Consultants help Build bridges
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
When it comes to refugees, Myrna Adkins and Burna Dunn don’t have all the answers. But they will listen to all the questions.
“The opportunity in Emporia is huge,” said Adkins, president and chief executive officer of the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning in Denver. “People are wanting to learn more about how can we successfully integrate people into our community who are not like the people who have been here for generations.”
That’s where Adkins and Dunn come in. For the next couple of days, they plan to talk with groups all over town about the city’s Somali refugees, giving people a chance to ask questions, raise issues, offer help and dispel myths.
“The base of human nature is the same,” said Lewis Kinsey of Topeka, the state refugee coordinator for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilittation Services, who will also be visiting groups in Emporia. “But fear and rumor and the unknown can make our efforts for trust and patience and collaboration a very daunting challenge.”
Both Adkins and Dunn have extensive experience in working with communities and refugee populations. Adkins, a past member of the Peace Corps, was asked in 1980 to direct a four-month refugee program. Those four months ultimately stretched into 26 years.
Dunn, also a Spring Institute employee, first grew interested in the field while working overseas for a non-profit development group.
“I was in Egypt, living in a village about two hours south of Cairo, across the road from a Pepsi bottling plant,” Dunn said. “One day, some of the Pepsi executives came over and said ‘We’d like to have someone who can help teach English.’ I thought it was so much fun ... and I wondered ‘Can I earn money doing this?’”
“The answer was no,” she added with a laugh. “But it has been a wonderful way to come in contact with folks from other cultures and learn about refugees.”
Kinsey, Adkins and Dunn kicked off their visits Monday night by addressing the group that invited them, the newly formed Emporia Refugee Resettlement Alliance. Today and Wednesday, they will also visit with Newman hospital, local law enforcement, the Emporia school district, Tyson, the city and county commissions and several other groups before a wrapup meeting on Thursday morning.
Dunn and Adkins praised Emporia for trying to understand things so early on. Many times, they said, they’re invited to a city when things have deteriorated and bridges need to be rebuilt in a hurry.
“You have the opportunity to address this before it gets out of hand,” Lewis agreed. “It can get out of hand. And you as a community have the choice, whether to let it get out of hand or whether you want to make it work.”
There are no quick answers, the three speakers agreed. And any real answers, they said, will ultimately come from Emporia itself.
“The solutions have to come from the community,” Adkins said. “But we can help facilitate the process.”
ksfarmer (anonymous) says...
With how much has happened in the last week, this is an interesting read.
November 11, 2007 at 5:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
somebody is missing the point, but then when SRS workers see a chance to increase their money and increase the numbers they need to hire, they wont be listening to anything else
November 11, 2007 at 6:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Important to note here that this article is dated Tuesday, December 12, 2006. I've received some calls on the article and some people thought this was current.
November 11, 2007 at 7:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Tre, good solid comments and good questions too. I'd like to see Adkins and Dunn, yes.
And yes, ksfarmer, despite the fact that this article is nearly a year old, it is indeed an interesting read because now we can read it in light of what is going on now. For one thing we can learn that we weren't paying enough attention; we weren't asking the right questions. What were we busy doing? Complaining about bad driving.
Again, making sure we have all the facts straight is important. We will have as many as possible at our next meeting TBA.
November 13, 2007 at 9:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )