Blog 4

Working on this project was a beautiful experience. Having the opportunity to work with so many

people and to hear their stories and then share their stories with them is a once in a life time experience.

Having to talk to these people I learned so many things and how to always cherish life, and to always

be grateful of the opportunities we have provided to us. While our ensemble was performing, I was so

moved by the audience interaction I almost cried. I never realized how life threatening many situations

actually are and hoe many people are still faced with these struggles. For me to place myself in the life

of someone else and to simply listen to their story is the best feeling. Its one thing to see genocide or

war on television and it is another thing to witness with people who have survived and have such hope

in their eyes and a smile on their faces. Working with catholic charities was an amazing experience and

having the ability to perform a play in honor of the survivors was remarkable. The completed work

from the ensemble was great and the stories fit together. I loved the ability to engage in someone else's

live other than mine and truly an experience.

Blog 3

While doing research I noted important information that pertain to immigration. For starters, immigration and the naturalization process are very similar. Although there are minor changes in the naturalization process, for instance the time frame for obtaining residency has dropped from 2 years to 6 months from the early 1800s to the present. Immigrants are those aliens who have been admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents. They may remain in the country permanently, unless they commit an act that would lead to deportation. Immigration laws in the United States are used to control how non-citizens come in and out of the United States. In 2001 USA Patriot Act amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activities to include an alien who: (1) is a representative of a political, social, or similar group whose political endorsement of terrorist acts undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts; (2) has used a position of prominence to endorse terrorist activity, or to persuade others to support such activity in a way that undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts (or the child or spouse of such an alien under specified circumstances); or (3) has been associated with a terrorist organization and intends to engage in threatening activities while in the United States.

Blog number 2.

         For catholic charities I was very excited to be a part of the meeting and the assignment. I loved the idea of the circle we sat in, in the beginning of the group meeting. My experience was very eye opening and pleasant. I loved the different stories and listening to the lives of others. I was very intrigued by the strength of the people in the room and how they were able to leave their homes and for some their loved ones, and venture out into this world of the unknown. These people are engulf with such determination and hope that they are leaving a places they have known all their lives and simply travel to another place in the hopes of a better life. I am venturing towards working with women in this refugee center. I want to know more about their lives and what made them decide to come to America. Since many of them are care takers I want know what it's like either leaving their families or bringing their families to this new place. I think our first meeting was a great start! I'm excited to be a part of this experience. I know it will be difficult and their might be some language barriers but I believe it is what makes the journey so pleasant.

blog one

Tamara Kamara

Ensemble

Steiger

Blog One

By name is Tamara Kamara, I am a double major in Theatre Arts and in French at the University of Louisville. I am African. I was born in Sierra Leone west Africa and came to America when i was eight years old. Sierra Leone was colonized by Europeans making our national language English and our official language Krio.Sierra Leone's government is a constitutional democracy. As I never lived with my parents I do not know everything about my heritage or my immediate families culture, but growing up in an African household i know a lot about my family and my home. My parents are from two different tribes in Africa, generally tribes do not get along or marry outside their tribes. I left Sierra Leone when I was four years old due to the blood diamond war. I moved to Guinea for a year and then moved to Senegal where I stayed until i was eight years old. Life in America is very different from life in Africa but culturally, it is still the same. I grew up muslim and remember going to the mosque every friday and celebrating ramadan. I still eat the food and remember the big celebratory meals we had during gatherings and celebrations. 

My Visits at Catholic Charities

What happened at my first visit to Catholic Charities?  On my first visit to Catholic Charities, it looked like a church or old school house on the outside, but when I entered, it was filled with energy.  Classrooms, libraries, a very large gym, and the artwork are displayed on bulletin boards.  Each art piece explains the country’s traditions in greeting the host of a party.  In America, someone may bring a housewarming gift, wine, favorite food dishes for a condolence gift, and most of the time nothing at all.  Many countries, you greet the party host with gifts always: clothing, food, or money.  One of my friends is from Palestine.  On my birthday, I didn’t realize that he had spread the word about it; so when I arrived at work, everyone celebrated my birthday with food and took me out for an early morning breakfast at the Waffle House.  He came to my house and gave me a painting and large fruit basket.  He said, “In my country, we give fruit for prosperity and blessing.”  I loved seeing how these unknown cultures are so very gracious.  It makes me wonder about how easily it is to offend someone or appear rude from not bring a gift.

    

On my first day, I started my initial interview with a gentleman from Somalia and I laughed the entire interview.  He shared about his 3-day wedding, four kids, and the tribes sharing stories about their ancestry.  He gave limited information about the civil war conflict that brought his family to safety in Uganda Refugee Camp.  Now he is the first one in his family here in America, but his goal is for his wife, kids, and mom to join him very soon.  Speaking to this gentleman, it inspired me about his determination for acquiring fluency in the English language and having everything prepared for his family.  On a later date, I began my second interview with a grandfather who decided to bring his entire family to America: wife, children, and grandchildren and he accomplished his dream.  Everyone came from the Kenya Refugee Camps.  He shared this about courtship: “In Africa, there is no boyfriend and girlfriends.  It is only husband and wife.  Boyfriend and friends are taboo.  In America, she has a boyfriend; he has a girlfriend.  I ask them tomorrow and now no boyfriend.  Where is he?  Gone, boyfriends and girlfriends are no good.  You need a husband and a wife."  Then my final interview surprised me the most with a Cuban gentleman. We were in two circle groups speaking about families, food, singing, and culture.  As soon as I mentioned about my grandfather is from Cuba, all the Cuban men started conversations with me.  One said, “I see a little Cuban in you, so-so.”  The other gentleman started asking me questions in Spanish.  My professor Amy Steigler needed me to translate the word “stories” for him.  In Spanish, I asked him, "Please tell us about your family?"  I continued speaking to him in Spanish, and he answered me in English.  We are a great pair for helping each other learn new languages.  The gentleman’s family has eight doctors, nurses, and medical professions.  He brought his son and sister to America.  His occupation is welding earning $25.00 an hour.  I did not consider refugees from prosperous families in Cuba.  I really enjoyed talking to all of them. 

I realized how much we are alike and connected in some shape or form.  I experienced  a new community growing at Catholic Charities.  It is that same community helping them progress in their families, careers, colleges, and homes.  We have a common thread in our body language, sounds, or humor; across cultures, we understand one another.  We are learning to celebrate one another. 

The conection of Rejection and shared heitage

In the book Red, White, Blue, by Alain Mabanckou,
the characters in the African village struggle to fight against their heritage and become the people that once held them captive, the French. Similarly, i find a pattern amongst countries that share heritage in the Latin world. I find it interesting that all of the countries that bar the entrance of refuges from Cuba are in fact, like Cuba, Spanish speaking countries, whereas countries within Central America that allow the entrance of refugees into their country are Portuguese speaking countries. this patterns in my opinion repeats itself to much to be a mere coincidence. Some points from my research that may be interesting to consider.

•  
  " In 1807, as Napoleon's army closed in on Lisbon, the Prince Regent João VI of Portugal transferred his court to Brazil and established Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the Portuguese Empire. In 1815, Brazil was declared a Kingdom and the Kingdom of Portugal was united with it, forming a pluricontinental State, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
  As a result of the change in its status and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, Brazilian administrative, civic, economical, military, educational, and scientific apparatus were expanded and highly modernized. Portuguese and their allied British troops fought against the French Invasion of Portugal and by 1815 the situation in Europe had cooled down sufficiently that João VI would have been able to return safely to Lisbon. However, the King of Portugal remained in Brazil until the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which started in Porto, demanded his return to Lisbon in 1821.
  Thus he returned to Portugal but left his son Pedro in charge of Brazil. When the Portuguese Government attempted the following year to return the Kingdom of Brazil to subordinate status, his son Pedro, with the overwhelming support of the Brazilian elites, declared Brazil's independence from Portugal. Cisplatina (today's sovereign state of Uruguay), in the south, was one of the last additions to the territory of Brazil under Portuguese rule." (James Maxwell Anderson (2000), p.129) This could explain the economic success of the surrounding Portuguese speaking countries of Latin America and the struggles of Spanish speaking countries, which would turn to Communism as a way to get out of destitution.
   
•  Nationalism is often connect to Communism and sometimes Anti American due to America's history of sociol political and economic influences ( David Fernbach, "Introduction" to Karl Marx, The Revolutions of 1848. New York: Random House, 1973; pg. 23.)
• " After World War II, communism began to make significant advances among the intellectuals, some of whom saw it as the best means of modernization and also of gaining independence from the U.S. This was especially true of projects for agrarian reform to help improve the life of masses of poor and landless peasants. When the Cold War began, the combination of communism with the drive for reform was often seen by Washington as a threat of Soviet influence, which the United States aimed to keep out of its "backyard." Thus, the communist-supported government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (1913-1971) in Guatemala was overthrown with CIA support in 1954. Nonetheless, Fidel Castro (b. 1926) came to power in Cuba in January 1959, when the Eisenhower administration withdrew its support from the right-wing Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista. (1901-1973) Castro then proceeded to establish the first communist government in the area and this led to a drastic change of U.S. policy toward him. Similar developments took place twenty years later in Nicaragua, where the United States helped the Sandinistas come to power in 1979, but turned against them when they adopted policies seen as hostile to the U.S." (N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.)
•  Beginning in 1967, the Cuban General Intelligence Directorate, or DGI, had begun to establish ties with various Nicaraguan revolutionary organizations. By 1970 the DGI had managed to train hundreds of Sandinista guerrilla leaders and had vast influence over the organization. After the successful ousting of Somoza, DGI involvement in the new Sandinista government expanded rapidly. An early indication of the central role that the DGI would play in the Cuban-Nicaraguan relationship is a meeting in Havana on July 27, 1979, at which diplomatic ties between the two countries were re-established after more than 25 years. Julián López Díaz, a prominent DGI agent, was named Ambassador to Nicaragua. Cuban military and DGI advisors, initially brought in during the Sandinista insurgency, would swell to over 2,500 and operated at all levels of the new Nicaraguan government.
  The Cubans would like to have helped more in the development of Nicaragua towards socialism. Following the US invasion of Grenada, countries previously looking for support from Cuba saw that the United States was likely to take violent action to discourage this.(
  
  "Cuba." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.)

Puerto Rico Day at the University of Louisville

I really enjoyed the Puerto Rican Poetry from Pedro Pietri “The Puerto Rican Obituary” and the “Spanglish National Anthem(1993).”  I thought it was very funny and powerful dealing with issues concerning: immigration, refugees, asylees, and illegals in the United States.   To me, it is about the difference between the Ideal of America and the reality in America.  The Ideal of America is the streets are paved with gold; everyone is rich, equal opportunity everywhere, no struggle, no pain, salvation, and America the Savior.  The reality of America is cement roads, 2% of Americans are rich, a large poor class, starving children, opportunity awaits, institutionalized discrimination may block access, and the challenging journey living in America.   The journey is well-worth the challenge. The poems explain how new immigrants have collapsed into the reality in America and many have committed suicide, or died attempting to overcome all those obstacles.  On March 28, we celebrate Puerto Rican Day at the University of Louisville with the Puerto Rico Flags and marching throughout the Belknap Campus shouting:  “Viva en Puerto Rico” (Live in Puerto Rico). 

                In my Spanish Class, I discussed our work in Louisville Intercultural Engaged Project and the difficult journey in assimilation in American Culture.  A classmate asked, “Just how hard is it to come to America?”  I heard classmates talking about the long list for VISAs.  The fact is the journey to America isn’t very easy, because you must qualify for immigration, refugee, or asylees status.   You may enter the country illegally, but thousands have died crossing through the deserts in Texas.  Basically they are not prepared for the scorching heat, dehydration, inadequate clothing, and walking miles to the nearest town.  Many make it and that’s why people attempt it every year.   Many families in civil war infested countries are placed in refugee camps for years waiting for access to the United States.  In the Louisville Intercultural Engaged Theatre Project, our community based arts class work with refugees from Africa, Iraq, Thailand, Cuba, and much more.  I interviewed an individual who has lived in the United States for 5 months, but his family has been living in a Kenya Refugee Camp for the last seven years.  America’s Immigration System is a preferential selection system for family members of the United States Citizens, foreign US Employees, needed work skills, individuals who have the wealth to start businesses and employ US Citizens, and a few other categories.  According to the United States Homeland Security 2012 Report, the Annual Flow Report:  U. S. Legal Permanent Residents 2012:

1,031,631 persons became a Legal Permanent Resident,

226,000 to 480,000 for Family Sponsored Preference,

140,000 for employment based preference plus any unused visas in the family sponsored preferences, 76,000 refugees and asylees combined,

and 3,500 for diversity immigrants visa program                                                                                                                 (Yankay and Monger 1)

Answering that classmate’s question, it is not easy to legally enter the United States.  It makes me question: What can be done to help facilitate new immigrants?  What can be done for giving them more assistance?  What can be done to speed up the Refugee Process?  How can we open our doors to allow countries access to the United States Immigration System?  The Puerto Rican Day March was empowering walking throughout campus and feeling fatigue from the heavy bookbag on my back. The fatigue doesn't compare to long journey many have taken for arriving at our shores.  I am grateful for this opportunity to learn about hispanic cultures and activism. I looking forward to participate in so much more.  If you would like to check out the full article on the statistics, it may be accessed at:  “Annual Flow Report 2013: U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2012.”  Office of Immigration Statistics at the United States Homeland Security @March 2013  written by Randall Monger and James Yankay.