I have worked at La fondation Orient-Occident for almost two months now.
Early morning walking through the gates at the East- West Foundation
The organization began in 1994 as a way to promote work skills and cultural exchange for displaced persons as well as individuals just wanting to hone in on promotable job skills.
East-West Foundation
Thefoundation is partners with Cross-Cultural Solutions, UNHCR, and Foundation CEAR Habitat afrkica (both refugee organizations). Most of my students are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I am continually surprised and inspired my students. Mostly by there desire and motivation to learn as much as possible. I suppose we don’t really know how much the human sprit can endure until we’re personally faced with adversity. Many of the people in my class have traveled to Morocco to escape war in the Congo. One man told me that he had to leave his family behind over a year ago and has no idea if they are alive today. Another man told me that he had to leave his child behind but he couldn’t finish his story because he said that he would cry if he continued. Another man walked from the D.R.C to Morocco with his brother. His brother died along the way. Their stories are present in the back of my mind, always.
At the beginning of two months I was teaching them phonics. Some of them didn’t know how to say, “Hello how are you.” A week ago we read Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech,” and the understood it all. It was a really emotional to see such staggering progress in such a short amount of time.
Grammar Lesson. This is my shyest student who has totally come out of his shell.
These women are training to become social worker
Something happened today that was really special. Today we shared something about ourselves and the individuals from the D.R.C expressed concern over racism between Moroccan Africans and Sub-Saharan Africans. I have about 4 Moroccans in my class. We all stood in a circle and each person stepped into the center to share their concerns. An older man stepped forward at one point and told the class that he was grateful to God to be here with all his friends, no matter where they came from. He said that everyone was welcome in his country and that he was blessed to learn English among friends. It was clear that he moved everyone. My students were all brought together by this common desire to learn and to be accepted and I got to witness this connection. Although the man’s words might not cure any systemic racism, it was an incredibly special thing to be a part of on a personal, very human level.
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