Mentoring new American youths
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
By Mariana Lamaison Sears
Free Press Staff Writer
Seven-year-old Hawa Adan grabbed a package of peanut-butter cookie dough Tuesday evening at Kristin Burdge's home and slowly read: "Stir cookie mix, water, oil and egg in a medium bowl." But the time the pair spent together was more of a cultural exchange than a cookie-baking class.
They talked about religion and holiday traditions, discussed shapes and colors, and figured out the meaning of several words new to the youth.
Hawa and Burdge have been spending about 90 minutes every week together for more than a month after being connected by the King Street Youth Center mentoring program. The program is one of several in Chittenden County that recently began matching mentors with children of immigrants and refugees.
Burdge, 25, of Burlington, is participating in a series of workshops aimed at inspiring adults to become mentors of these new American youths.
Organized by Mobius, The Mentoring Movement, the four-workshop series began in mid-November and will continue until February. Embracing Harmony, Understanding Our Increasingly Diverse Community is a free series, open to anyone interested in mentoring newly arrived children.
"The workshops focus on understanding the changing cultural tapestry of our community and the stresses affecting our community's immigrant population," said Andrea Torello, Mobius executive director.
Advocating for adult-to-child mentoring "in every possible venue" is Mobius' main purpose, Torello said. That role-model relationship becomes particularly important for immigrant and refugee children as they learn the codes and norms of a new culture and adjust to them, she said.
"Refugees inevitably start their life in America in poverty. In addition, they are faced with the challenge of learning a new language and redefining themselves in an entirely different social setting," Torello said. "The children carry an additional burden in that they often become the lead communicators for their families, as young people tend to adapt more easily than their older counterparts."
Although Hawa, originally from Somalia, has been in Vermont for more than two years, Tuesday evening was her first time baking and decorating cookies for the holidays. She made snowmen, stars and frogs. Burdge explained that some of those were traditional holiday figures, and explained about Christmas and Hanukkah. Hawa said Ramadan, her religious celebration, does not have special shapes that could be reproduced in cookie dough.
"Working with a refugee child helps me see America and American culture in a new light," Burdge said. "Each experience, each activity, though traditional and yearly for me, is exciting and needs to be explored and understood for her," she said.
Burdge has made mentoring a life's passion. She works full time for DREAM, a mentoring program that pairs college students with children living in public housing, and has mentored other children before. The biggest difference about mentoring refugee children is communicating with the family, she said.
"Communication about goals for the child, the child's progress, or difficulties with the child is hard," Burdge said. Also, parents sometimes do not understand school paperwork and other mail that comes, and they need assistance with that, she said. Burdge said the Mobius workshops help address the specific skills a mentor for refugee children might need and the specific challenges they might face.
At the workshop's December session, attended by about 40 people, a panel of five speakers talked about the joys and challenges of adjusting to American culture. Hassan Kulow, a refugee from Somalia, said he was so scared the day he arrived in Vermont he did not want to get off the plane. His local host, Ann Broekhuizen of Jericho, helped him and his family with everything, he said.
The first barrier was the language, he said. "I couldn't understand what she was talking about." Other hurdles sprang up: mail, shopping, appointments with doctors, banking, clothing, laundry and immigration paperwork were some of the things they needed to figure out when they arrived almost three years ago, Kulow said.
Burdge said immigrants' and refugees' greatest need is someone who shows them what Americans take for granted. "There is so much that is habit for us, a part of our daily existence, and that is totally foreign to newcomers," she said.
A mentor can help bridge those divides.
"All of the research on mentoring indicates that a supportive relationship with a caring adult always adds a protective factor to a child's life," Torello said. "The attention of one compassionate adult can turn a person's life around."
Comments, questions, story ideas? Contact Mariana L. Sears at 660-1867 or msears@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.
MENTORING OPPORTUNITIES People interested in becoming a mentor for a child should call Ginny Couture of Mobius, The Mentoring Program at 658-1888 or e-mail at ginny@mobiusmentors.org
WORKSHOPS
Upcoming Embracing Harmony, Understanding Our Increasingly Diverse Community workshops:
JAN. 17: Local Issues, Local Challenges of New Americans
FEB 21: Mentoring Immigrant Youth
WHEN & WHERE: 7 p.m. at Hauke Conference Room, Champlain College
INFORMATION: Call Andrea Torello at 658-1888
ON THE WEB: www.mobiusmentors.org
