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January 20, 2008

Finding a new home here

By Michelle Martin

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Thierry Mubugora is a soft-spoken young man, who fidgets with his calculator while he searches for words in English.

“I like St. Greg’s,” he said.

To explain why, he switches to speaking French and turns to Catholic Charities’ caseworker Dagmara Drazewska for the translation.

“There were fights in his old school every day,” she translates.

Mubugora is one of six St. Gregory High School students whose families are part of Catholic Charities Refugee Services Program. Most arrived less than a year ago from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo — Mubugora’s country of origin—or refugee camps in Burundi and Thailand.

They started at St. Gregory at the end of October, after attending school for several weeks at different Chicago public high schools. Mubugora attended Sullivan.

The students came to the attention of St. Gregory High School Principal Erika Mickelburgh this fall, when a volunteer from Catholic Charities called to see if the high school’s students would plan a Christmas party for refugee children.

The volunteer, Millie Kemp, is serving as a member of the Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps after retiring as business manager of St. Gregory the Great Parish.

“I e-mailed her back and said I thought we could pull something together by December,” Mickelburgh said, “but then I slept on it, and the next day, I e-mailed her again and asked where these kids were going to school.”

Offering Catholic education

They were going to public schools, she was told, because no one had the money to pay Catholic school tuition, although they were being helped in the resettlement process by Catholic Charities.

“I said they could come here,” Mickelburgh said. “We had empty seats. I didn’t really think about it.”

Right now the school is absorbing the tuition cost but would be welcome to donors underwriting the students’ education.

So eight refugee students transferred out of their public schools and started at St. Gregory. Two — brothers Ray and Lay Htoo, Burmese children born in refugee camps in Thailand—moved to Indiana after discovering relatives there over the holidays.

Before the students started, a caseworker from Catholic Charities spoke to the school’s faculty and students to tell them a little about the new students. School staff, working with translators, met with the refugee students’ parents and had a short orientation for the new students.

Mickelburgh hired a long-term substitute, Charlie Pierce, to teach the students English the first period of every day, and their schedules were set up. All but two go to the Learning Resource Program, a special education resource program, every day, to help them catch up academically.

Because most have very little formal education, they have a lot of catching up to do, Mickelburgh said. But she has high hopes for all of them.

“They say they want to be doctors and lawyers,” she said. “They can do that.”

Several speak more than one language, even if they are just starting in English.

One, Lavina Joseph, originally from Sudan, has been in the United States for five years and follows a normal schedule. She speaks English fluently, as well as her native Arabic, and she speaks some Swahili, which allows her to help translate for the other African students.

Students have bond

“They really bonded together, even though they can’t really communicate with one another, either” Drazewska said.

Mickelburgh noticed that sisters Kabura Furaha and Niyazima Kengeye, from Burundi, started walking to and from school with Pa Ta Mar Be, who is Burmese and grew up in a Thai refugee camp.

“They can’t talk to each other, but they do communicate,” Mickelburgh said.

Later, Furaha, with her braided hair pulled back, helped Pa Ta Mar communicate in English about her family — she has 20 family members in Chicago, Furaha said, after counting on her fingers.

The students said they prefer St. Gregory to their public schools, because, with its small size, they get plenty of attention. And with the whole group there, they have a natural support network. With a diverse student body, St. Gregory has educated many international students, but refugees were a new experience, Mickelburgh said.

The students came to the United States with their families. The United States accepts a certain number of refugees each year from the United Nations. Once here, their families were assigned to come to Chicago and be assisted by Catholic Charities, one of several agencies that helps resettle refugees.

Catholic Charities staff learns shortly ahead of time when it will receive a new family and prepares by finding an apartment, getting it ready and buying ethnically appropriate food. Staff meet the family at the airport and take them to their new home. The agency received $425 per person to meet their needs for the first month; during that time, they see a doctor and dentist, have their first employment screening and get government identification. Children are enrolled in school.

After the first month, families rely on their wages and public aid to make ends meet, but Catholic Charities continues to provide support. Drazewska is the case manager for children from kindergarten through high school, a group that right now numbers 35.

Having the high school students in one school makes her job easier, Drazewska said.

It also makes life easier for the students, who wear their St. Gregory uniforms proudly.

“The teachers here, you can tell they like the kids,” Furaha said.