Refugees recently resettled to Providence from countries such as Burundi, Liberia and Somalia face a variety of challenges. "One boy calls his older sister his mother because his parents are both dead," said Leah Harrison '08, founder of a program that links Brown students with refugee children to educate and help acclimate them to life in the United States.
Thirty-four Brown students currently participate in the Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment Program, which assists refugees ranging in age from preschoolers to those in their 20s who "really need some extra support to adjust to society," Harrison said.
During her first year at Brown, Harrison arrived on campus hoping to make a difference in the community. She decided to fulfill her work-study option off campus at the International Institute of Rhode Island, a nonprofit organization that provides help to refugees and immigrants.
Since that time, Harrison has worked with refugees of various ages in the IIRI's refugee resettlement and assistance center, which brings between 150 and 200 refugees to the United States each year. But this year she decided to focus her efforts on creating a program aimed specifically at educating youth.
Sheila Doherty, IIRI's refugee skills development coordinator, said BRYTE started as a small-scale academic tutoring initiative but has blossomed into an "in-home family literacy and acculturation program, where even the preschoolers are involved."
The program pairs refugee children with Brown students whose skills match the children's needs. Harrison said that BRYTE's diverse set of tutors has been beneficial because many speak Swahili or French - the same language as many of the refugees.
"(Brown students) are essentially playing the role of tutor, mentor, parent, social worker and case worker," Doherty said. The variety of roles "is not the role that (the students) were asked to take on. They naturally fell into this role - I think - because they saw a need."
Tutors contribute at least three hours a week to help tutor refugee students. But most tutors go well above the three-hour requirement to enrich the children's lives. Last Sunday, for example, Tara Gonsalves '08 brought three Liberian children to an on-campus concert performed by With One Voice, a coed Christian a cappella group made up of students from Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design. But much of the tutors' time is dedicated to on-campus study sessions or in-home visits to drill the refugee students in subjects like English, science and math.
"The older kids probably need more tutoring than the younger kids do," Gonsalves said. "But at the same time, the younger kids need more attention - like going to sports games and other fun things like that."
Doherty said BRYTE tutors have a powerful impact on the lives of the refugee children. When Brown students arrive, the children "run over and hug them. The parents are clapping. Everyone starts singing because they are just so happy to see these tutors," she said. "From what I've witnessed, the joy is mutual. The satisfaction is mutual, and the gains are mutual."
These types of experiences are important for refugees in the acculturation process, said William Shuey, IIRI's executive director.
"It's a hell of an adjustment for them, frankly," he said. "The cultural shock can be intense for people who have come directly from a refugee camp."
Upon arriving in the United States, many refugees make efforts to fit in, Harrison said. For example, one 20-year-old refugee from Burundi walked down the street bobbing his head while wearing iPod earphones attached only to his empty jacket pocket in an attempt to simulate "being an American kid," she said.
Despite their effort to fit in, some refugee students are still alienated by their peers at school, Harrison said, noting "racial tension" between African, African-American and Hispanic students. Refugee students are also often "harassed or abused (by other kids) when they go home to their neighborhoods," she added.
"It's a real balance between keeping in mind what they have gone through and finding a way to get beyond that and just relate to them as you would anyone else," said Aliza Kreisman '10, who, along with other Brown volunteers, helps tutor a Burundian family of seven children ranging in age from 2 to 16.
"When I'm there with my Brown volunteer partners and we're playing soccer or going to a playground, it's very easy to quickly forget where they've come from and what they've experienced. But certain things frequently happen that bring it sharply back into perspective," Kreisman said.
Kreisman recently helped the Burundian family move into an apartment, and she saw one of the family members, a 14-year-old girl, wearing a T-shirt for the first time. "I saw on her arm the huge, machete-shaped scar," Kreisman said. "That was really startling and disturbing."
Doherty said she believes these experiences are often as educational for the tutors as they are for the students. "Some of the Brown volunteers have traveled extensively," she said. But for others, they are stepping into a new world. They are not leaving Rhode Island, but they are stepping into a new world. When they step into these homes, they are learning a great deal about other cultures as well."
