News
03/26/2007 03:12:44 EST Class Teaches Refugees an American Life
By MONICA RHOR
Associated Press Writer

The creaky van rattled past Pakistani food stores, the Principe Azul disco and stores with saris in the window, giving the Daramay clan a 45-mph view of their new hometown's diversity.

Every so often the van stopped, and out climbed the six young men, two teenage girls, a little boy and their mother - refugees who had arrived from Liberia only a few weeks earlier.

The women wore sheer headscarves in delicate prints, and some of the boys donned T-shirts with French slogans. The ride was part of a three-day cultural orientation to introduce the basics of Houston life.

"It is very different from Africa," said Abdurahaman Daramay, 17. "But everything is OK to me."

___

Stop No. 1: The Worksource, an employment agency that helps place refugees and Katrina evacuees. The men, who speak only rudimentary English, gathered at one table to fill out job applications with the help of the orientation teacher, Jean Francois Mukendi.

City? H-O-U-S-T-O-N. State? T-E-X-A-S.

Job hunting is a priority for adult refugees, whose government assistance runs out four months after arrival. But Fatumata, 18, and her mother, Kaba Makinsian, sat quietly at another table, only waiting. Unlike the men, they cannot write or speak any English.

The family got a pep talk from employment counselor Naji Abdelsayed, who arrived from Egypt in 2000 and went through Mukendi's orientation himself.

"I was one day sitting in a class like any one of you," he told the family. "There is a lot of opportunity here. No lie."

___

About 50,000 refugees come to the United States every year, and although all get a brief cultural instruction before arriving, only about 40 percent get training like Mukendi's class at the YMCA.

Even that number may fall because the federal funding has been steadily dropping, YMCA officials said. Over the last six years, money for the program has been cut in half.

The Houston class, started in 1992, now sees about 220 people a year, and most of them start off clinging to images of the U.S. picked up from television or other refugees.

They imagine a country with gleaming sedans and glorious estates, without also anticipating the stress of navigating the culture's often-different values.

"Here they will face a reality. No more dream. No more TV or advertisement," said Mukendi, a former refugee from Congo. "Here they find out the difference between what they were thinking and what they will see."

___

Stop No. 2: Wal-Mart. Here, Mukendi told the group as they stood in front of the sliding doors, they could buy anything. Food. Clothes. Household goods. School supplies.

"This is my first time to enter this kind of store," said Abdurahaman Daramay, as his relatives filed down wide aisles bursting with bright colors, bold designs and signs boasting in English and Spanish: "Always low prices. Siempre precios bajos."

They walked by watches ($7.87), silk flowers (94 cents), polo shirts ($15.80). They examined shelves stacked with Tropicana Squeeze drinks and Little Debbie snack cakes, and refrigerated cases loaded with shrimp and hot dogs.

"Hi, how are y'all doing?" asked a blue-vested worker with a grin.

N'vabury Daramay, 20, was reminded of a Moroccan marketplace: "This is like a Houston medina."

But even in Wal-Mart, some things were amiss. One shopper stared at the refugee women's head scarves, then pulled her pocketbook close to her body.

Kaba Makinsian shook her head in disappointment.

___

The Daramays spent three years at a refugee camp in Guinea before entering the U.S. with the sponsorship of a sister already living here.

"Before you came here, what was your idea when thinking about America?" Mukendi asked his students during the two days of classroom lectures that preceded the van tour.

The answers flew. "America is a good place to be." "Here you can have a good life." "Here you must be punctual."

And here, Mukendi repeatedly reminded his students, you are expected to ask questions. A hard task for refugees coming from a culture where questioning is impolite.

Then there are the contrasting views of punctuality (In Liberia, arriving two hours late for an appointment is acceptable. Here, it is not); equality (In Liberia, a husband has final say in all household decisions. Here, men and women are equal); and parenting (In Liberia, children cannot question their parents. Here, they often speak up.)

"We are not here to change what you believe in," said Shawn Webb, the YMCA's educational services director. "We just want to show you that there are a lot of differences."

___

Stop No. 3: Jerusalem Halal Meat Market. The family, which is Muslim, can buy meat slaughtered according to their religious beliefs.

"So you don't miss anything from back home, you can come to this store," Mukendi told his students as they squeezed past the fava beans and hookah pipes, halal lamb and cow tongue. An alcove near the front offered prayer rugs and music from India and Africa.

"Houston is a very big city," observed N'vabury Daramay, as the family piled back into the van. "I like it. It's the place to be."
http://kevxml.windstream.net/_1_2T12TO1 ... 899&feed=a

Are these people receiving an education concerning our laws and customs?
Maybe this is why so many do not assimilate, they are just showing them Wal-Mart and a butcher shop!

And, as much as we all like taking in refugees, this number is astounding, combined with close to 3 million a year on Visa's, etc.....and the 20 million illegals.....

How long can America keep this up?