By Kristin Ritch and Jasmine Willis
BengalNews Reporters
When 14-year-old Nepali Hemanta Adhikari came to America
three years ago, she was afraid, overwhelmed and didn’t know where to turn to
for help.
She is not alone. Just like her, many other refugees her
age are stepping off a plane into a whole new life and culture.
Like any other teenager, Adhikari was nervous to start high school. She had to start fresh,
make new friends and
prepare for a harder education.
Programs are being formed to help these refugee
teenagers in the West Side adjust to American higher education.
The programs Making a Connection, Education Purpose
Integrity and Courage, and the organization West Side Ministries all work with these refugees’ teens to help them
keep up with Americans their age and adjust to the different lifestyle.
The program Making a Connection is led by Lead Youth Coach,
Mindy Ramey. This program, with help from a $350,000 grant received from New York State, started up Sept. 1 and is
going strong.
Mindy Ramey, on the Making a Connection program:
MAC, located in St. Lawrence Academy on Saint Lawrence Avenue, takes up a room that holds 24 students that represent
nine different countries. The age ranges of these students are unlike American
high school students. These students range anywhere from 16 to 21 years old.
The lessons start at 9 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. The students get five hours
of G.E.D. preparation, vocational training, English language instruction, college preparation and community
orientation training.
“The great part of
it is the freedom, Buffalo Public Schools are not telling them how much time
they can spend on different subjects,” Ramey said. “We have the freedom of
time, the freedom of time is the amazing part of the program.”
Ramey said that none of the teachers are certified
English as a second language (ESL) teachers. They are all just trying to get
these teens up the academic level they need to be at for high school. One of
the exercises at MAC to help these youths enhance their literacy involves
journaling for 20 minutes about anything they want to write about in their own
language. This is meant to teach them flow in writing, and will eventually get
them to translate them into a basic essay.
Another Program geared towards helping these youths is
called EPIC. Education Purpose Integrity and Courage embodies the goals of the
students. Claire Essley, director of education
for Jericho Road Ministries, runs this program.
To check out other refugee programs and opportunities
offered through Jericho Road go to their website, http://www.jrm-buffalo.org/.
This program is different from MAC because the
participating students are not there to prepare for their G.E.D.s and are not there all
day. This is an after school program that helps students adjust to the Buffalo
Public High Schools. It helps them keep up with the American students so they
don’t fall too far behind.
“There are dozens of programs all over the city ranging
from kids that have just stepped off the airplane and are completely shell
shocked, and just helping them get acculturated,” Essley said. “This program is
targeting students who have been in the country for two to five years.”
West Side Ministries has bought many homes on the West
Side to renovate for these programs.
EPIC also teaches these youths creative arts. One example
of that is a mural the students painted on the wall of the living room.
These students have to find their own means of
transportation there and currently there are only four students participating
since the program began in October. The goal is to get at least 12 students
soon.
Adhikari can speak five different languages. She is
learning Burmese right now, and can already speak Hindi, English, Nepali and a
little Spanish. She misses her own country and hopes to go see her family there
soon, but is learning to adjust to Buffalo with a little help from her friends
at EPIC.
“I really like this program, they really help me a lot,”
said Adhikari. “I make new friends and I learn about their society." Edited by Caitlin Waters
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