Immigrants Arrived!

What a day! Our immigrants, spanning from 1624 on the Liberte ship to Plymouth, to fleeing North Korea in 2018, all arrived this morning dressed in their immigrant best.

Our kids traveled through a refugee camp that Ms. Busick's class based on Kakuma, a refugee camp in Northern Kenya that is home to thousands of Somalians. The kids researched and met with a Somali refugee family that is settled in Salem, and attended a refugee simulation hosted by Doctors Without Borders. In the experience, the refugees lugged water, settled in tents, built toys, and were vetted by some serious UN Refugee Workers.

Their next task was to enter the United States. This story came from our class's deep research into various refugee stories, and was deeply inspired by the novel, Refugee. Together they identified that there are two types of entries, that of the documented and those who enter undocumented or illegal. Our kids were vying to earn 1 of the 9 visa spots to enter. Those who did took a civics test, completed a medical exam, were interviewed intensely, and had their identification photos taken. Those who were unable to enter legally had to seek a smuggler who sold them life jackets, phone chargers, and water. They built a boat, paid for illegal identification, waited for safe passage in a tent, and then ran to the United States hoping to avoid the US Coast Guard who operated under the wet foot, dry foot system.

Upon entering the United States, they entered Mrs. Duden's room whose students worked to create a simulation that would help you feel as confused as new immigrants might. This included operating under a foreign language made of symbols, attending an English class or school, applying for housing and employment. There were ICE raids that deported students who were not documented.

We concluded the experience with a remarkable feast with foods from all over the world. Thank you to all the hands that helped prepare these delicious foods!

The kids had an amazing time; Flynn and James declared, "It was the best school day EVER!" A million thanks to the MANY parents who acted out the many roles and captured the day with photos, the high school students who ran after our illegal immigrants and deported them, and all the moms and grandmas who organized the feast and then cleaned. We could not do this day without ALL the helping hands that work to create the experience for our kids. THANK YOU!

PS. Our class loved seeing the creative costumes our parents created. It helped make the day even better.