So I just watched this fantastic documentary entitled Home Across Lands. It chronicles the journey of a group of Kunama refugees from Eritrea through the resettlement process in the United States. Let me give you some background.
The Kunama are an ethnic group that make up about three percent of the population of Eritrea, a country north of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. Wars are typically over some small tract of land, and unsurprisingly, the Kunama live on a contested border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. When the practically inevitable war broke out, the Kunama fled south to Ethiopia. The Shimelba Refugee Camp was established and the Kunama, along with other ethnic groups, made their home on a dusty corner of land. They are not allowed to leave the camp to find work and boredom haunts the families sequestered there.
Thankfully, the UN began resettling a small group of Kunama families and individuals in 2007. Home Across Lands tells the story of several families who were resettled in Providence and how the International Institute in Rhode Island works to aid them as they develop a new life and thriving community in the United States. Let me just tell you, we were inspired. Although the mission of International Institute is very different from that of Spero, we love that they have so successfully assisted Kunama families in the resettlement process. They have extensive programs that help the refugees find jobs, learn English, and begin to thrive in their new home. If they had a Facebook, we’d “like” what they do!
Oklahoma City also has a small population of Kunama and we have found their transition to be incredibly difficult. There are only about 200,000 Kunama speakers in the entire world and only 20% of those are literate in their own language. This poses a huge problem for school-age children who have been resettled in the US. Their reading levels are abysmally low. Not only are they trying to understand English, but also the content of their classes. I took a French cinema class in college and I’m not gonna lie, it was rough trying to follow what on earth the prof was talking about. So I can imagine trying to decipher English words and then understand overall content on top of that!
So what do we do about this? Well, I connected some of our tutors with an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor who gave them guidelines on how to best tutor an ELL (English Language Learner) student. This is a great start! We always need more tutors, so if you’re up for it, let us know! We can plug you in with Kunama families in our city or other refugee groups. Or, if you want, you can borrow our copy of Home Across Lands for a small gathering in your home. The film does a great job of explaining the resettlement process in general as well as the experience particular to the Kunama in Rhode Island. This film is an incredible resource! We like it and think you will too!
--Lela Berry, Spero:Voice staff
P.S. Special thanks to All Nations Church for loving the Eritrean community in OKC so well! Your friendship is irreplaceable.
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