Food, safety, freedom: Immigrant students in Milwaukee share stories of gratitude

Annysa Johnson | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A bed. A roof. A door that locks.

For Juweriya Hassen, life in Milwaukee — however modest — is one of abundance compared with her years in Ethiopia, where her family fled to escape the civil war in her native Somalia.

There, she says, they lived in a makeshift tent sewn from their own clothes. Food was scarce. They went to bed early each night to stave off the hunger. And her mother stood watch, guarding her sleeping children from the hyenas that lurked nearby.

"Here, it's safe to sleep here and not have to think about anything," said the 17-year-old Pulaski High School student who arrived in Milwaukee with her mother and siblings in 2016. "I have freedom here. I can go anywhere I want. I have everything I need."

Hassen is among 30 first-generation immigrant students from Milwaukee and Madison who will share their stories in a new book and multimedia project to be released next year.

The project is the latest by Green Card Voices, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that showcases the lives and histories of America's newest emigres — in their own words, not those of detractors who hijack their narratives for political purposes.

"In order for the backlash against immigrants to be addressed effectively, we need to share our stories — authentically, honestly and in the first person," said Tea Rozman Clark, one of the founders of Green Card Voices who emigrated from Yugoslavia.

"We also realized that schools didn't have very adequate resources to really teach about present-day migration. Lesson plans about Ellis Island, that address it in a historical perspective, just aren't enough," she said.

Green Card Voices, which has produced similar projects in St. Paul, Minn.; Fargo, N.D.; and Atlanta, is focusing this year on students from Pulaski High School in Milwaukee and James Madison Memorial High in Madison, both of which have significant numbers of immigrant students.

At Pulaski, for example, at least 160 of its 875 students were born outside the United States. Many fled wars or persecution and have refugee status. Most have come from southeast Asia and Africa, often with little or no English language skills and limited education in their own languages.

That's why the project is so meaningful at a school like Pulaski, said the English-as-a- second-language teachers who work with students there.

"For them to be able to write a story and to have it published is a really big deal," said ESL teacher Maryna Contreras.

"And, it's significant for them that someone is interested in them — in their history and their story — because they're used to being marginalized," said her colleague, Ann Crosetto.

Rozman Clark and her crew were in Milwaukee interviewing Pulaski students over two days this month. As part of the project, students sit for a portrait and short video interview with open-ended questions about their lives in their native lands, how they came to the United States, their families, their interests and more.

Their stories are as varied as the worlds they left behind — tales of hardship and perseverance, of trepidation and gratitude, of pining for loved ones left behind or resettled in other countries.

"I like the United States, but I miss my family," said sophomore Shaheed Dhawheed, who grew up in southern India and was sent by his mother to live with his father in Milwaukee so he could get a better education.

Komu Ku, 19, a Karen Christian whose family fled persecution in Myanmar, said they were overwhelmed by the city when they first arrived. But he has since settled into life as an American teenager: school, video games, soccer, church and hanging out with friends.

Gratitude has been a recurring theme of the immigrants' stories for the six years she's been interviewing them, according to Rozman Clark.

"Just the incredible gratitude they feel walking into a store and seeing food they can buy, or having an education that is free," she said. "They have this amazement that is just so profound. It's always so touching to hear."

Over the next few months, the students will expand and fine-tune their biographies — some of which will likely be used as college essays — with help from Pulaski's College Possible advisers. And those will be published alongside their portraits in the book, which will be released in September.

The videos will be edited down to short profiles that will be posted on the Green Card Voices website. All of those pieces will be pulled together for a traveling exhibit that will feature the students, who will be paid for their time. And they'll have opportunities to read excerpts from the book and hone their public speaking skills at local libraries, schools and universities.

"For us, the book is just the beginning," said Rozman Clark. "The real work starts once the book is published."

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