Tuesday, August 11, 2009
SEEKING AN “ABUNDANT LIFE” FOR MAINE’S IMMIGRANTS
An Interview with Dr. Norbert Runyambo
By Christina Feller-- published in the July 2009 Munjoy Hill Observer newspaper, Portland, Maine
About sixty nonprofits have been formed in the past 20 years by and for immigrant groups in Maine, serving populations that range from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Over the coming months, we will begin to review the mission and activities of these organizations in these pages, in order to bring attention to the continuing needs of our burgeoning immigrant population, and to the important organizations that exist to meet those needs. All the organizations we cover want you to know what they do and who they serve. These are public organizations with which mainstream organizations and governmental units can and do partner to achieve common goals.
The Abundant Life Institute (ALI) was formed to empower disadvantaged or marginalized communities to create opportunities and envision ways to construct integrated social and economic structures in which they can transform the quality of their lives. ALI is a “shared space” for creative action—a shared space means a platform governed by values of inclusiveness, integrity, dialogue, consultation, acceptance, participation and accountability with the aim to render service with creativity and excellence. We took time to interview Dr. Norbert Runyambo, who is a member of the ALI executive team.
Dr. Runyambo, why did you create this organization?
We believe that we are the primary resource for change within the community, and our core values of service, integrity, accountability, excellence, relationships, creativity, inclusiveness and participation are represented in the people who are part of the Institute. Our members abide by these core values of a shared space with the commitment to model and instill these values in the communities we serve.
What is the primary focus of your work?
We work in six primary areas.
1. Family health education: while the focus has been reproductive health education about “risky” behaviors among our youth, we feel just now that the primary concern in this area is nutrition counseling. We see our brothers and sisters come from foreign countries with a cultural norm about nutrition and good eating but when they come here, there are so many choices for fast food that our teen-agers and young people, especially, make wrong choices on a regular basis. The food here is easy to buy, fast to get, and well-marketed for maximum social and economic integration purposes. We plan to train immigrants about the American food system, and how to make choices and prioritize those choices.
2. Social and economic integration: we train immigrants about American social and economic systems and we encourage immigrants to develop saving habits, understand financial systems (how to open and maintain a bank account for instance), and explore entrepreneurial opportunities by connecting them to resources for capacity building and funding.
3. Trauma healing: this is very important today when so many of our immigrants come to Maine with memories of torture, abuse and loss. We try to promote creative arts among the youth to express painful memories as well as present their visions and aspirations for peace.
4. Reconciliation: trauma healing is only good in the long term if we also teach people how to reconcile with each other to promote tolerance and coexistence between and among communities. In this work, we hold forums for dialogues on family, inter-ethnic and clan conflicts.
5. Advocacy and human rights: we advocate and help the rights of immigrants to acquire their legal residence documents and to find jobs, housing and health care. We build solidarity and capacity to advocate for good governance and socio-economic justice.
6. Documentation & overcoming the language barrier: We document our work by collecting data and analyzing the situation for immigrants on a regular basis. But, we have a language barrier problem. This reads and sounds like perfect English and I assure you I do not speak like this—you have done a wonderful job of editing my sentences. But, the reader should know we have a problem documenting our work because of these kinds of language barriers.
What do you want people to know about your organization?
I want people to understand that our immigrant population in Portland (in all of Maine) is growing—and will continue to grow—as we accept more people into our community from war-torn and politically abusive countries. We recognize how different we all are from each other, yet there are commonalities in all immigrant experiences that we draw upon to bring reconciliation and peace and improve their quality of life. I want people, both Americans and immigrants, to know that we exist to help improve the overall quality of life for people, whether from Asia, Africa, Central or South America, or the Middle East.
Where do you meet and how can we find you?
There is so little common meeting space in Portland! We meet in our homes generally. We cannot afford to rent out space for our trainings. We hope that people reading this will step forward and offer space for us to meet and to train. We really want to begin our nutrition training (Making Choices & Living Healthy) and we need space for about fifty people on a regular basis. If you have ideas for us, we welcome you!
Please contact me, Norbert Runyambo, at nyabuhanga@yahoo.fr. I live in the Parkside neighborhood. Other members of our executive team live in the North Deering, the Riverton, and the West End neighborhoods. We welcome more collaboration with neighborhood groups.
Finally, what is your advice for newly arriving immigrants?
My advice is to find a group that already exists to help you find your way. City, county and state resources are scattered across town and across the state and their requirements can be confusing and sometimes, even at cross purposes. We are working with a number of other groups to develop a website in all languages for folks to access and use right away when they arrive. I suggest that people go to the one site that lists all of these groups at http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oma/MulticulturalResource/community-religious.html. I see that our organization is not listed—I will have to do something about that!
Thank you Dr. Runyambo.
Next month: INTORE CLUB-Maine’s Immigrants and Refugees Association—Uniting, Strengthening, Advancing and Serving Underserved Immigrants & Refugees. Intore Club is an immigrant and refugee community-based nonprofit organization working for economic and social development. If you want to highlight your immigrant organization, please contact Christina Feller at cfeller@maine.rr.com.
By Christina Feller-- published in the July 2009 Munjoy Hill Observer newspaper, Portland, Maine
About sixty nonprofits have been formed in the past 20 years by and for immigrant groups in Maine, serving populations that range from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Over the coming months, we will begin to review the mission and activities of these organizations in these pages, in order to bring attention to the continuing needs of our burgeoning immigrant population, and to the important organizations that exist to meet those needs. All the organizations we cover want you to know what they do and who they serve. These are public organizations with which mainstream organizations and governmental units can and do partner to achieve common goals.
The Abundant Life Institute (ALI) was formed to empower disadvantaged or marginalized communities to create opportunities and envision ways to construct integrated social and economic structures in which they can transform the quality of their lives. ALI is a “shared space” for creative action—a shared space means a platform governed by values of inclusiveness, integrity, dialogue, consultation, acceptance, participation and accountability with the aim to render service with creativity and excellence. We took time to interview Dr. Norbert Runyambo, who is a member of the ALI executive team.
Dr. Runyambo, why did you create this organization?
We believe that we are the primary resource for change within the community, and our core values of service, integrity, accountability, excellence, relationships, creativity, inclusiveness and participation are represented in the people who are part of the Institute. Our members abide by these core values of a shared space with the commitment to model and instill these values in the communities we serve.
What is the primary focus of your work?
We work in six primary areas.
1. Family health education: while the focus has been reproductive health education about “risky” behaviors among our youth, we feel just now that the primary concern in this area is nutrition counseling. We see our brothers and sisters come from foreign countries with a cultural norm about nutrition and good eating but when they come here, there are so many choices for fast food that our teen-agers and young people, especially, make wrong choices on a regular basis. The food here is easy to buy, fast to get, and well-marketed for maximum social and economic integration purposes. We plan to train immigrants about the American food system, and how to make choices and prioritize those choices.
2. Social and economic integration: we train immigrants about American social and economic systems and we encourage immigrants to develop saving habits, understand financial systems (how to open and maintain a bank account for instance), and explore entrepreneurial opportunities by connecting them to resources for capacity building and funding.
3. Trauma healing: this is very important today when so many of our immigrants come to Maine with memories of torture, abuse and loss. We try to promote creative arts among the youth to express painful memories as well as present their visions and aspirations for peace.
4. Reconciliation: trauma healing is only good in the long term if we also teach people how to reconcile with each other to promote tolerance and coexistence between and among communities. In this work, we hold forums for dialogues on family, inter-ethnic and clan conflicts.
5. Advocacy and human rights: we advocate and help the rights of immigrants to acquire their legal residence documents and to find jobs, housing and health care. We build solidarity and capacity to advocate for good governance and socio-economic justice.
6. Documentation & overcoming the language barrier: We document our work by collecting data and analyzing the situation for immigrants on a regular basis. But, we have a language barrier problem. This reads and sounds like perfect English and I assure you I do not speak like this—you have done a wonderful job of editing my sentences. But, the reader should know we have a problem documenting our work because of these kinds of language barriers.
What do you want people to know about your organization?
I want people to understand that our immigrant population in Portland (in all of Maine) is growing—and will continue to grow—as we accept more people into our community from war-torn and politically abusive countries. We recognize how different we all are from each other, yet there are commonalities in all immigrant experiences that we draw upon to bring reconciliation and peace and improve their quality of life. I want people, both Americans and immigrants, to know that we exist to help improve the overall quality of life for people, whether from Asia, Africa, Central or South America, or the Middle East.
Where do you meet and how can we find you?
There is so little common meeting space in Portland! We meet in our homes generally. We cannot afford to rent out space for our trainings. We hope that people reading this will step forward and offer space for us to meet and to train. We really want to begin our nutrition training (Making Choices & Living Healthy) and we need space for about fifty people on a regular basis. If you have ideas for us, we welcome you!
Please contact me, Norbert Runyambo, at nyabuhanga@yahoo.fr. I live in the Parkside neighborhood. Other members of our executive team live in the North Deering, the Riverton, and the West End neighborhoods. We welcome more collaboration with neighborhood groups.
Finally, what is your advice for newly arriving immigrants?
My advice is to find a group that already exists to help you find your way. City, county and state resources are scattered across town and across the state and their requirements can be confusing and sometimes, even at cross purposes. We are working with a number of other groups to develop a website in all languages for folks to access and use right away when they arrive. I suggest that people go to the one site that lists all of these groups at http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oma/MulticulturalResource/community-religious.html. I see that our organization is not listed—I will have to do something about that!
Thank you Dr. Runyambo.
Next month: INTORE CLUB-Maine’s Immigrants and Refugees Association—Uniting, Strengthening, Advancing and Serving Underserved Immigrants & Refugees. Intore Club is an immigrant and refugee community-based nonprofit organization working for economic and social development. If you want to highlight your immigrant organization, please contact Christina Feller at cfeller@maine.rr.com.
From a Culture of Revenge to the Culture of Forgiveness
By Christina Feller, published in the May 2009 Munjoy Hill Observer newspaper, Portland, Maine
Ismael Beah was only 11 when he became homeless from the violence of civil war and 13 when he was abducted and forced into the life of a child soldier in Sierra Leone, West Africa. After two years of experiencing unspeakable violence and the horror of daily killing, Ismael began the long road to recovery and rehabilitation. In his celebrated, national bestseller A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ismael takes the reader through his journey from a safe and happy childhood to the evils of a time when “nature itself was afraid”.
Ismael Baeh was the 2009 Douglas M. Schair Memorial Lecture Speaker on Genocide and Human Rights at USM’s Abromson Community Education Center on April 14, 2009. He was introduced by Dr. Abraham J. Peck who leads the USM Academic Council for Religion, Genocide and Human Rights. Before the lecture began, leaders from a range of communities that have experienced genocide lit candles in remembrance of the generations that have been affected by these events.
Ismael explained how in such a short time because of a complete breakdown in society caused by the war between the government and the rebel forces, “adults could be killed by children. Adults feared the children deeply. There was no trust. Children were no longer children—they were killers.” The children did not want to kill, but were forced to kill or die themselves. Eventually, Ismael was rehabilitated through the auspices of the United Nations and came to live in New York, graduate from Oberlin College and became an advocate for what he calls the culture of forgiveness.
Ismael spoke of hope as a form of strength. “We have the capacity to lose it (our humanity) and to regain it. The war dehumanized everyone. We did it to ourselves. But I can tell you that how I felt during and afterwards, I believe you can transform into violence and then recover.” When he was in the rehabilitation center, he began to have hope again that he could have a good life and recover from the horrors he experienced. His recovery could not happen until he was able to undue all the damage that had been done to him—that took more than eight months. He entered the rehab center with a sense of indifference because he did not know what was happening. He left with a sense of hope for his future and for that of his country.
In a culture of forgiveness, Ismael noted, you must be willing to let go of revenge, be willing to restore relationships, and be willing to sit down and talk with those you once hated.
After Ismael spoke, Libby Hoffman, Director of Catalysts for Peace, spoke about their project in Sierra Leone bringing the aggrieved and the former aggressors together under the name Fambol Tok, or Family Talk, to restore healthy relationships through the process of forgiveness. She showed a short film which was heart wrenching at times when accusers and the guilty moved through the process of identifying the victims, hearing their stories, respecting their pain, bringing the guilty forward, affirming their wrongdoing, making the apology and requesting forgiveness, and, finally, the bestowing of forgiveness by the victim. In the film, the process appeared to work. In real life, Ismael showed us that it does indeed work and he is living proof that the goodness of humanity can overpower the evils of war even for children.
To buy the book A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, go to www.alongwaygone.com or www.fsgbooks.com. ISBN-13:978-0-374-53126-3.
Christina Feller is a writer and culturalist, celebrating cultures around the world through stories and photos. Her current work in progress is The Russia Crew —Memoirs from the Field, the retelling of the adventures of a group of American women in Russia during the October rebellion in Moscow in 1993.
Ismael Beah was only 11 when he became homeless from the violence of civil war and 13 when he was abducted and forced into the life of a child soldier in Sierra Leone, West Africa. After two years of experiencing unspeakable violence and the horror of daily killing, Ismael began the long road to recovery and rehabilitation. In his celebrated, national bestseller A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ismael takes the reader through his journey from a safe and happy childhood to the evils of a time when “nature itself was afraid”.
Ismael Baeh was the 2009 Douglas M. Schair Memorial Lecture Speaker on Genocide and Human Rights at USM’s Abromson Community Education Center on April 14, 2009. He was introduced by Dr. Abraham J. Peck who leads the USM Academic Council for Religion, Genocide and Human Rights. Before the lecture began, leaders from a range of communities that have experienced genocide lit candles in remembrance of the generations that have been affected by these events.
Ismael explained how in such a short time because of a complete breakdown in society caused by the war between the government and the rebel forces, “adults could be killed by children. Adults feared the children deeply. There was no trust. Children were no longer children—they were killers.” The children did not want to kill, but were forced to kill or die themselves. Eventually, Ismael was rehabilitated through the auspices of the United Nations and came to live in New York, graduate from Oberlin College and became an advocate for what he calls the culture of forgiveness.
Ismael spoke of hope as a form of strength. “We have the capacity to lose it (our humanity) and to regain it. The war dehumanized everyone. We did it to ourselves. But I can tell you that how I felt during and afterwards, I believe you can transform into violence and then recover.” When he was in the rehabilitation center, he began to have hope again that he could have a good life and recover from the horrors he experienced. His recovery could not happen until he was able to undue all the damage that had been done to him—that took more than eight months. He entered the rehab center with a sense of indifference because he did not know what was happening. He left with a sense of hope for his future and for that of his country.
In a culture of forgiveness, Ismael noted, you must be willing to let go of revenge, be willing to restore relationships, and be willing to sit down and talk with those you once hated.
After Ismael spoke, Libby Hoffman, Director of Catalysts for Peace, spoke about their project in Sierra Leone bringing the aggrieved and the former aggressors together under the name Fambol Tok, or Family Talk, to restore healthy relationships through the process of forgiveness. She showed a short film which was heart wrenching at times when accusers and the guilty moved through the process of identifying the victims, hearing their stories, respecting their pain, bringing the guilty forward, affirming their wrongdoing, making the apology and requesting forgiveness, and, finally, the bestowing of forgiveness by the victim. In the film, the process appeared to work. In real life, Ismael showed us that it does indeed work and he is living proof that the goodness of humanity can overpower the evils of war even for children.
To buy the book A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, go to www.alongwaygone.com or www.fsgbooks.com. ISBN-13:978-0-374-53126-3.
Christina Feller is a writer and culturalist, celebrating cultures around the world through stories and photos. Her current work in progress is The Russia Crew —Memoirs from the Field, the retelling of the adventures of a group of American women in Russia during the October rebellion in Moscow in 1993.
Africa Has Made Us Who We Are
By Christina Feller/ published in the July 2009 Munjoy Hill Observer newspaper, Portland, Maine
“You eat with your hands, you carry water on your head—that’s who we are. We cannot get away from our culture. Africa is what made us who we are. Our job is to make things better. We need to know the cultures and understand the people in their own culture. We can make things better.” So exclaimed a young woman from Burundi, during the second Immigrant Dialogue on Peace and Reconciliation held at the East End Community School on Saturday, June 13th. Parents agreed: “we know our kids have to fit in but we do not want them to lose their culture.”
The first dialogue, at the event the week prior, brought about 60 adults and 20 kids. We spoke of the horrors that people have survived to get here. We spoke about their feelings of safety and security here and how important it is that they are reunited with their families.
We were truly honored to welcome Adelaide’s four daughters who have only this past month arrived from Bujumbura, Burundi. We welcomed Robert and Solange who have come from Kigali, Rwanda only four months ago. We welcomed guests from Iraq, Indonesia, Israel, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, and many other countries.
The second event focused on elders. It was generally agreed that they are isolated in their own homes and that we need to provide more activities for them. They have great difficulty struggling to learn English, and their lives are very limited because of it. There were about 50 adults and ten children at the second event. We welcomed four guests from Lewiston-Auburn, all of whom spoke eloquently and clearly about the issues surrounding education and acculturation of Somali people.
“We have the same amenities, we do not live in the jungle,” explained one man from Congo. “I came to America because there is opportunity here. Nowhere else. This is the place. You can get a good education here and have a plan for your life. In my country, there is no plan for anyone. I wish I could go back, and maybe someday I will,” he continued, “but I am here now and I will make the best of it.”
Living With Peace has awarded Peaceful Living Awards to 14 people who have made a positive difference in the lives of immigrants in Maine: Alfred Jacob, Mohamud Barre, Gure Ali, Genet Gebrewahd, Pious Ali, Father Jim King, Pastor Mutima Peter, Ethan Strimling, Wells Staley-Mays, Rahime Youssouf, Fatuma Hussein, Zoe Miller, Kazeem Lawal, and Reza Jalali.
For more information on these awardees and the programs they run, please email Christina Feller at cfeller@maine.rr.com.
“You eat with your hands, you carry water on your head—that’s who we are. We cannot get away from our culture. Africa is what made us who we are. Our job is to make things better. We need to know the cultures and understand the people in their own culture. We can make things better.” So exclaimed a young woman from Burundi, during the second Immigrant Dialogue on Peace and Reconciliation held at the East End Community School on Saturday, June 13th. Parents agreed: “we know our kids have to fit in but we do not want them to lose their culture.”
The first dialogue, at the event the week prior, brought about 60 adults and 20 kids. We spoke of the horrors that people have survived to get here. We spoke about their feelings of safety and security here and how important it is that they are reunited with their families.
We were truly honored to welcome Adelaide’s four daughters who have only this past month arrived from Bujumbura, Burundi. We welcomed Robert and Solange who have come from Kigali, Rwanda only four months ago. We welcomed guests from Iraq, Indonesia, Israel, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, and many other countries.
The second event focused on elders. It was generally agreed that they are isolated in their own homes and that we need to provide more activities for them. They have great difficulty struggling to learn English, and their lives are very limited because of it. There were about 50 adults and ten children at the second event. We welcomed four guests from Lewiston-Auburn, all of whom spoke eloquently and clearly about the issues surrounding education and acculturation of Somali people.
“We have the same amenities, we do not live in the jungle,” explained one man from Congo. “I came to America because there is opportunity here. Nowhere else. This is the place. You can get a good education here and have a plan for your life. In my country, there is no plan for anyone. I wish I could go back, and maybe someday I will,” he continued, “but I am here now and I will make the best of it.”
Living With Peace has awarded Peaceful Living Awards to 14 people who have made a positive difference in the lives of immigrants in Maine: Alfred Jacob, Mohamud Barre, Gure Ali, Genet Gebrewahd, Pious Ali, Father Jim King, Pastor Mutima Peter, Ethan Strimling, Wells Staley-Mays, Rahime Youssouf, Fatuma Hussein, Zoe Miller, Kazeem Lawal, and Reza Jalali.
For more information on these awardees and the programs they run, please email Christina Feller at cfeller@maine.rr.com.
Portrait of our Immigrant Neighbors
BOOK REVIEW COURTESY OF LONGFELLOW BOOKS, PORTLAND
PUBLISHED IN THE MAY 2009 MUNJOY HILL OBSERVER NEWSPAPER, PORTLAND, MAINE
Pat Nyhan is the author of New Mainers, and Reza Jalali wrote the book’s Foreword. The book profiles more than two dozen recent immigrants, and shares their stories of leaving home, and creating a new life here in Maine.
Who are these Mainers and why have they come here? They are from war-torn countries such as Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Cambodia; from poor Latin American nations; and from economically vibrant places like Hong Kong, India, and Europe - in other words, from across the global spectrum. They came to Maine for a job or to reunite with their family or because they fell in love or to attend college here or to flee persecution in their homelands.
Although the twenty-five
immigrants who tell their stories had widely varying reasons for coming to Maine, many have made remarkable contributions to the state. Some contribute high-level skills in medicine, engineering, academia, law, public-school education, hotel management, and social services. Others have enriched the state’s arts and sports worlds. Several are used to going back and forth across borders, either as transnational professionals or as migrant workers. About one-third of these immigrants are successful entrepreneurs.
As you will find out, the journeys of these immigrants have not been easy, but all of them are glad they wound up in this state and are proud of their new identities as Mainers.
May 2009--Living With Peace-a gathering of neighbors
Living With Peace-—Neighbors Easing the Way for Newcomers to the Community
History: In December, 2006, Ismael Ahmed, Somali leader in Lewiston and at that time a Cultural Skills Trainer for Catholic Charities Maine, gave the opening address at the Maine Neighborhoods: Building Strong Communities Conference, organized and presented by Munjoy Hill Resident Christina Feller, leader of the civic group the League of Maine Neighborhoods, on the topic of establishing immigrant self-help groups or mutual aid associations.
Simultaneously, Ms. Feller was working with leaders of the Banyamulenge Tribal community of Portland, to establish a nonprofit organization to support the Community’s successful acculturation to American ways. The three groups joined forces and established Living With Peace as a nonprofit corporation in Maine in March of 2007 with a mission to strengthen the capacity of immigrants to acculturate to life in Portland and Lewiston, Maine. Shortly thereafter, Living With Peace received fiscal sponsorships approvals from Catholic Charities Maine, Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC) and the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization.
We actively partner with both neighborhood-based groups, churches and other nonprofits to
1) provide emergency services, such as cell phones, heaters, clothes, special food, and transportation, to
2) provide basic care: help finding housing, getting furniture and home goods; moving; arranging for telephone service, Internet hookups: tending clients when they are sick, getting medicine , taking them to the hospital for appointments; finding clothes appropriate for Maine weather, and
3) provide acculturation training, skills building, coaching and mentoring to improve their prospects for future economic and social success in America.
LWP seeks to move beyond humanitarianism by empowering African immigrants to improve their own quality of life through dialog, instruction, and one-on-one coaching with the LWP partners.
Because LWP was founded by members of the immigrant community, we are intimately aware of the particular stresses they face and the need for targeted assistance. We will continue to offer our assistance until there is a critical mass of at least 100 trained and organized African immigrants who can mentor and train others. We are not caseworkers—we are partners.
The significance of this approach is two-fold: by coaching, mentoring, training and teaching small groups of immigrants and individuals, we build trust and mutual respect, which encourages others to approach us for help.
By offering instruction in a wide array of topics relating to life in America, we are able to lessen the feelings of being overwhelmed and bring a sense of accomplishment to them, however small. We are currently teaching English language, diction, and composition, helping prepare resumes and cover letters, and most importantly, we are offering useful techniques to acculturate to American ways and advance their plans for success. In 2007 and 2008, we worked with more than 150 African immigrants providing emergency assistance, basic care or advanced training. We intend to expand the topics of training to include developing peer-support networks, resolving conflicts, and tactics for engaging in local civic life. At the same time, we are publishing An Immigrant’s Guide to Portland, Maine which encapsulates the training and guidance into an easily-read and understandable manual for navigating life in Maine.
Members of LWP feel strongly that the most effective approach is to use local resources to bolster the newcomers’ ability to successfully meet their challenges.The purpose of the organization is to build capacity in specific immigrant communities to meet the challenges they face every day by learning coping skills and planning techniques.
Most immigrants prefer to wean off government handouts and stand on their own. Because LWP professionals and volunteers are locally based, they are focused on helping the immigrant community meet the unique challenges within the context of the Maine environment and the Maine economy.
One valuable source of local expertise and leadership is our neighborhood associations; another is our small business community, and yet another is our nonprofit community. Speakers and trainers come directly from these sources—we do not believe there is any need to seek expertise outside the state of Maine, when what we face are uniquely local challenges.
Living with Peace
Board Members
Christina Feller, founder and president, has three passions—entreprenuership, immigrants, and traveling so it is no wonder that as a nonprofit consultant, she helped establish dozens of women’s business associations in cities across Russia in the mid-nineties. As Board Chair of the International Network for Enterprise and Trade, she was instrumental in establishing more than two dozen English language business libraries across Poland, Germany and Russia in the early nineties. She graduated from Wells College, Harvard Business School, and George Mason University.
Roger Ruganzu, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His family and his tribal community fled to Rwanda because of the civil war, where he went to high school and university. He graduated from law school at the University of Kilgali in Rwanda. He came to Maine in 2006. He was married on April 11, 2009 to Solange Musgeni who came from Rwanda just two months ago and they had not seen each other for some five years.
Sergine Gakwaya went to university with both Roger and Aimee at the University of Kilgali in Rwanda. Sergine is currently enrolled in the Conflict Resolution master’s program at Brandeis University. Her thesis has recently been accepted—immigrant acculturation in Maine! She will be spending the summer in Portland working on her project.
Adelaide Manirakiza is a widow and President of the Association of Widows and Orphans of Murdered Army Personnel. She came to Portland a little more than one year ago. Her application for asylum was approved and now she is waiting for the arrival of her four daughters from Bujumbura, Burundi, where they have been living by themselves in constant fear.
Aimee Umutoni is a mother of three small children, wife, minister, full time employee of a major local firm, full time graduate student and a leader of her community of people from DRCongo. Aimee’s mother-in-law lives with her as well as two cousins so that the children are always well card for by many hands as is the African tradition! Aimee fled from DR Congo with her family after the civil war. Her college studies in Kilgali were suspended when she fled the country for the United States.
History: In December, 2006, Ismael Ahmed, Somali leader in Lewiston and at that time a Cultural Skills Trainer for Catholic Charities Maine, gave the opening address at the Maine Neighborhoods: Building Strong Communities Conference, organized and presented by Munjoy Hill Resident Christina Feller, leader of the civic group the League of Maine Neighborhoods, on the topic of establishing immigrant self-help groups or mutual aid associations.
Simultaneously, Ms. Feller was working with leaders of the Banyamulenge Tribal community of Portland, to establish a nonprofit organization to support the Community’s successful acculturation to American ways. The three groups joined forces and established Living With Peace as a nonprofit corporation in Maine in March of 2007 with a mission to strengthen the capacity of immigrants to acculturate to life in Portland and Lewiston, Maine. Shortly thereafter, Living With Peace received fiscal sponsorships approvals from Catholic Charities Maine, Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC) and the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization.
We actively partner with both neighborhood-based groups, churches and other nonprofits to
1) provide emergency services, such as cell phones, heaters, clothes, special food, and transportation, to
2) provide basic care: help finding housing, getting furniture and home goods; moving; arranging for telephone service, Internet hookups: tending clients when they are sick, getting medicine , taking them to the hospital for appointments; finding clothes appropriate for Maine weather, and
3) provide acculturation training, skills building, coaching and mentoring to improve their prospects for future economic and social success in America.
LWP seeks to move beyond humanitarianism by empowering African immigrants to improve their own quality of life through dialog, instruction, and one-on-one coaching with the LWP partners.
Because LWP was founded by members of the immigrant community, we are intimately aware of the particular stresses they face and the need for targeted assistance. We will continue to offer our assistance until there is a critical mass of at least 100 trained and organized African immigrants who can mentor and train others. We are not caseworkers—we are partners.
The significance of this approach is two-fold: by coaching, mentoring, training and teaching small groups of immigrants and individuals, we build trust and mutual respect, which encourages others to approach us for help.
By offering instruction in a wide array of topics relating to life in America, we are able to lessen the feelings of being overwhelmed and bring a sense of accomplishment to them, however small. We are currently teaching English language, diction, and composition, helping prepare resumes and cover letters, and most importantly, we are offering useful techniques to acculturate to American ways and advance their plans for success. In 2007 and 2008, we worked with more than 150 African immigrants providing emergency assistance, basic care or advanced training. We intend to expand the topics of training to include developing peer-support networks, resolving conflicts, and tactics for engaging in local civic life. At the same time, we are publishing An Immigrant’s Guide to Portland, Maine which encapsulates the training and guidance into an easily-read and understandable manual for navigating life in Maine.
Members of LWP feel strongly that the most effective approach is to use local resources to bolster the newcomers’ ability to successfully meet their challenges.The purpose of the organization is to build capacity in specific immigrant communities to meet the challenges they face every day by learning coping skills and planning techniques.
Most immigrants prefer to wean off government handouts and stand on their own. Because LWP professionals and volunteers are locally based, they are focused on helping the immigrant community meet the unique challenges within the context of the Maine environment and the Maine economy.
One valuable source of local expertise and leadership is our neighborhood associations; another is our small business community, and yet another is our nonprofit community. Speakers and trainers come directly from these sources—we do not believe there is any need to seek expertise outside the state of Maine, when what we face are uniquely local challenges.
Living with Peace
Board Members
Christina Feller, founder and president, has three passions—entreprenuership, immigrants, and traveling so it is no wonder that as a nonprofit consultant, she helped establish dozens of women’s business associations in cities across Russia in the mid-nineties. As Board Chair of the International Network for Enterprise and Trade, she was instrumental in establishing more than two dozen English language business libraries across Poland, Germany and Russia in the early nineties. She graduated from Wells College, Harvard Business School, and George Mason University.
Roger Ruganzu, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His family and his tribal community fled to Rwanda because of the civil war, where he went to high school and university. He graduated from law school at the University of Kilgali in Rwanda. He came to Maine in 2006. He was married on April 11, 2009 to Solange Musgeni who came from Rwanda just two months ago and they had not seen each other for some five years.
Sergine Gakwaya went to university with both Roger and Aimee at the University of Kilgali in Rwanda. Sergine is currently enrolled in the Conflict Resolution master’s program at Brandeis University. Her thesis has recently been accepted—immigrant acculturation in Maine! She will be spending the summer in Portland working on her project.
Adelaide Manirakiza is a widow and President of the Association of Widows and Orphans of Murdered Army Personnel. She came to Portland a little more than one year ago. Her application for asylum was approved and now she is waiting for the arrival of her four daughters from Bujumbura, Burundi, where they have been living by themselves in constant fear.
Aimee Umutoni is a mother of three small children, wife, minister, full time employee of a major local firm, full time graduate student and a leader of her community of people from DRCongo. Aimee’s mother-in-law lives with her as well as two cousins so that the children are always well card for by many hands as is the African tradition! Aimee fled from DR Congo with her family after the civil war. Her college studies in Kilgali were suspended when she fled the country for the United States.
The Maine African Film Festival
Bringing Africa to Life in Portland
By Christina Feller, published in the June 2009 Munjoy Hill Observer newspaper, Portland, Maine
During one week in mid-April, many Portlanders enjoyed the rich opportunity to experience films from across the African continent. Organized by Kazeem Adesina Lawal, the Maine African Film Festival (TMAFF.org) offered up more than 25 films forming a memorable celebration of the rich and textured cultures and peoples of Africa. Screenings were held at the Nickelodeon Theater, at the Children’s Museum of Maine, at Piper Shores, a continuum of care community, and at the Cumberland County jail.
I had the chance to sit down with Kazeem and ask him about the Festival. My first questions were, “why this festival and why Kazeem?”
“I have an inherited passion for films,” Kazeem replied. “The power of film, I believe, comes from the fact that it is the best medium available to give a very good snapshot of different cultures, through fiction or non-fiction.”
Kazeem goes on to say, “I feel strongly that this is my job to bring these films to this new community I am gradually embracing. This is what I hope would be the beginning of a unique way of bridging the gap between Africa and the United States-—bringing out a new, heightened sense of compassion, empathy and love for each other, reminding us that we are all one.”
Q. Which films were most popular?
Kazeem: There are a few films that stood out to me : This is my Africa, Shoot the Messenger, Awaiting For Men. Heartlines, and Sweet Crude.
This is My Africa
Mainly due to the positive nature of the film, the views of Africans in the Diaspora about Africa as a whole and the feel-good nature of the film come through. So I feel people were relieved to see a film that made them feel good instead of sad about conditions;
Shoot The Messenger
I think the universality of the film is its strength; we are shown challenges within the school system, black culture, media, self-examination, etc. We screened this film at the Cumberland County Jail as well, and got a very strong and positive response to the film. I think they particularly related to the film in terms of the hard relationship that exists between male high school students and their teachers who truly care, and the misconceptions about this kind of relationship. Often students get the impression that the “teacher is just mean”, not knowing the teacher really cares and sees beyond their short-sighted lens.
Awaiting For Men
This is a film about a selected group of women from Mauritania. I think the audience connected with the women because they remind them of people they know, and again, even though the story takes place in a rural part of an African country, with strong cultural and religious ties, these women still show their independence, dreams, and need for love.
Heartlines
A South African Film about second chance in life; about a man caught up in a life of crime, who imprisoned and released, and his subsequent struggle to reconnect with society on honest terms; finding the right path and trying to avoid old patterns. Of course we also screened this film at the Penitentiary—they loved it, particularly seeing what crime and prison look like in Africa (I think they were happy that they were not there.)
Sweet Crude
The audience loved this one because it presents the other side of the story as it relates to the oil workers in the Niger Delta, kidnapped and indentured, and the impact of the industry on the environment and the community in this region as a whole (and, by the way, some of that oil comes here to Maine too.)
Q. What was your goal in organizing this?
Kazeem: The main goal was to bring the community together so Americans can see Africa in a different light. And when I say bringing the community together, I mean all of us—kids (children’s museum and theater), young people and adults (Nickelodeon), people locked up (Cumberland County Jail) and seniors (Piper Shores). We want to make sure we entertain, but also that we touch on those important issues—oil, immigration, fistula, lack of education, etc. We touched on photography, lecture, films, panel discussions and closing party with vintage African funk and disco—everything brought massive turnouts and very positive feedback.
I want to direct special attention to the artwork of Dr. Fayemi, whose photographs graced The Language Exchange on opening night. Dr. Fayemi has indicated that he will be returning to Portland for an exhibit at a later time.
Q. Will you do this again?
Kazeem: Absolutely, if I am still breathing. Especially with the success of this first one and the solid relationships that have been made.
Q. Do you still need to raise money? Is there a 501c3 to which readers can send money?
Kazeem: Yes, we still need money to pay off all of our bills. Please send your donations to P.O.Box 10852, Portland, ME 04104 attn. Kazeem Lawal. Checks should be made payable to the Portland Public Library and state Maine African Film Festival (MAFF) in the memo line.
Q. We have a burgeoning African population here in Maine. Do you see any type of cultural renaissance going on?
Kazeem: This is a very hard topic to talk about for a couple of reasons. First, my roots are from the western part of Africa in Nigeria, while most of the Africans here are from East and Central Africa. Second, what a lot of people don’t understand is, on different levels, Africans are very different from one another. Not just within each country, but regions also. Folks from Northern Nigeria along the Sahara Desert are very similar to those from east Africa - Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad. While down the coast of Nigeria, folks from this area are very similar to folks from coastal regions of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, and Senegal. So considering the type of Africans here, I cannot really speak to all of the different cultures.
Q. Tell us about your organization.
TMAAF is a 501(c)(3) organization. We feel we have something unique and special here with events to come under the Festival umbrella—art exhibits, lectures, concerts, parties, food, dance, theater, and of course FILMS. So we look forward to continued support from the entire community of Portland and beyond. The Festival is here to stay, and will become part of the key events of Maine.
Finally, I want to thank everyone that came to support us and special thanks to our sponsors - Maine Arts Commission, Maine Humanities Commission, Coffee By Design, Maine Community Foundation, The Language Exchange, and a very special thank you to my organizing partners, Merritt Carey and Jacob Roberson, and to our volunteers Ilhan Ali and Alexander Teas. I would like to hear from people about their experience seeing the films this year, and their ideas for next year.Kazeem can be reached at lawal1@yahoo.com.
A Sampling of Films from the Festival
Come Back to Sudan
The last time Lado Jurkin, Mabior Mayom, and Deng Dau saw their home and families was when they were eight years old. Flash forward 18 years. Accompanied by their adoptive Colorado mother, Jean Wood, the three undertake an extraordinary journey back home to their villages in war-torn Sudan. Daniel Junge & Patti Bonnet, Sudan/USA, 29 min.
Awaiting for Men
In the haven of Oualata, a red city on the far edge of the Sahara desert, three women practice traditional painting by decorating the walls of the city. In a society apparently dominated by tradition, religion and men, these women unabashedly express themselves freely, discussing the relationship between men and women. Katy Léna N’diaye, Senegal/Mauritania/Belgium, 2007.
Sweet Crude
Sweet Crude is the story of Nigeria’s Niger Delta—a story that’s never been captured in a feature-length film. Beginning with the filmmaker’s initial trip to document the building of a library in a remote village, Sweet Crude is a journey of multi-layered revelation and ever-deepening questions. Sandy Cioffi, U.S.A/Nigeria 2008, In English.
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