“Finding Home” Writing Project : An Outlet For Refugees, An Awareness For Americans

By: Indah Nuritasari

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon last Summer, around 20 Burmese refugees gathered at Three Jewels Temple, a Theravada Buddhist Temple on 6th and Porter in South Philadelphia. Most of these people don’t speak English and just arrived in Philadelphia months ago. Nang Tin, one of the community leaders, sat with them on the carpet and helped them understand what the meeting was all about.

Tin, 32, was born in Myanmar and had to live in a refugee camp in Malaysia for 4 years, after her family fled a crisis in her hometown in 2009. She, her husband, and their 2 kids, were resettled in Philadelphia in January 2013. With her background in economics (she has a bachelor’s degree) and her good English, now she's one of the leaders in her community.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia, located between Thailand and Bangladesh. Since 1962, Myanmar has been ruled by a military government that has suppressed religious and political freedom and caused tens of thousands of people to flee to camps in Thailand, Malaysia and other neighboring countries.

Tin is not alone. A recent data from Pennsylvania Refugee Resettlement Program shows that Philadelphia gets around 900 refugees every year. They all had to flee their homelands for some reasons or other-the military regime, tortures, ethnic conflicts, genocide, religious persecution, etc.

Ikhlas Abdul Razak is another example. By the time she arrived in Philadelphia five years ago, Abdul Razak and her family had been on the move for almost ten years, moving from one refugee camp to another. “We had to leave Sudan because it was not safe for us,” she said. The famine and genocide in her native city Darfur forced her to flee her country. She now lives a better life in North Philadelphia with her husband and 6 kids.

When I first started the memoir writing workshops for refugees and immigrants, with a group of Indonesian females, at an Indonesian Restaurant on Washington Avenue in 2009, little did I know that this would evolve to workshops for female refugees from so many countries, around 20 countries so far and I lost counting. It expands to so many communities because we share one same experience: our journey in finding a new home here in Philadelphia.

“Home” can mean different things to different people. For some, home is the place where you were born and raised, where people speak your native language and behave more or less the way you do. For others, “home” is where you know and trust others; where you feel accepted and understood.

“Finding Home” is a writing project that partly funded by The Art and Change Grant, from The Leeway Foundation, Philadelphia. It is a place where female refugees or immigrants can share their stories about their hometown and newly-founded home, America, in a form of memoir.

For myself, since I moved to Philadelphia in 2001 and started working with immigrant communities, the writing group is my creative outlet, my sanctuary. a place where I can be myself. Where I can express my feelings, my sadness, anger, anxiety, happiness, and dreams. Where I do my self-discovery process, again and again. And that’s what I want to share with the workshop participants.

As a journalist and writer, I have done a fair share of teaching and facilitating writing groups. But working with immigrants is different. Usually when I facilitate other groups, the biggest challenge for the participants is finding something interesting to write about. With the immigrants, there are so may incredible stories, the challenge is to pick one.

I was so happy to be able to read some of the stories the participants had written at Live at The Kelly Writers House at Upenn in February 2010. it was a live event and aired by WXPN radio. I remember fondly it was “Relying on Miracles, “ a memoir written by Dwi Setiawan, a Phd student from Indonesia who had worked as a dishwasher and factory worker. I love this piece so much and would like to share it a little bit here. It opens with a very strong paragraph: “with a Masters Degree from a well-known American University, I may be overqulaified to work as a dishwasher. Not because of the current economic crisis at the beginning of Obama presidency, that made many people doing any kind of job in order to sruvive, but i have been doing this since the frist day i set a foot in Uncle Sam;s counry. i have to do any kind of job to survive. Refelcting to my life for a decade here in Philadelphia,which has become my second home, I not only believe in miracles, but I am very dependent on them.”

Setiawan is one of the smartest participants in our writing groups. As a mother of 2 young kids, she works several jobs but still is able to go to school. Not only that, she is proud of being a “Kuli” and Indonesian word for labor. She ended her strong and beautiful peace with a humble paragraph: “after experiencing variety of jobs with different responsibilities, which sometime have difficult names in English, I can simply call myself a “Tenaga Kerja Wanita” or “kuli” or “labor.” I am quite thankful for evertyhing I have done so far. With these jobs, I am proud that I have never asked for government subsidy and I can help my family and the people around me. As a “kuli” I got a chance to get a higher education. As a “Kuli” I could give my daughters better possibilities in life. And if one day my daughters ask me about my profession, I will proudly answer,” I am a Kuli.”

At this event I read also another beautiful peace written by Dewi Fretiyaningsih, “Philadelphia, Here I am.” Pretty, her nickname, 31, started her story with her point of view about how dirty South Philadelphia is: “Philadelphia is very dirty, especially South Philadelphia where I currently live. When I first arrived in the US, I didn’t think I would live in a condition like this. The rowhouses looked very strange to me. No front yards no garages, and cars parked off streets. Even worse than that: trash is everywhere, on the sidewalks and on the streets. Why is America like this? I think it’s not better than Jombang, East Java, where I am from. “

Eventually Pretty changed her mind and thought Philadelphia was beautiful too, and important, because of its historical background. She also shared her “scary experience” when the immigration officers raided her house to find some “illegal immigrants.” She said some of her friends, had fled the house through the back door and windows. Some hid in the basement and she was able to hid in a closet. She also told about how she survived living in a 3-bedroom house, shared with 12 other adults, with only 1 bathroom.

After the reading 2 ladies from the audience, of about 100 people, approched me and hugged me and thanked me for sharing the stories. Seeing their teary eyes and receiving those hugs, I know we have made a difference.

After conducting these workshops for 5 years, I came to several conclusions, which are very personal. First, I think it’s easier to have a group of one community, instead of several. Besides the language barrier, it takes much longer for the participants to feel at ease, to be able to share the stories, and to connect with each other. Also because of the language barrier, I don’t speak their native languages and they struggle with English, the role of interpreters is very important but also makes the creative process works slowlier. People were embarrassed and fearful to say the “wrong” things. I noticed that all really amazing stories came before or after the formal writing sessions.

Not only that, many of them do not want to use their complete names. “we are embarrassed of being a refugee,” said one participant from Ivory Coast. She was also afraid that the facts in her story could harm her if one day she wanted to visit her families in her native country.

Sometimes I felt overwhelmed, especially if they want a “one-on-one” writing session with me, instead of doing it in group. Other times I felt burned-out and discouraged when they took back their stories, because they were scared, or because their husbands were so embarrassed did not want their stories to be shared or published.

But most of the time I am happy and inspired by their stories of survival. People who have been in refugee camps for years usually have lost their sense of control over their lives. But from “Finding Home” I know for sure: They are not helpless victims, because the truly helpless victims did not make it here to America. They are all survivors and fighters!!

Indah Nuritasari is a Refugee Outreach Specialist at Women’s Opportunities Resource Center in Philadelphia. She has been working with the immigrant communities in Philadelphia since 2001. She is also The Chief Editor of Indonesian Lantern (www.Indonesianlantern.com), the Voice of Indonesian Community in America. She can be reached at nuritasari@yahoo.com