ANALYSIS OF REFUGEES PAGE 3

Thoughts and Analysis of Refugees’ Actions in a Learning Environment

Sarah Knox

Running head: ANALYSIS OF REFUGEES PAGE 1

University of Kentucky

Abstract

Kentucky Refugee Ministries was selected by the State Department to help refugees acclimate to their new environments and culture in the U.S and to aid in habitation of Lexington, Kentucky. Refugees meet with their case workers to ease them into a normal life, complete with jobs, health insurance, and a home. In addition, the refugees are required to attend cultural orientation meetings with different foci each week. The actions of the refugees at these meetings are peculiar and I will recount what I have observed and analyze what the reasons behind the action (or inaction) may be. The pervading theme is how the arrangement of the interpreters and refugees may affect their participation and attention during the course.

Keywords: refugee, externally displaced persons, culture shock, language barriers

Thoughts and Analysis of Refugees’ Actions in a Learning Environment

Refugees by definition must have crossed a border to flee from religious, personal, or other threats. The average time spent in a camp before a refugee is relocated is between ten to fifteen years; less than one percent of refugees ever leave the camps and relocate. Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) receives around six hundred refugees every year, the majority from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. KRM provides programs to help the refugees adjust to a new life in America; each family is assigned a case worker to help them with housing, jobs, and other needs.

One of the programs offered is Cultural Orientation; there is one class a week with the class themes rotating every eight weeks. The classes vary, from how to use the library to healthcare to banking; refugees must attend all eight classes before receiving their certificate of completion. After observing the classes, one notices a pattern: all the refugees sit at tables with their interpreters, but all of the tables are set up in multiple T formations, so that the refugees do not intermingle but are only exposed to the people that speak their language. The arrangement of the tables may facilitate learning, but does not expose the refugees to the other cultures; America is very much a melting pot with all cultures intermingling, but this is not the first thing that the refugees are experiencing. The formation of the refugees indicates that they are sitting in their comfort zone which hinders participation and doesn't fully allow them to experience or tolerate other cultures, like we have learned to do in America.

Upon arriving at North Arlington Church, where the ministry is housed, it is clear that it is in one of the poorer parts of town; the carpet is a worn and dated evergreen, the white paint chipping near the base and ceiling. Cultural orientation meetings are held in the basement of the establishment. It is a musty room that has probably experienced its fair share of floods, as evidenced by the drains in various places on the floor and the dank smell that hits you as you arrive at the landing of the stairs. Perhaps the artificial light and outdated furnishings lend to the somber and subdued attitudes the refugees adopt when they arrive (usually rather late) to the class. They come in small groups, the biggest group arriving with the bus, and take their seats at the top of the T formed groups of tables (see Figure 1). They sit with their translators and make small talk before the presentations begin; most look bored, as if they would rather be almost anywhere else. The mood only lightens when they speak their native languages, which they probably don’t hear much of unless they are home.

Figure 1. Groups sitting at tables according to language

As soon as the presentation begins, though, they become disengaged; the translators ensure that they are understanding all of the information, but when asked to participate, it remains silent. It may be that the fear of being wrong stops them from responding to “Where would you go to treat a cold?”, or “ Is it illegal to steal from someone else?” It is possible that the separation from the other groups leads to this fear; if one is sitting with a group of people you know, wouldn't one be more wary of answering incorrectly when one knows the person who would judge them? Not only do they not answer questions, they also do not ask many questions through their interpreters despite most of the refugees having a limited knowledge of the English language. The refugees are also new to the U.S.: all of them have been here for around eight months, some have been here longer and some a lot less. They come from regions not as diverse as ours and would benefit from learning about the other cultures and conversing with the other ethnic groups. It is possible that the groups feel constrained by a norm: the permanent arrangement of the tables, and the unbroken silence. It may also be a fear of the new culture that is being thrust upon them; daily life in America would be very different from daily life in Nepal or a refugee camp. Another behavior that was observed is the reoccurring tardiness of specific ethnic groups: though the cultural orientation class is taught from 9 am until 10 am, there is always a trickle of people entering the class after it starts; some have even arrived with less than fifteen minutes left of the presentation. This speaks of the value of time in other cultures: in America, time is money, but elsewhere, it is more relaxed; if you show up late, it’s not a big deal.

When you think of refugees, most people will focus on their past: what awful things they must have seen, the horrible journeys they must have had to reach help, the state of their home countries, and the like. Kentucky Refugee Ministries, however, focuses on how to help the refugees start a new life in a new country without any contacts and with only the money that the government gives them in their pockets. While the refugees may not get a “melting pot” experience during their cultural orientation, they will likely stay in the United States long enough to realize how diverse our country really is. They will get jobs and explore Lexington to find a niche where they feel at home, and hopefully, the refugees will leave their comfort zones, even for a short time, so that they may participate in and experience all of the culture that our city holds. While the tables may not be conducive to participation and may not expose them to the differences of people around the world, it is helpful for them to learn with people that come from their home country so that they might not feel so alone in this culturally shocking society.