Thank You

We’re fast approaching our last two days of this project and we have a lot to show for it. At the end of ten weeks we have created an online book with 31 different sections and six videos that detail the resources and culture in Allentown. This book would not have been possible without the guidance and advice that we received from professionals in both Allentown and Tubingen. Tomorrow we plan to personally thank these people with the unveiling of our website and a celebratory event however there are many of you who will be unable to make it. So to those of you reading this who will not be there tomorrow we would like to say thank you. Thank you for your time and your thoughtfulness. Thank you for bearing with us as we fumbled with poor Wi-Fi and other unforeseen issues. And thank you for giving your time to the community and for working to make Allentown a better place. We know that you don’t hear it nearly enough but you are truly a gift to this city and you are making it a better place.

In every meeting we were asked if this project is going to be maintained or if it is going to fizzle out on July 22^nd when our internship is over. We promise that this project will not fizzle out but instead it will grow and expand. I am the President of a club recognized by the Department of State called No Lost Generation and Rebecca is a part of the executive board for this club. Our club plans to take over this project and ensure that it is well maintained and that it expands to other cities within the Lehigh Valley. We look forward to keeping in contact with you and please reach out to us if you need anything. We are happy to give you brochures, postcards and flyers advertising our website and we would love to hear any feedback that you may have.

-Katie

 

 

 

 

 

Highlight: Katie Morris

One of our teammates, Katie Morris, maintains her own blog where she writes about different humanitarian crisis’s taking place around the world. This summer she has been blogging about this internship and the progress that this team has made. Check out her latest blog post!

Back Home and Hard at Work

In Germany we had the opportunity to meet with countless different people who are working to help the refugee’s transition into their lives in Germany. Each person we met with offered us valuable advice that has significantly improved our overall projects. Yet, it was not just our meetings in Germany that have contributed to our project. We have met with numerous Lehigh staff members and community members who have given us their time and thoughts to help us make this project as significant as possible. One of our biggest meetings took place yesterday when we met with some of the staff members at the Newcomer Academy in Allentown.

The Newcomer Academy is a school for students who are new to the area and do not have the language skills necessary to be placed in the public school in their area. The kids who attend the school stay there for one year and are given a tremendous amount of support to help them learn English and advance in their academic studies. The school is nothing short of incredible.

The women we met with have been working with refugees for years and had valuable insight and opinions about our project. They spent over an hour with us talking and reviewing our videos and book sections. From them we learned that our videos and book sections were just not good enough. It was hard to hear but very valuable input. They asked us to simplify our words and to make the book sections more visual. One of their main points of advice was to match the vocabulary with accompanying pictures.

During this project we have spent a long time walking what we consider to be a fine line between simplifying information and oversimplifying information. We wanted to make the information easy to read and understand but we also didn’t want to simplify it so much that it would be considered offensive. We want to respect the intelligence of the people while at the same time acknowledging their struggles to understand the language and the culture of the United States.

In our meeting we learned that although these people are highly intelligent they are still struggling to comprehend the culture and language. So they made the point that it’s okay to simplify our text because it will make it easier for the people to understand and it won’t be considered offensive but actually helpful.

So today we’re back in the digital media center working to create materials that are more comprehensible.  We want this project to have a big impact in the community and to significantly improve the transition process for newcomers in Allentown. We’re very grateful for all of the help and advice that we have receive and we can’t wait to share our completed book with everyone in three weeks!

If you or someone you know have any contacts in the community that may be interested in promoting, advertising and sharing our book please contact us at mountaintopinterns@gmail.com.

-Katie

Map of Allentown

Back in the United States we have been working to develop resources to help newcomers in Allentown navigate our city. One of the resources that I have created is a map that shows some of the most important areas in Allentown including libraries, grocery stores and hospitals. Look at the map below and let me know what you think. I’m open to suggestions and criticisms. We want to make this map as user friendly as possible.

-Katie

Can you hear what has happened to me?

While in Germany I had the privilege of speaking to many locals about their feelings regarding the refugee crisis. One of the most profound conversations I had was with a mother of four who took an entire day off to tour several of my friends and me around her home city of Stuttgart. I asked her about the refugee crisis and the influx of refugees in her city. She told me that after World War II the Germans have tried to be extremely open to the way that they help people who are need. I was surprised to hear her bring up the history of the country as no other citizen had ever mentioned that when talking to me about the refugee crisis. She mentioned that Germany had made mistakes in the past but were eagerly trying to correct those mistakes. There are certainly many people in the country who do not share these feelings but there are very few times where an entire country can all have the same feelings about something.

Refugee classes in Germany teach history, beginning with the post-World War II era. They do this so that the refugees are not re-traumatized with the information of the atrocities committed by Germans during the war. How scary would it be for a refugee to sit in a German class room and learn about how the country persecuted people who they considered different?

Yet that doesn’t mean they, the refugees, want to forget their story. In my meeting with a university psychologist I learned that many of the women that she works with wish to have their stories told or to remember what has happened to them. The psychologist compared their desire to share their stories to American soldiers who travel to schools and lecture halls to talk about the time that they have served. Many of these soldiers have experienced extreme evil while at war but that evil has made them who they are and they are not willing to bury it deep inside them. It is important to share the moments that have shaped your life regardless of if they are positive or negative.

Something that I will always remember is a story that the psychologist told me about one of the women that she works with. During her session this particular refugee woman asked the psychologist “Can you hear what has happened to me? Are you writing this all down? I don’t want it to be forgotten”.

This statement was so profound to me. The words “can you hear what has happened to me” will stick with me forever. Because I hear them. I hear their stories and their challenges. The world hears them but they are not always listening. We need to listen. We need to hear the story of the man I met who travelled through so many countries on his way to Germany that he couldn’t even name them all. The man who said that he got in a taxi in Serbia and feared that he would be killed. The man who slept in the streets of Croatia on his way here.

These are the stories that matter. The stories of the people who are fighting for their lives. I promise we will not forget you. We will not let you become a news story that gets passed over when something more recent and more dramatic occurs. We will help you be heard and we will listen.

How much is too much?

We’re approaching our last few days here in Tübingen, Germany and we are trying to attend as many meetings, seminars and classes as possible. Our days are becoming increasingly busier as we connect with more people in the region yet we are often unable to share everything that we are doing due to confidentiality. However, we appreciate your continued support as we continue to better understand the refugee crisis abroad and seek out information and resources that we can bring home with us. We would like to share with you some of our experiences in our last few meetings.

Last week we had the opportunity to sit in on an information meeting with several migrants and refugees who are attending the University of Tübingen.  During this meeting we talked about the concept of identity as it relates to people living in different countries. It was emphasized that identity is not static but rather always moving and growing with each and every experience that a human has. However, this identity can become confusing when you move to a place whose culture is so different from your own. Often time’s native citizens will tell you that you need to mold your identity to fit their cultural standards. Yet, how much molding is too much? What does it mean to fit in but still be yourself?

In a meeting with a trauma expert the concept of identity came up once again. We talked about the balance of a refugee’s new culture along with their native culture. Again, how much molding is too much? You want a refugee to understand their new culture and fit in but you also want them to maintain who they are, to hold on to their roots. There are no “How to” books for this, no studies or statistics. Refugees and aid workers must figure it out on their own, silently struggling to determine how much change is too much. One of the extreme examples that we were provided with is the topic of polygamy. Some of the refugee men coming to Germany are arriving from regions where polygamy is highly practiced and encouraged. So they’re entering the country with four wives. However, in Germany this is considered illegal. But how do you tell a man that he has to choose just one of his four wives to be married to? I’m not taking a stance on polygamy but I am saying that the conversation that has to be had is clearly difficult for both parties involved.

We’ve had multiple other meetings with people who continue to teach, support and inspire us. We are truly grateful for the experiences we are having in Germany and are looking forward to using our newfound knowledge to better the projects we are working on back home in Allentown. We ask that you continue to maintain an open mind about the refugee crisis and the newcomers who are settling in and around your hometowns. They are coming from backgrounds that we will never be able to comprehend and many are carrying mental scars. We have been taught that stability, safety and structure are some of the greatest things for a refugee. Yet, a friendly smile, a cup of tea and an ear willing to listen also go a long way.

-Katie

Tübingen Update

 

Yesterday, we met with Karin Amos who is a Professor of Educational Science at the University of Tübingen. Amos discussed the refugee students who are studying or applying to study at the University. Amos told us that there are approximately 40-50 refugee students studying in Tübingen but this number is unconfirmed because refugees sign up as international students and do not always identify as refugees. The town of Tübingen currently has 280 refugees but has promised to take 1000. The rest of the refugees may still be coming to the town or may have returned to their home countries. Originally, it was thought that many of the refugees would be prepared to enter university when they arrived. However, this has not been the case and according to Amos only 10-15% of the refugees have had the educational level needed to apply. The university is very lenient with the documents that refugees are able to provide and do not require them to have the same documentation as German student. Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges for refugees is the language barrier. There are very limited German as Second Language (GSL) classes and many professors are unwilling to teach these classes. The University has also found that many of the refugees are unaware of the courses offered by the university and they are working on developing resources to spread information around the city. We are hoping to meet with some of the applicants over the course of the next few weeks and get a feel for their experiences.

-Katie

Tell Your Story

Week Three Update

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for your continued support for our Mountaintop Project. We have begun filming resource videos for various areas in and around Allentown and will be ready to post them by the end of July. We are also in the process of planning an end of the summer event where we will reveal all our work, so be on the lookout for an announcement in the coming weeks! We leave for Germany in eight days and are so excited to meet the people working with refugees there as well as the refugees themselves. We will be blogging from Tubingen and hope to share several stories from the refugees themselves in the coming weeks. Please continue to share this blog with friends and family! Also, if you or someone you know is a refugee in America and would like to tell your story please send us an email at mountaintopinterns@gmail.com.

-Katie

Day One and Two

Walking into the Newcomer Academy was like being transported back in time. As we maneuvered our way onto tiny benches in the lunch room I suddenly remembered my middle school and those tiny milk cartoons that we used to get at every lunch. But the similarities ended there. Everything about the Newcomer Academy is completely different from the experiences that I had in school.

The students at this school are coming from all over the world and speak various different languages. Some have never been to school before while others have had a highly interrupted education. Some students don’t know how to hold a pencil while others are still struggling with the concept that they are no longer allowed to go home for lunch like they were in their country. The school is underfunded and underrepresented but the work that the teachers are doing is nothing short of incredible.

Rebecca, Aman and I went to the school with the intention of talking to the teachers and getting an idea of what their school was lacking in terms of educational resources. It was our plan to fill the gaps that they themselves did not have the time or the funds to fill. We were quickly overwhelmed with information. The women spoke of the various needs that the students had as well as the needs of the teachers. One teacher commented that they were always in crisis mode. Another teacher mentioned that the majority of her classroom projects were funded by her own personal money. They all agreed that by the end of the day they were completely exhausted.

One teacher works in a classroom with students who have an interrupted education. She has twelve students with varying educational needs and does not have any other teachers to help her. Can you imagine creating a lesson plan for twelve students of varying ages, languages and educational backgrounds? It can’t be easy.

As the teachers spoke our minds were running at a million miles an hour, what should we do to help? Which gap should we fill? There were so many gaps that it was overwhelming. What could we as three students do in ten weeks that would have the maximum impact?

We left the school feeling overwhelmed and inspired. I felt as if I had just met some of the most courageous and inspiring women in the education system but I also felt stressed out just thinking of their daily jobs.

The next day (Wednesday) we sat down to establish a plan for the next ten weeks that would benefit both the teachers and the refugees alike. We settled on the topic of education where we plan to educate both the refugees and the general public. Our goal is to make the transition to Allentown easier for the newcomers and to dispel stigmas that surround refugees and newcomers in America.

We are still in the early stages of our project but our plan is to create an online book complete with videos and pictures that will detail different resources in Allentown. This book will be specifically designed for refugee families who are unaware of the local resources that the town has to offer. We plan on creating videos detailing how to use the transportation system, how to check out a book at the library and how to act in an American restaurant. The culture in America is so vastly different from the countries that these people are coming from and we want to help them assimilate as easily as possible.

The book will also contain lists of restaurants, parks and hospitals as well as an emergency contact list. Over the next month we plan on conducting interviews with teachers, administrators, parents and students to gain a better understanding of what we should and should not include in the book.

Our biggest challenge right now is completing and submitting an intuitional review board (IRB). We have to create an IRB if we plan on conducting any sort of interview or if we plan on publishing our research. We must then submit this IRB to a board who will review it and either reject or approve our proposal. We also need to receive approval from the Newcomer Academy itself and create consent forms which will have to be completed by each willing participant. The majority of the parents and students at the school have a different first language so we are creating consent forms in English, Spanish and Arabic. The only problem is that none of us speak Spanish or Arabic. So if you are reading this and would like to help us translate the forms send us an email at mountaintopinterns@gmail.com. We would love your help!

The last part of our project is to educate the public about refugees. We will be using this blog to do that. Over the next ten weeks we will be sharing our experiences with you as well as stories and images from newcomers and refugees themselves. If you are a refugee in this country and would like to be published on this page please send us an email at mountaintopinterns@gmail.com. Or if you simply have something to say about out blog or refugees in general. We would love to hear from you! We want to increase awareness surrounding newcomers in this world to create a more accepting and understanding global community.

Please share our blog and be sure to click the follow button so that you will receive notifications every time we post! Also, be sure to send us an email if you have something to say, we would love to hear from you!

-Katie