in that household to be able then to have travel. In that moment as the family gets off the plane, they have no idea who is waiting for them. They have no idea where their house is and where they'll be taken. So, in that moment they have to have complete trust. When we take them to their new apartment, we hand over the keys and we allow them to open the door and walk in first and experience the home that we've set up for them. Even as we drive from the airport to their house, they have questions as they're driving. When they pass downtown Wichita or see the lights of the city, they have questions about this new home. The following day we do what we call a 24-hour home visit, and that's when everything really begins.

There's a lot of documentation and paperwork and letting them know what's coming next. They will start by coming into the office every day for a few weeks and during that time we're conducting assessments preparing family budgets and self-sufficiency plans. They have medical screenings. We take them to the grocery store and sort of teach them how to shop. I mean it literally is that detailed. Within a couple of weeks of their arrival they're generally enrolled in an employment program where they all receive job readiness training. Prior to that they'll be doing what we call a cultural orientation and that is just orienting them to laws, customs, cultures. All of these things. Our agency is entrusted with a small amount of money on a one-time basis to help spend on behalf of that individual or that family to meet their basic initial needs. Housing, food, furnishings, those type of items. Really the push of Refugee Resettlement is self-sufficiency and independence. And that will be for the most part through gainful employment for the adults in the household. We're required within 30 days to have children enrolled in school.

When they first arrive, we will go with them and make sure that the kids get registered. The communication, the initial discussion probably starts a week into their arrival. I think overall Wichita is a very good place to resettle folks. The cost of living here is reasonable, the unemployment rate is lower than the national average. But it is interesting you know one of the challenges we have is building the network of employers. There are a number of employers that we work with regularly who are very accommodating and willing to make that leap. And so, we're always looking for new opportunities for clients. But one of the bigger challenges goes back to education and it's finding ways to really get these kids up to speed in the American education system so that they are able to pursue higher education and better opportunities.

We all want safety. We all want safety. And this is not their choice to be here. It's less than one percent of all refugees that ever get the chance at third country resettlement. resettlement. There are so many misconceptions about refugees. I think one of the major ones that we regularly hear, Are they legal? Refugees are documented. They are legal residents of this country when they arrive. The other thing is that people think it's going to be an economic strain. And initially there is a cost associated with the refugees arriving in this country. But these folks are also going to work almost inevitably within 120 days of arrival, and they're documented they're paying taxes. So, they're actually contributing to the economy in a much larger way than they're draining it. A typical stereotype is if someone doesn't speak English, they must not be smart or they might not be intelligent and that's so wrong.

When we have non-English speaking students come to North, you learn very quickly, just in engaging them that they're very bright. They're energetic and they're enthused and they want to learn. They have a thirst for knowledge. They can be enrolled in AP. When they're enrolled in those courses the language barrier is our challenge. Not changing the curriculum to something that it shouldn't be. A smart kid who wants to learn physics will learn physics if you help minimize the barrier of the language. Refugees are not individuals who chose to be refugees.

And many refugees, their ultimate goal is to return home. They want it to be safe so that they can go home but unfortunately many of the wars many of the ethnic conflicts around the world are not ending, and it's just not safe to go home. And so when that happens and when somebody is in a protracted state of limbo, that's then where refugees make a decision and place their name in the hat with United Nations High Commissioner to say you know what for me and my family, we are ready to consider being resettled to a third country. And they don't get to choose resettlement to America or resettlement to Canada. They choose to put their name in the hat for resettlement and then it's those governments that make the decision which country moves forward. I think it's just because of their lack of language skills that people might think that they're not able to perform in a certain way when these kids are really smart and they know a second language and you don't. Or a third language or fourth language. Got to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're coming with a lot with them.

I do occasionally get questions from citizens sometimes asking how they get things when they're here. I think sometimes they think that everything is just a handout to the refugees. When somebody in the refugee program they come over, they want to start working right away. They want to start living the American dream. There's a lot of times well before their limit is up the refugees have already got one job, maybe two jobs. And their income is high enough that they're not getting the food stamps or anything else and they're just supporting themselves. A lot of them show what America is supposed to be like. How hard you can work and live those dreams that are out there. I think some people still maybe have a misconception of what a refugee is. When certain news things go on, sometimes they wonder well are those the kind of people you're talking to. Are you talking to people that could be terrorists? So, I have to sit down and talk to them and explain to them that no, here's how these refugees got here.

The refugees themselves, if anything they bring hardworking people that work at local businesses and help increase our economy and our livelihoods here. I don't show that they have increased crime in any way in the areas they live in. When kids come over, they're given their refugee status it's almost like a stigma. For the PE teachers we did a rotation combined with all the refugee kids. And I was scared to death when it was my turn because I had no previous experience. I didn't really know what I would be running into as far as teaching them and instruction goes and then management as well. 

My advice for anybody that's working with refugees or any newcomer population, the first thing is don't be scared to try to learn the language. What goes in hand with that, don't be scared to mess up. The kids'll let you know when you mess up. But they also appreciate you taking time to try to learn a little bit more about them and where they come from. So even hello goodbye I learned stop really quick and a lot of different languages because in this setting stop is a very important thing for them to learn.

But what people need to understand is they are human beings. They have needs and they need to be loved and they need to be helped and cared for just as much as you or I do. These kids are so worthy of good things and they deserve good things. A lot of the adults that I've met were professionals before war forced them to flee. But there is an assumption that they're coming from huts and that they've never been to school and that they don't know how to care for themselves the way that we would expect. And a little bit of that may be misinterpreting the result of trauma as being a lack of ambition.

The refugee adults that you meet are the strongest adults that you'll ever meet in your life. They are absolutely the strongest. They are survivors. They're not here in order to make things harder for the rest of us. They're here for a place of safety and a place of education and a place where they can thrive.

Hi, I'm Stephanie Wasco, principal of Curtis Middle School here in Wichita, Kansas and this is my ninth year here. Curtis is a very diverse school. Within our student population we have a significant portion of our newcomer students. Students that are new to the United States. That has been a growing population. And initially it started as one or two, and then we started getting five and six and seven a week. Seven years ago, Curtis was named the lowest performing middle school in the state of Kansas. So not something we're proud of but, it was something that we had to deal with. At that time approximately thirty seven percent of our students were passing the state math assessment. It was painful, but it was probably the best thing that could ever happen for this school.

Our adult literacy program is very important to us. One of the things I saw with our parents was they weren't always advocating for their kids. They didn't know how to advocate. They wouldn't call us because they didn't feel comfortable because someone there would not speak their language. And s part of this adult literacy class is to make sure that parents can speak for their kids. They know what they can expect at school. They know who they can call. It just created an environment for them to know that there is a safe place where they're invited to be and that they're valued. My name's Neil Maki and I'm an adult literacy instructor. The goal of our program in part is to strengthen the local community. But also, to help parents connect with their kids teachers and with their students. When a non-English speaker has to rely on their kid for so much linguistically and they have to rely on their kid to help them out at their parent teacher conferences. There's a weird flip in the dynamic with parenthood and adulthood that could be kind of embarrassing for the adults.

I was born in Sudan. I live in Egypt for 10 years and then I move in United States. We are happy really, but when we come something is problem that we don't speak English.

I'm Sylvia Smith an ESOL teacher at Curtis Middle School. The program teaches them how to go around in the real world you know. They need the language to work to do their shopping to go to the doctor's office. They are learning the vocabulary and the expressions that they need to communicate. When I came here in the United States, I used to live Los Angeles. We don't need English because they speak Spanish. And then when I moved to Wichita, Kansas I understand that I need to learn English so that's why I decide to come to school. One of the issues that we had was consistency. The class needed to be every day. And it had to be at a time when they could come. There's some people who wanted night time classes. But we got to realize that there are some people who have night jobs who couldn't come at night so they need to be available in the day. We actually have even had them through the summer when our building is closed. We do that because we know how much students lose over the summer and parents who were emerging and learning this language really need to be continuing through over the summer so that we don't lose what we gain.

In time the program just continues to grow. It has now grown to include our refugee families. They need to learn English quickly. And one of the things I think that sets our program apart is it is taught like a real class. It has a lesson plan. They get a test back and they see that they're making growth or they don't and they ask for additional work from the teachers. It's truly a traditional classroom in my opinion. The kids it's easier for them to pick it up so they might not necessarily see the challenge for their parents who've lived their entire lives in a different culture speaking a different language. It's much more of a culture shock for them.

When we come from Sudan our English is not as strong but when I joined the school already I became perfect in English and how to communicate with other people in Wichita. Even when you are adults it will help you how to work and how to communicate with other people. And even how to help the children when they come from school how to communicate with them. When you actually walk through the same school where your child's attending it lets your child see you as a learner. It makes a difference. I promise you those children are more focused on school. They understand that their mom or dad is committed to learning and they are excited about learning together. We can have them take adult literacy at one of our other buildings. We want them to take it here because I want them to be here with their children and it's good. This is a learning community not just a place where middle school kids come with their teachers.

The class is good and teacher is very, very nice. And my kids now they speak good English. Yeah. If I need something, they can help me.

No longer are we the lowest performing middle school in the state of Kansas. Within the first couple of years we had double digit gains. And so, we are very proud of that. I just want them to be like other children. They join the school without any problem. If they have a chance they will go to college. These people are trying hard. They are upstanding citizens. and they deserve respect and support as much as anybody. And it's really exciting to see the progress that they make over the course of a year. I used to tell people can you read this for me. Because I didn't understand how to read. But now I don't have to tell people no more can you read this. And I'm so glad for this school because we really appreciate what they're doing.

One of the things that has really been a challenge working with newcomers and refugee students, the curriculum that we had just wasn't cutting it. There was so much missing from these kids' education that we had to try and create ourselves to really meet their needs and to get them to skip up and go from a second-grade level up to the sixth-grade level. That's been the most difficult thing is finding what they need, getting it to them, and making sure it works for them. So, these services are important in valuing the culture that they bring to us, and then helping them transition and understand our culture, and language, and our habits. It may be as short as just a few years it may be a little bit longer depending on the age of the child. But they're extremely valuable services that we provide the 
kids and family.

The newcomer program is designed for students who come from another country. It's their first time here in America. They are going to learn English for the first time. My job is to teach them English but also get them familiar with how we do things here in America. The culture is different. The way we respond to teachers, the way we interact with each other, it's different. They start with the ABC's, letter name, letter sound, and then we move to reading nonsense words, and then sentences, and then we can start reading maybe short paragraphs, using simple vocabulary.

The newcomer program at Curtis Middle School is a large program. We have about 70 newcomers and since the program has grown so much we've had to break it down into a beginner newcomer group, a more advanced newcomer group, and then once they get out of the advanced newcomer class, we have ESOL 2 and ESOL 3. And they have an ESOL teacher for their language arts class and then they're out for math, science, and social studies with the mainstream kiddos. So, assessment done for an ESOL student, their first stop is the multilingual education center. They give all the testing right down there and then the scores are sent to us. Based on their scores, I'll know where to place them at, between our four levels or if they're ready for mainstream classes. We have such a variety of kids from so many different backgrounds. Some have been in school, some haven't. So we have to really modify and give them what they need. Sometimes we underestimate what they can do. We know what they are expecting in the regular class. We're trying to get them to that same spot. They're motivated to learn. You have to take advantage of that. Just never stop giving them because they are like sponges.

It's a challenge. You got some kids that are really high language but low literacy. I think the way we address it at North High, is to just maintain those high expectations. We cannot just feel sorry for them. But I think it's also planning lessons that directly address those gaps. If we don't fill them, they're just going to graduate high school with those gaps. Or they're never gonna overcome those gaps, and they're going to drop out. The reality is, we cannot provide resources in every language of all of our students. They want to do better, and to grow, but if they're not getting feedback they can't do that.

The teachers here can help me better by trying to understand what I'm going through. Just because I knew English when I came here, doesn't mean that I understood everything that is they are like saying. Because I have to process, like what they are saying, like 3 or 4 times. So... to be better when they go slow. They have to understand that people from different countries, they have different culture. I think if they talk to them more and more, and to be friendly with people from other countries, it would be very good. As a teacher I put thought into it of, how can I hold them accountable when they don't understand the language that I'm speaking. Things that I've done with that is, let them pair up with each other. I don't make them not speak their own language, if it helps them.

For someone starting a newcomer program, a couple of things that I would have them really look at are the levels of your kids. That's one of the big things with ESOL is you have this massive gamut of where kids are in your classroom. And being able to have a group of really beginners and have that curriculum that focuses on beginning and then I have a group of more advanced newcomers that I can go a little deeper with. They can't just sit for 90 minutes. You need to change it up for them. They need different experiences in learning and not just the regular sit in your chair, write on the worksheet. It's a whole person that we take. It's not just the academics, but it's the behaviors, and the culture, and things like that

My name is Chantelle. I came to the U.S. from Congo. There was war in Congo and from Congo I was received in Rwanda and from Rwanda. That's how I got here. We had a good life up to when the war started. We had to run away from where we used to live. We came differently. My kids came first. We had to come after with one other child.

Hi, My name is Jacqueline. When the war started I had to run to Uganda. I came here with six of my children. My husband stayed back there but when he came here he had to resettle through another state. It took us 18 years. It has been a long process. It started around 2006 and then by the time I came here it was 2016.

My name is Erica Davis. I'm the C.O.O. of Martin training and staffing solutions. We hire a wide variety of people from diverse backgrounds. We help them to gain gainful employment. And then while they're here we promote from within. We offer training from members of the community. I think the training provides a smoother transition into full time employment. You get to learn the English language a little bit more. You do interviewing skills, we do job coaching. We provide that kind of support. When I came in, we were ramping up production in the summer and reached out to the International Rescue Committee. We offered employment to 15 refugees. When we reach the U.S. I.R.C. took us and they've been helping us since we came here. They helped us with housing. They give us food and they help us with the current job that I have right now. We probably do have people on the floor from the refugee community who are able to do more than probably what they're
doing right now. But that language barrier is so huge you know that is difficult.

Right now, I'm trying to work so that I can provide paying rent and everything but I really want to be able to go to school and learn some English. I want to be able to learn English because I want to be able to communicate with people. I love this job. I love it so much. Every time I have a doctor appointment, I'll just go to the hospital they give me a paper and when I come back to work I just present the paper and then everything is just okay. I think other companies should hire refugees or any other group that would come into the community because I think, one, you provide an opportunity for people who probably would not have an opportunity, and two, you are getting hard workers. You're getting people who are dedicated, who are committed, who you will not have the problem of calling out. I think you have people you can depend on. And I think that's huge for any business. What did you think of pizza when you had it for the first time? It was really good. Asparagus, they look like little trees. Yes.

I'm Kim Daley. I've been in Wichita about 13 years and we love it here. So, I met Blessing at church. I was asked to give her a ride because she didn't have transportation. And I guess I was a little confused with how somebody from the Congo had arrived in Wichita. that's just not an everyday thing. So I learned very quickly that I was very ignorant to the fact that there are still wars going on in parts of Africa and that there were refugees still fleeing those countries. And so, my family and I drove to her apartment and picked her up for church and we just noticed something really special about her. She's very driven. She's a very hard worker.

Hello. My name is Blessing. I'm originally from Congo. And I lived in Uganda for twelve years as a refugee before I came to America. And I've been living here for twenty-five months in Wichita. Kim is my best, best friend I've met here. And I'm so thankful to God because she was the first person I met and want to know everything about me and helped me a lot in any ways. Everything I know here, it's because of her and her family. It was God who planned it to be that way. The war they were killing people every day. So we decided to flee from Congo to go anywhere life would take us. We ended up in Uganda. It was in 2004. At that time I was 15 years

My experience in Congo it's really, really, really bad there. Every day they are killing people and it's really, really hard. You know. Because just imagining living with that fear every day. Even if now I'm here in America but, when I think when people who are living there with fear. Because living with fear. It's really, really, really bad. Women are getting raped. Children have been killed. I really feel pity for them. They call it The War of Resources. Because in eastern Congo it's where there is many resources. Because of that secret, there are many groups of rebels. And they don't care about people's lives. Going in Uganda it was not easy. But at least living as a refugee in Uganda than living in Congo where you will live with fear of getting killed every day. Even if you don't have anything else, but you have life. So we have been waiting almost twelve years, until we get this blessing of coming to America

My first month here in Wichita Kansas it was strange. Americans fear strangers, that's how they grew up. But in Africa it's different because you can just meet someone, shake hands, share stories. Americans smile and say hi, but they don't approach you because they don't get along with someone they don't know. And sometimes you fear people because it's new. So if people approach us it will help us feel like home. I wish more people would understand how similar we are to refugees. At the core we're people.  They're the same as we are and to just get to know them. Ask questions. They overcame a lot of obstacles to make it out of their situation. And a lot of patience to get to this country. And here they are starting all over again. I'm so happy to be in America. Yeah it's a dream come true. I've been waiting for twelve years and I'm so blessed to be here. And all the people I've met 
here. I'm really grateful to God, for that blessing. I think when a child has had a very traumatic or difficult set of experiences, the first step is for any adults who encounter them to be conscious of that. To be aware of potential red flags. What it might mean is that you don't start off by asking the toughest questions.

So, I know in my experience as a refugee lawyer, I would never start an interview by saying to somebody please tell me how you escaped from your home. I would never start with that. I'd start with questions about where are you living now? Which are your favorite subjects? Which are the people you're closest to? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Easy questions. And then you would gradually move and you'd be guided by the child. But to expect someone to trust you with very difficult information early on, when you're just building a relationship is a mistake. This obligation of basic humanity extends to thinking about these children as their own children. So, if we have a child of our own who's in distress, you wouldn't just get what you needed out of them and then turn away. It's a balance between establishing a warm and trusting relationship, which you do through ordinary conversation and treating the child like any other child, and then gradually creating space for a more deep and potentially painful conversation. Sometimes it takes children a long time to want to talk about the most painful things.

My first refugee kid was last year and she was terrified of school. She would kick and scream and try to run out every single day. I just think that she didn't know that it was a safe place and I wasn't able to communicate with her. I just kept hugging her and just saying it's OK. And smiling. And then one day she was happy to be here and she worked but it took about three months for her to feel safe here. Where she came from it was so traumatic. So I just kind of let her lead the way. And then before you knew it, she joined in like everyone else. I think we have to listen to them. One student, he will talk about how his dad was killed. And it was hard. And his behavior was showing you know some aggressiveness. So we just listen, have an open heart and say you know I'm so sorry that that happened. And let them talk because they need to talk. If they're sharing something that is a little disturbing for others. Then we can call them on the side and kind of listen to them. But for the most part we're open and we share. At that time we were having a person that was coming and doing crafts and things like that and kind of letting them talk about their problems through journaling or making a bracelet. A bracelet with somebody that you love and you left in your country.

Art is about emotion and art is a visual language. So students will come in the art room after maybe having had a frustrating day at school. Or maybe they had a frustrating night at home. And children will come into the art room and they'll just release that emotion into the artwork they make. And we don't think of school art teachers as being art therapists, but we are. When I taught in Uganda, I had children who were forced migrants from a variety of reasons. I don't really think I fully realized that these children had so much loss and grief. Children aren't creating the problems they have to deal with. Adults are. And children aren't the ones deciding I want to get up and move 3 countries away and seek asylum.

In the United States sometimes what we perceive as difficulties pale in comparison to what some children around the world are dealing with. I never thought this day would come because I've been through four high schools. And each time I move to another country I have to repeat a grade, I'm very excited. When I was in South Africa I just talked about graduating, not going to college because they were not going to accept me as college student there. After graduation I'm planning to go to WATC for architecture, maybe as a program or undergraduate classes. Then transfer to K-State. With my degree I plan to go back to Congo. And remodel old houses, maybe. I can't wait. I'm feeling excited because graduation is a big thing. After graduation I

The job I have here is composite mechanic. I am there at Wichita Area Technical College. It was composite. You have to use the Kevlar carbon fiber and the fiberglass. In five years because I took composite classes So I want to learn more about it. And I hope to go to college or University so that I can get my education higher than I have today. New teachers working with refugees have a tremendous opportunity. They have an opportunity to really be a change maker in somebody's life. So often when you talk to young people who have been forced to flee home and have had to leave so much behind and you ask them about how they got to where they got to they will mention a special teacher as being transformative in their life. Having children who have an extra need for attention is of course an added responsibility. But I think the silver lining is they could have this tremendously transformative impact.

You look at the world a little differently when you have newcomer students. They kind of open your eyes to something you've never seen before they give you little glimpses of their life and their culture. And it makes you want to know more. They've made a big difference in who I am as a person and as a teacher. For classroom teachers my best advice is just don't make assumptions, ask. You can plan activities that activate their prior knowledge, activate their prior experiences and then give them that opportunity to share that in a safe way. I guess I focus more on how we are the same instead of different. That's because I want to treat them with dignity. They're a real high school student. Knowing that it makes a difference, being able to see that in the lives of kids. Also starting to see some of the refugees giving back has been a wonderful experience. And part of what keeps me going and drives me to get up and come in and do what I do is I know there's so much more that could be done.

Teachers play a really significant role because students are with them each day. I think that for teachers it's just really important that they understand where these children are coming from.  That these kids are highly motivated. They value school. A lot of them have not had the opportunity to have the kind of schooling that we provide here. As we think about refugees and kids that come to this country. What teachers need to know is I can advocate at any given time for what their needs are.

All of us got into this profession to change the life of a kid. What other profession gets the opportunity to change the life of a kid. It's so valuable. If anybody has an opportunity to work with them whether I would recommend it because you'll walk away with much more than you've ever given. These kids are so worthy of good things and they deserve good things. And they might never see mom or they might never see dad or brothers and sisters again in their lives but here they are in the United States and they are working their tails off to make themselves better people. I know it's hard like to learn another language and you take all classes in the language that you don't speak but, they have to keep pushing.

My advice for them is keep practicing, doing their homework and attend to school every day that would be good they can graduate too. And to all the students from Africa and all over the world that are refugees. Here in America there's a great opportunity so take it with both hands. Remember don't give up. These kids deserve the best in the entire world. They deserve every chance that every other kid in the United States gets.