Libraries and Refugees

In my job as a community outreach coordinator I get to meet every incoming refugee, thanks to a 5 year  collaboration with our refugee resettlement agencies. It is truly a perfect arrangement. I am able to make everyone a library card within days of their arrival to Louisville. I then see them weekly and am in such a position to  get to know them as individuals – the circumstances of their arrivals, the challenges they face and their dreams and their passions; not to mention their favorite Bollywood actors.  A vast majority of the individuals I work with have quite a penchant for Hindi movies. This has included Somalis, Sudanese, Albanians, Meskhetain Turks, Bhutanese, and Afghanis to name but a few. I have not yet experienced a Cuban or Vietnamese patron ask for Sushmita Sen but I feel it is coming. (Our films are all a bit dated.)  I am very interested in the burgeoning Nigerian film industry and need to learn much more about the Swahili market. It is an interesting question in collections. The need is there. There are a million reserves on each title we own and yet there is hesitancy amongst some to grow the collection as the films are not considered educational. I personally have never watched a Bollywood film from beginning to end, though I have been known to dance around and swoon to the synchronized movements of young celluloid Indian actors. But I think the cross cultural experience involved with the sharing of this bloated, at times grotesque, and often visually and aurally  stunning industry is remarkable. We need more. I am eager to take a class on collections as it is such a wonder world to me. Such power lies in the office that actually picks and chooses what gets purchased. Granted, outsourcing often involves someone from the outside selecting from a list but there is still so much freedom and choice that goes with a library our size. The “give them what they want” versus “what they need” is age old – as is the question of neutrality and objectivity in your selection process – impossible indeed!

 

 The clientele I work with are small in number but big in need. When there are budget cuts sometimes such voices aren’t going to rise to the top of the list. There is also a high percentage of language learning material that disappears. I meet people new to the city, often in trauma or shock on so many levels. They have a limited time to learn English then are turned loose on the world. The jobs they take are often grueling and beneath that which they are accustomed to – or in such a different realm ( Bantu farmer learning to stand in a factory for 10 hour shifts with high tech machines to run) that they are all consumed. Meanwhile the children learn English swiftly though not in such a manner to produce adequately in their grade level classes. There is no help with homework in the home and often no relationship with the schools and suddenly the adolescents in a search for self begin adopting US customs that don’t jibe with home traditions and the mix is lethal. So that language learning material falls to the way side. Or in a good case we find them again – in their houses of worship, in their grocery, at social events and attempt to reconnect them with the library. Remind them that when they have time, we can continue to help with English, computer skills, and better job placement. The children can come to find help with homework and cultural programs can be organized to reignite a pride in home. Now when dealing with refugees from a war torn area these showcases of culture can be a nightmare. Opposing sides want you to pick who exactly you are representing – ethnically or religiously or by recognizing one community leader over another. At times there is no way to be inclusive, try as one might, and it is quite sad. The only hope lies in the children. If through interaction at school, on the playground, in the apartment complexes and in the library they can overcome the obstacles of centuries old conflict in their homeland then all should be well. The worry is not from different nations as our library has various little posses of kids from Vietnam, Mexico, Sudan and Somalia – all running around together – ripping thorough computer programs like they were weaned on Xbox instead of the difficult infancies in refugee camps, campos and urban blight. They can – did I actually just almost use the word Pimp as a verb – fandango their myspace sites to the greatest heights. And yet their reading levels may still be on a third grade level when they turn 17 and the humiliation and frustration they face in the mainstream science class may be enough to make them give up. This I have witnessed with some of my Somali boys and it breaks my heart. They have spent years in the library after school but some gave up long ago on the studying. Others have such potential and we feed and water and hope that our tiny dab in the educational big picture will be enough to make up for innumerable set backs. We set out books by the likes of Mawi Asgedom who in his memoir Of Beetles and Angels discusses his struggles and accomplishments as he eventually reached Harvard.  Nice recognition of the role of the public library in his life as well.  From his perspective he can even add insight on the youth of the U.S.

 

On whether American teens are spoiled and immature: “I think teens in other countries would often do anything to have the opportunities American teens have. By and large, American teens are great people, but they don’t always have the drive to succeed, because they don’t have to.”

On whether American teens are growing up in a sick culture: “The world is putting stuff into teens’ minds very early — even 8 or 9. Parents need to be putting the right stuff in even earlier. I think parents like to think, ‘I know what’s going on in my teenager’s life because I was a teenager.’ Not true. It’s a different world.”

On what parents can do to help their adolescent children: “Plant the right values. A parent who wants to encourage the quality of giving should do community service projects together (with their child). Talk about what character is about. There’s got to be a lot of respect for what kids know. Listen with your ears open.”

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/139708_moment16.html

 

So as social worker, educator, advocate and friend somehow the modern librarian must embrace an age old tradition of helping newly arrived men and women find a home in the United States and embrace life long learning as a way to connect with their youth and maintain cultural traditions that will be a defense against  pockets of depravity in US culture instead of losing their youth as they struggle for a self identity and adoption of often times, in poor areas, the worst elements of teen culture. At the same time we can work to teach civics, civil liberties, and social justice to enhance the positive attributes of our fine country that will, ideally, allow everyone a fighting chance.

The problem is advocating for the future of the US (demographically speaking) who may not speak English, may not vote and may not fall high on agendas.  This is the population of tomorrow and if we do not invest in their library experience, it will surely come back to haunt us all. This is our history and it is our future – as public librarians in the United States – to represent equal access and service, to all.

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