Revising my “Cultural Orientation” in
the US
Two Years ago, February 25,
2014, the first thought that came to my mind when I landed at JFK, New York,
was a line from a movie entitled “Gangs of New York.” The Star, Leonardo DiCaprio, was “cordially”
received by a New Yorker. Picking him out among the influx of Irish immigrants
featured in the movie, he said to him, “Welcome to America, son! Your long,
arduous journey is over.” As I was terribly jet-lagged alongside my family from
a flight that originated 7,057 miles away from Uganda; and since we arrived in
New York with other fellow refugees to be resettled in various States in
America, it was perfectly logical, I guess, for that line to pop into my head.
After what seemed to be another endless
procedure of finger printing and iris scan, all of us refugees got separated to
our respective destination. Ours was to Dallas, Texas and we arrived on the wee
hours, the next day. Thus, we began the long journey of finding a “durable
solution” in the US against the backdrop of seven years as refugees in Uganda.
We fled from our country, Ethiopia in 2007.
To expedite our integration in the melting pot, we were given intensive
“cultural orientation” before we arrived. At the outset of the orientation, we
were given some quiz to test our knowledge of the American way of life. Then,
we delved into the three days orientation wherein the following points were
emphasized to us.
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| Being seen off by friends at Entebbe International Airport, Uganda, Feb. 24, 2014 |
1. The importance of learning English
language, lest one should get stuck in “entry level” jobs.
2. The importance of finding whatever
jobs as soon as possible because Americans don’t look kindly on people who take
advantage of their “welfare” system.
3. The importance of hygiene such as
bathing, applying deodorant, teeth brushing. And the use of sanitary pads to
women.
4. The importance of shopping wisely,
being economical, buying from thrift shops, etc.
5. The importance of tolerance since you would be
living in a culturally diverse and multi-ethnic neighborhood anywhere in the
USA.
6. The importance of being friendly at
work during break time since Americans are gregarious who love to have a chat
about sports, culture and the like.
7. The importance of avoiding political
discussion at work places.
8. The importance of keeping doctor’s
appointments, being punctual at community clinics.
The session was interactive and we were lucky to have a trainer who did
her level best to answer all of our questions. Unfortunately, it didn’t take
long for us to find out that there are serious gaps between the “cultural
orientation” and the reality we faced here. It’s impossible to go into detail, though, and
show the gaps point by point. For the moment, therefore, I would confine myself
to two points.
A. During the orientation, we were promised that
at some stage of our resettlement, the agency who gave us the orientation would
check upon us by paying a visit to find out what challenges we faced; whether
the tips given to us during the orientation helped in our smooth resettlement.
To date, I know of no refugee to whom such a follow up, as promised, made to
him or her.
B. Although, it is impossible to address
all the challenges refugees might face while resettling in the US, in light of
the health challenges most refugees face due to a change in life style, the
cultural orientation is severely inadequate.
Since most refugees get resettled from poorer regions such as
Africa to the richer United States where the difference could be stark between
having little food and having plenty of junk food, no word is mentioned as to
the possible impacts this might have on refugees’ health. Given the
thoroughness of the cultural orientation on other spheres of life; and given
the availability of literature, albeit scattered, on how refugees with little
history of blood pressure and diabetes succumb to these health problems after
resettlement, one finds this oversight in the cultural orientation
inexplicable.
The research
conducted by an anthropologist, Carrie Perkins, on Burmese refugees “dietary
adjustment” after resettling in the Dallas, Fort Worth area can serve as a
powerful pointer, among others, to revamp the “cultural orientation.” Since
the orientation cannot escape from being criticized as “patronizing” in some
areas, it ought to have gone on extra mile by reminding refugees on the
importance of physical exercise, lest they add on the already unflattering
statistics on obesity in America.
Although, most
refugees start out life with “entry level jobs” that may involve some degree of
physical exercise, compared to the physical exertion they were facing due to
the rampant infrastructural problem in the third world, their life as blue
collar here could be equated as sedentary. There is hardly a job here that
involves walking long distance; or loading and unloading heavy goods with no
machine, etc. From this too, one can infer the stark difference as well as its
impact on health just like the food they eat here as opposed to the one they
were accustomed before.
Research Associate, Hunt Institute for
Engineering and Humanity at Lyle School of Engineering, SMU
Email: khahmed@smu.edu
Twitter: @Hussainkiflu
Ignoring Opportunistic Politicians and Focusing on Neighbors
On January 28 and 29, 2016, I
attended an Anthropology Graduate Student Symposium at Southern Methodist
University. Dr. David Haines, a renowned forced migration scholar delivered a
keynote lecture entitled “Remembering Refugees.” The Symposium was sponsored by
the Department of Anthropology and the Embrey Humans Rights Program. Dr. Haines
outlined the dichotomous history of the United States as a “Land of Refuge” and
a “Land of Refusal.” Illustrating “much of the initial migration to the North
American English colonies by refugees fleeing oppression and persecution,” he
expounded on the irony of how the Colonists before the founding of the United
States “turned against those who were seeking what the Colonists themselves had
sought: a refuge and an opportunity to build anew.”
Having highlighted the “welcoming and
exclusionary responses” extended to these earliest refugees such as the Irish
and German immigrants as well as the “unwillingness to aid Jewish refugees,”
he, then, segued to the current Syrian refugee crisis and how United States can
benefit from the positive lessons of its experience with refugees.
On January 29, the graduate students, Shay
Cannedy, Katherine Fox, Sara Mosher, Ashvina Patel, and Carrie Perkins
presented their case studies of refugees from around the world. Case studies of
Congolese refugees in Ireland who is expected to show certain “emotion” to earn
pity from an official determining their eligibility for asylum; the study on
LGBTI asylum seekers; the study on US resettlement system that expects a
refugee to stand on his own within three months of arrival from an entirely
different world; the study on India, the biggest “democracy” in the world
hosting refugees by default without having a formal refugee regime; the
observation this study has made on the various treatment of refugees from
Myanmar and Sri Lanka on geopolitical grounds; and the study on how refugees
lives are suspended in limbo with little prospect of integration or
resettlement to a third country; and the way this study showed how the
principle of “non-refoulment” is systematically abused through forcible
repatriation, were all studies that resonated with me, because;
A. I was advised by fellow refugees not
to state the fact of my arrival through the airport in my first country of
asylum, Uganda. Refugees applying for asylum are considered to be those sorry
lot who made it after trekking across a difficult terrain. Indeed, when I
applied for asylum, the clerk accustomed to hearing heart rending stories of
difficult journeys of asylum seekers questioned the seriousness of my asylum
application. When I refreshed his memory from his own country’s history of
notable Ugandan officials who applied for asylum in UK during Idi Amin's regime
after arriving by plane with diplomatic passports, he relented and referred my
case to the next higher officials.
B. I saw firsthand in my own country,
Ethiopia, during incarceration, how a fellow inmate suspected to be a
homosexual was brutally tortured by other notorious inmates convicted of murder.
A policeman standing nearby cheered on the brutality. Coincidentally too,
Uganda started the process of passing its infamous bill against LGBTI people
right around the time I started my exile life. I was there when David Kato, LGBTI
people’s rights defender was bludgeoned to death following the publication of
his and other LGBTI people’s photograph by a tabloid that called itself “The
Rolling Stone.” Worse, amidst all these, I read the rejection of a Ugandan
LGBTI asylum seeker’s application by the Home office in UK.
C. I witnessed firsthand the role
geopolitics was playing to the detriment of certain refugees such as Rwandans
who sought asylum in Uganda. Because of the unfathomable love-hate relationship
of Museveni and Kagame rooted partly in ethnicity, to Rwandans seeking asylum
in Uganda makes no difference in a way reminiscent of the Ethiopian saying “You
haven’t escaped but merely turned your back.” Rwandans, on top of being
forcibly repatriated, some of their prominent dissidents were assassinated in
Uganda.
D. I came to America from a
dysfunctional society where speed is considered as vulgarity even in an
emergency and tasted the resettlement system that expects you to adapt in a
fast paced super dynamic society in a couple of months.
But the high point that prompted me to write this is the
powerful testimony given by a Syrian immigrant living in Dallas. Of special
interest is the answer she gave to one of the participant who asked for her
reaction on the “inflammatory” remarks made by Texas governor and the State
Attorney as well as the likes of Donald Trump against Syrian refugees in
America. Her answer which I paraphrase: “Frankly, I don’t listen to them. I
focus on the kindness of my American neighbors.”
Since this
dovetailed with a refugee conference I take part in Idaho under a theme
“Neighbors United,” I gave it some thought. Accordingly, I agree with the
Syrian lady that refugees essentially get refuge within the fellowship and
kindness of ordinary people. However, to underestimate the power of demagogues
turning these same kindly ordinary neighbors against their fellow brothers and
sisters from another unfortunate land is sheer naivety. It happened in history
before in the name of democracy. Therefore, it’s imperative to ensure that
neighbors have clarity of thought between a leader and a demagogue.
Email: khahmed@smu.edu
Twitter: @Hussainkiflu
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