BengalNews Reporters
Rosa Niag sat at a large rectangular table, surrounded by her fellow students, all refugee women, and pressed a few grey buttons on a calculator.
Niag, who moved to Buffalo seven years ago from Sudan, said taking part in the Financially Fit class that has taught her how to responsibly manage her finances.
“I know how to pay the bills, but sometimes I (would be) late for a full payment, and the (next bill) would be high,” Niag said. “This confused me. I know (now) when you’re late, they’re going to charge you. Now when I get my bill I go to Tops and pay (it). This is a good thing.”Niag is one of several who attend the Arabic session of the program.
“Financially Fit,” a program created by Jericho Road Ministries, is a series of classes that educate refugees on how the financial system works in the United States.
Jericho Road, a non-profit organization, began the program around three years ago in an effort to give refugees an opportunity to live a financially healthy lifestyle.
Each cycle contains eight weeks of classes in which students meet for a few hours, once a week at the Jericho Road building on Barton Street. The program is taught in various languages including Arabic, Burmese, Karen (which is spoken in areas from Burma to Thailand) and Somali. Participants range from age 14 to 65.
The program’s coordinator, Stephanie Lipnicki, said the structure of the class has been very beneficial for students.
“We have a lot of handouts and teach them how to use a calculator,” Lipnicki said. “We actually give them a calculator as a gift for participating in the class. Because of the model we’re using, teaching these classes directly in their language by someone who knows their culture and can build those bridges, they keep wanting to come back.”
Jericho Road also has partnered with nearby community organizations such as The United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, Western New York AmeriCorps and the University at Buffalo Primary Care Research Institute, which provide support in the education effort. The Evans Bank branch on Elmwood Avenue has been working with the Financially Fit program for over a year. Instructors use one of the classes in the cycle to take students to this location to open a checking account.
Assistant Branch Manager Nicole Van Volkenburg said the bank’s partnership with the program is its way of giving back.
"We began working with Jericho Road through our compliance department as a part of our community reinvestment in the city of Buffalo,” Van Volkenburg said.
Each participant in the program gets $10 deposited into his or her checking account for each class session attended, which can total up to $80 if they have perfect attendance, Van Volkenburg said.
Jinan Al-Badran, who moved into the area from Iraq, said the topics the class covers has helped her to understand the various aspects of the U.S. financial system.
“I’ve learned how to go to the bank, save my money, write out checks and also deposit them,” Al-Badran said. “I know how to budget my income and this is good for me.”
As the instructor of the Arabic Financially Fit class, Amira Khalil said even though the program officially ends after the eight weeks are finished, Jericho Roads continues to stay in contact with the refugee students.
“After 6 months, we call them again and meet with them one time and see what the progress has been in the 6 months,” Khalil said. “We see what they’ve been doing and what they’ve learned.”
Both Khalil and Lipnicki said the feedback from the Financially Fit program has been very positive, and the refugee students involved agreed.
“I know how to write a check out now,” Niag said. “So I’m very happy.”
The Financially Fit program at Jericho Road Ministries taught their program to refugees in separate groups based on language. One of the classes that we first attended was the Burmese class. I had never before heard of the Burmese class language or knew what part of the world these refugees had come from. I embarked on a short research journey to grasp an understanding of where the language came from through research conducted with resources such as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html) and the U.S. Department of State (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm). I discovered that the refugees who spoke Burmese were from the country of Burma, a country in Southeast Asia, which borders the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal between the countries of Bangladesh and Thailand. The language is written using a script text and is an accepted first language by 34 million individuals. The formal version of the language is used in publications, broadcasts and formal speeches. An informal style of the language is then used in every day conversations. The instructor of the Jericho Road financial skills class, Tha Hser, included basic English words through her lecture to help the refugees adapt to the learning process.
ReplyDeleteSince attending the class I have explored some simple Burmese greeting phrases (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3McoyGA4SI) to expand my knowledge of a language culture that was previously unknown to me.
--Stacie Duderwick
When I first entered the conference room where the Arab women were seated, speaking among themselves in their native language, I’d notice more than half of the women were wearing vibrant color scarfs over their head.
ReplyDeleteThese scarves in reality are called “hijab.” Hijab in the Arabic language means, to hide from being seen from other people. In the Muslim religion and lifestyle, women are required to wear the hijab because they must cover their faces from men who are not their husbands. Muslim women wear the hijab to show their obedience and devotion for Allah, their God.
By covering their hair and faces they hide their beauty. They are admired in their culture for their intelligence and skills instead of their looks or sexuality. They feel proud of being identified as Muslim women. They also believe that they are being evaluated by Allah and in return Allah will grant them his blessings. The notion of the hijab is displayed in the Qu’ran, their literary foundation that stands as the ultimate word of Allah.
“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things) and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment…” (24:31).
--Stephanie Ortiz
The refugee population on the West Side is rising and so is the cultural diversity. When many women from countries such as Burma, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan move to the United States, an entirely new world is opened to them, especially when it comes to independence.
ReplyDeletePrograms like Financially Fit offer opportunities for women of these cultures to get a jump start on their new life, giving them the freedom to control their own money and teaching them how to budget their income.
Having the choice to leave the house at their own free will, establish careers and essentially be treated with equality are aspects of American life that many refugee women appreciate.
Amira Khalil, the Arabic instructor of the Financially Fit program, said because the rights and views of women in America are much different than some of the refugee cultures moving into the area, programs to help immigrant women are very important.
“I think it’s good for them because the Arabic Woman is not like the American Woman,” Khalil said. “It’s good for them to learn about the life here. It’s good for them to learn how to buy a house and buy a car. They like it.”
-- Jolene Zanghi