Widening the Circles A 2011 IPM Poetry Partner Project 
Merna Hecht (back, 4th from left) & *Abdi Sami (3rd from Merna's left) (*Read more about Abdi in the Resource/Links section of this journal) Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices a Poetry Project with Immigrant And Refugee Youth Observations by Merna Hecht While there were exciting developments that emerged from our third year of the Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices project, including several ways through which we moved out from the classroom to widen the circle of our community visibility, this year's project ended on a profoundly sad note. Because of this, I want to begin my report on our 2011 IPM Poetry Partner Project by honoring Krishna Dhital, a poet from the 2010 Stories of Arrival project. Krishna, who just graduated in the Foster High School class of 2011, died in mid-June, while in Spokane, WA. Krishna and his friend Dilli were visiting a friend they knew from the refugee camp in Nepal where they lived for their entire childhood and most of their teen years before coming to this country. Krishna was twenty one years old. The accident took the lives of all three Bhutanese/Nepalese refugees - Krishna and two of his life-long friends, Dilli Ram Bhattarai, 28 also of Tukwila and Krishna Dhakal, 17, of Spokane. In an instance of mysterious irony, the article about the Stories of Arrival project that received the most community visibility, published this past spring in Teachers & Writers Magazine, concludes with several lines from one of Krishna's poems. When I set out to write the article I knew only that I would end it with Krishna's poetry because I felt that he managed to define our poetry project in a single compelling stanza that "said it all" about the project. I have a vivid memory of the deep, affectionate smile, a mix of pride and humility that filled Krishna's face and eyes when I pointed out to him that the article about our poetry project concluded with his words. As I reflect on it now, after this incomprehensible loss, Krishna's stanza does "say it all," Krishna Dhital 
I remember guitar, you bring your voice, let's sing it, blood in your heart is red like mine, tears in your eyes are the same as mine, song is loud voice touches everyone's heart. I love the way Krishna's words touch on both the edge of sadness that is in our blood and yet how our voices can join, heart to heart, in a universal song. I love the way he wrote this stanza as an invitation to all of us with his words, "let's sing it." My hope is to keep his wise and important words alive and to memorialize this beautiful young man whose life ended so abruptly, with all of its promise and potential. Krishna's poetry and his dreams of what and who he wanted to become have made a mark on the many that knew and loved him. In contrast to Krishna's deeply humane, poetic language about the power of singing out and taking voice, is another kind of power - that of the enforced silence that issues from the harsh face of immigration policy in the US. I firmly believe that one of the most essential components of the Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices project is how it is grounded in poetry, which is a humanizing language, and how the project is designed to bring the stories of young immigrant and refugees to the larger community in order to dispel the disenfranchised images and dehumanized stereotypes which, in my opinion, fill the media. I agree with what Julia Alvarez writes in her poem entitled "Arts Politica,"...The inhumanity of our humanity will not be fixed by metaphor alone/The plot will fail, the tortured will divulge/our names, our human story end, unless/our art can right what happens in the world.  In each year of the Stories of Arriva project, poetry has been our main ingredient in a complex and spicy global meal which we partake of together; in doing so we have become more able to "right what happens in the world." The nourishment of partaking in poetry allows the students to learn to communicate in a language that celebrates both individual experiences and an overall compassionate spirit of hope and courage. Poet Ngoc Minh Tran, from Vietnam, expressed this same sentiment when he wrote
his project reflection. Ngoc wrote, "We learned that a poem is like food - poems need smells, feelings, images, memories and color to be perfect just like food needs herbs, salt, sugar, color and fragrance to be delicious." This humanizing language of poetry and storytelling in small but nonetheless critically important ways can serve to trump the dehumanizing language hurdled at us in the current and too often vicious debates around immigration issues. Because of poetry's power to overcome the degrading, institutionalized language that has come to the forefront of debate and legislation in many states Carrie Stradley, Foster High School ELL teacher who has been the mainstay partner-teacher for all three years of the poetry project and I wanted to increase the concentric circles of the project. Our goal was to move from the classroom to the community in new and more far-reaching ways than in our previous two years. We wanted to reach beyond the students' experiences of immigration, forced migrations and arrival in the US and include the experiences of their families and other community members. Because of this, we introduced a focus on family for this year's project. We also wanted to make certain that both the students' stories and poems and the family stories reached more people in and beyond Seattle and its large metropolitan King County. Well before learning of Krishna Dhital's tragic death, we were already committed to the power of voice to "touch everyone's heart." We were inspired and determined to bring the voices of the students to a significantly larger audience than in our previous two years. Our understanding of how story and poetry work to change peoples' hearts and minds has grown with each year of this project, as has our awareness of the urgency of working to bring stories that dispel the notion that immigrant populationstake from our country - be it jobs, a strain on paying for public education, and many other aspects about which legions of people cry out in complaint and hatred. Instead, we wanted to emphasize as widely as possible what it is these young immigrantsbring to our country - their gifts, values, aspirations and real world contributions to the greater good. 
Poetry about Family "I will not forget my family who are still in Russia, my grandmother with her best in the world smile and her dark hair, like flowing water. I will not forget my country, because I was born and raised there. It is in my blood." ~Mazhid Shakbazov, Turkish from Russia We invited the students to bring their families into their poems opening up space for them to capture images as if in a photograph. We encouraged them to give expression to the comfort that family members brought to them and at the same time we suggested that they might want to write about family members who had remained in their home countries. We anticipated that our emphasis on family would give over to poems that were rich in love and bonding, as well as poems that were poignant and sad, layered with expressions of longing for loved ones who were far away. The outpouring that came from encouraging the students to write of their families was beyond what we imagined it might be - the poets described and wrote of their loved ones in ways that mirrored the depth of their family and cultural connections and their abundant love for family members. In fresh, original and heartfelt language the poems of family overflowed with love, with loss and with the profound bonds that sustain family connections. These poems contain vivid images of family groupings, along with poems that evoke strong emotions - grief, fear, longing and love. Ngoc Minh Tran wrote, in part, in his poem: My Book of Memories I remember I saw a boy who had his dad's love I was running away with my heavy legs Dad! I need you more than my candy box. I remember how long I did not see my dad, fourteen years, five months, without his love. I can't wait until the day I can see him again, Because even one day for me seemed like one century, I remember the teaching from my dad Everything you learn and you know is only just one drop of water from the large ocean. 
Kausila Budhathokiwho, who is Bhutanese and lived in a Nepalese refugee camp for many years, wrote a poem titled "Two Sisters," which says, in part: Two Sisters ...two sisters living life as if it could be a death and they are living without any opportunity for a better education, yet they hope to find freedom and a happy destiny. They are far way from the United States but not from my heart. I hope somewhere in the future I will meet my sisters, and I will help them get out of the countries of war and hardship, countries without freedom. Suddenly, I see them in my dreams, like angels searching around heaven, though I feel like I am in hell with memories of violence burning into the fire, I do not ever want to say goodbye to my two sisters. 
Meron Shiferaw from Ethiopia, to whom I give mention later in this article, wrote a poem about her sadness as related to how much she fiercely missed her mother. Sadness (Excerpt) When I feel alone I think of my mom I think of the colors black and gray I think of the sound of my crying which no can see If I could talk to sadness, I would say: Allow me to see her and I will be born again Allow me to hear her voice and I will sing again Allow me to smell her scent and I will eat again Allow me to tell her my secrets Allow me to tell her about my struggle to learn a new language Allow me to tell her of my struggle to learn a new life-style Allow me to tell her I miss her so much 
Gopal Rai, who is Bhutanese and lived for years in a Nepalese refugee camp, wrote in his poem, "Because Living without Family is Like...." (excerpt): Because Living Without Family Is Like... Because living without family is like living without an education Because living without family is like a bird without wings Because living without family is like a tree without leaves Because living without family is like a room without a door 
And Sumani Gulailiyev who is Turkish from Russia wrote lovingly of his family in his poem "The Family Photo": The Family Photo My dad staring at the dark ocean of a sunrise And the orange-dark blue mix of the red-looking sea. My mom staring at my dad, looking out to the ocean That smile on her face, her three month old daughter in her arms. My quiet baby sister staring at my parents, That look in her eyes shinier than the sun, Her small hands smoother than ice cream. And me, happy to see my family together, And to see that they are happy, This is the moment I would not trade, Not in my whole life, Not for anything. 
I could go on and on writing about the depth of family connections that were expressed during this year's poetry project. The writing is eloquent; it gives voice to the generosity of love that endures between generations. Too often we assume that all teenagers are negotiating identity and that they become lost in the inevitable conflict of adolescence against an older parental generation. We also assume that necessarily a struggle will occur as adolescents and young adults who are immigrants and refugees become Americanized and reject their parents' or grandparents' "old school," traditional ways. While there is important truth in this, I think the deeper story to tell and a conversation that I wish was occurring about the sweep of migration that brings these young people to America, is that other cultures know how to sustain family connections in a manner that many in our own country have lost. We would do well to celebrate the ways in which those who are newly arrived to our country maintain their bonds with their families and ancestry. We stand to learn from them. Many of the poets in the Stories of Arrival project have experienced loss, struggle and pain and they are mature beyond their years. One of these wise poets is Tanka Gautam, from Nepal, who reveals his insights in a poem called "What I See" (excerpt): What I See I see how human relationships are important to us here on earth, I see how each other's joys and sorrows touch our emotions, I see how family ties are meaningful and separations are painful, All of these a necessary part of our mortal state. In this state of separation from my village, I see that family connections Can no longer carry the same meaning. I see life on this planet has many shadows, We repeat the difficult things we do not understand. 
And Masse Gashay from Eritrea created a poem called "My Family in Wartime" celebrating his family's spiritual courage and strength: My Family In Wartime My Family in Wartime are like stars shining, trying to find the moon to shine light on the dark, bloody days My family is the heart of the country, hoping, seeking, finding, fighting for future generations. My country prays to God to have more, more people who think wisely, wisely, like my family praying to God, for the good of all of our Eritrean people. 
I was touched by what Vinh Vu from Vietnam wrote in his reflections on the poetry project; it reinforced what I know to be true about poems - that they allow us to keep our loved ones who have died with us through memory. Vinh wrote, "My favorite part of the poem I wrote is the third verse because it tells of my father and my best friend - both of them have left me alone forever. I still miss them in my life. I can't get them back with me anymore. I will always feel pride because the poem helps keep them with me." Family Interviews
"When I wrote, 'I miss my family like a bee without a flower,' it made me weep. What I got from this poetry project is that my family lives in my heart." ~Cat-Nguyen Nguyen, Vietnam Because of the solemnity, respect and beauty with which the poets wrote about their families, their countries and their cultures and because of the ways in which they were able to wrap language around their memories and their losses, we knew that they would be ready to widen the scope of our poetry project and take on interviewing family or community members. Carrie created a separate booklet titled Stories of Arrival: Family and Community Voices. Most of this year's students contributed an interview. The interviews were conducted in the students' first language and translated into English by the student. Also, the interviews were written in first person as if the interviewee was speaking, telling his or her own immigration story. Many of the students included a photo of the person they interviewed. All of the students wrote a short passage preceding the text of the interview that gave a description of where the interview took place and of who was being interviewed. Two examples are: Nhat MinhTran from Vietnam wrote, "I interviewed my grandmother when she was reading newspapers in her bedroom. She told me her sadness and longing when she left Vietnam, and how it was a hard time in her life." And Khagendra Bhandari from Bhutan wrote, "I interviewed my uncle in his sitting room. He was wearing the Neal dress Dare and Salwar. He was crying missing his beautiful country and village." The eagerness to listen and to know, and the compassion that fill the pages of the interviews are stunning. They give the reader a sense of what is strongest and most whole about our basic humanity and the journeys some of us are forced to take that require great determination and courage to ensure survival. The stories in these interviews are filled with ethnic conflicts, insurgencies, dangerous border disputes, loss of loved ones, arranged marriages at fourteen or younger, yearning for home and the harsh difficulties that come at great cost to living in places where wars are raging. 
Merna Hecht (middle) with students One gets the sense in each interview whether of a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, an elder or a peer, that these young people from places far and wide are open-hearted listeners whose identity is woven into a circle of empathy for others - an identity that issues from a deep bond to their ancestry, and their country of origin and culture. Gratitude and a Sense of Urgency "I had experience with poetry before because my grandfather was a famous Somali poet. Before he died he taught Somali youth about poetry and how to read poetry in the Somali language. He also taught us the meaning of poetry and how to become a poetry writer. But I never took it seriously about poetry. Now I realize I want to take it seriously and I'm sure my grandfather would be proud of me if he was still alive. I will continue to use my poetry skills after I graduate. I will teach little kids from the next generation about poetry and the meaning of poetry. I will benefit from more poems in my language so I can teach older people about poetry in my language so they will understand how important poetry is to all of our lives." ~ Nemo Mohamed, Somalia Merna Hecht 
I have an ocean full of gratitude for the opportunity to work with young poets from around the world. Like Nemo, I too understand that "poetry is important to all of our lives." I am honored to have the good fortune to partner with The Institute for Poetic Medicine and with Jack Straw Productions and KBCS radio. We also receive generous support from the Tukwila School District and Tukwila Arts Commission. Without these partnerships, along with a donation from philanthropist Judy Pigott and the support we receive from Carrie Curley at United Reprographic Printers, we would be unable to engage in this work. I cannot help but stress both my gratitude and at the same time my sense of urgency. When a young woman writes of herself as did Nargiza Mamedova, who is Turkish from Russia, naming herself as: "the one with hair like the sun, heating the arches of a rainbow, with her eyes like doves/ who sit on top of a tall building, so they can see the world. The one who pulls people up from dark dangers when they are hopeless underground, the one who wants to help people get over their pain, who will direct their eyes to see colored flowers, green trees, a meadow. She who smells food from her motherland/ with flower oil, onions, delicious pilavie, she who smells red roses nearby a beautiful well for water and a gate with a trellis, to draw a world of life," I want to bring her sense of wholeness and her longing to sweeten the lives of others who suffer, to as many people as possible, as a way to oppose the negative assumptions about "multiculturalism" and immigrants that are far too prevalent in today's world. At the same time, when a young man like Gopal Rai from Bhutan, a refugee for many years writes in his poem, "I Remember," (excerpted below) I want to ask people to slow down and try to embrace and understand the ravished and destroyed lives that bring many immigrants and refugees to our borders. I Remember I remember my land-locked country, Nepal, which is covered by magnificent mountains like a woman with beautiful ornaments and full of make-up. I remember precious days, like that day we went to a picnic in Tumor with my family and friends in a peaceful, natural place in Nepal. But I also remember my childhood time when I found myself in a refugee camp. I remember that day which came into my life like a wind! A wind that can blow from east to west, north to south and take out all of the leaves from the tree moving them from one place to another, just like the wind that came into my life and took out all of my happiness. I remember four years ago when I was fifteen, the sound of bombs! Guns, as well as people fighting each other in the street near my home. I remember that day when my uncle was killed by terrorists without any protection to stop it. I remember the smell of the bombs cars and bus wheels burning in the streets in the time of the political situation in my country. I remember the smell of burning houses, houses made of bamboo and thatch. Each poet in the Stories of Arrival project, in his or her own way, asks that we still ourselves and enter into the moments of their lives expressed through their poetry. I find myself asking if we can we leave the hum and buzz of our busy, high speed lives long enough to quiet our inner noise and listen to and look at the world through the fresh eyes of these young poets? Can we take in those things that have given them sustenance throughout their often difficult struggles and long journeys away from home - their losses, their resilience, their deep bonds with place and family, their determination to make the world a better, more peaceful place? 
In clear, straightforward language, Shyreen Kamal, from Iraq, gives us a picture of the home she misses - her cat, her green bedroom, her garden - she tells us with great simplicity that the war has come and destroyed all that she loved, yet, joining the chorus of voices that define this poetry project she concludes her poem with "waiting and hoping for the end of the war." I wait and hope with her, we all do. Stories of My Memory
I remember a far country With an ancient civilization Where two rivers meet Tigris and Euphrates. I remember the dawn at morning When the sun appears and touches the sky. I remember a house With two front doors like a palace Where a king and queen live and die. I miss a bedroom Green, full of stories in a book Like a natural place. I miss a roof Like a bird touches the clouds, High, flying with the sky. I miss a round swimming pool With water giving images of fish. I remember a garden Surrounded with flowers Giving fruits and vegetables As if golden hands have made it. I remember a palm tree High with precious arms. Giving dates like a bee gives honey. I remember a bridge Above soft waves of river Wooden and grand like a tree. I miss a pet A soft white cat like a pillow Hiding behind the trees. Waiting for the sun to rise. I miss a sound, A sound of birds Waking human hearts, Leading them to work in the morning. I miss a barbeque party on Friday With a sky full of stars Creating different pictures. But the happy days won't come back again, The light vanished The dark spread The wealth has gone In a moment... The war started, Fire ate the trees, Blood spread on the ground. Now just wait and hope For the end of the war. On a note of "waiting and hoping," I return to thoughts of Krishna Dhital, mourning his untimely death and celebrating his wisdom and beauty. At the outset of this article, I wrote of his affectionate smile and the mix of pride and humility that filled his face and eyes. At that point, I had not yet attended the memorial service in celebration of Krishna's life. It was held at Foster High School on Tuesday, June 10. During the memorial, several students who had been in the poetry project with Krishna spoke, as did two young women from this year's project who had known and loved him and who were part of the Bhutanese/Nepalese community. Each young person gave voice to their grief, articulating their love and respect for Krishna. As they spoke, words from Krishna's poetry were continually shown as part of a slide show that was on-going throughout the service. Krishna had written, "My life is like a dream that will never be forgotten." This line struck a deep chord with all of us, and after the memorial many of the students painted that line and others from Krishna's poems on a group of boulders that sit on the school grounds. There is a tradition at Foster of "painting the rocks," usually for a victory of some sort. The boulders are painted over in thick white paint before each "event" is honored or in this case memorialized. While watching the solemnity and love pouring forth from the young people as they painted the rocks, I was filled with gratitude. My gratitude was in part for the gifts poetry had given to Krishna and to many other young people in the Stories of Arrival project. Through creating their poems they have learned to use language in service of remembering and honoring who and what they have loved and lost. Many of their poems have become sacred keepsakes. Even as they move forward, entering into adulthood and reaching for their dreams, I know that their poems will allow them to keep company with their losses and memories. I trust that this will remain an essential part of them as they walk toward their far-reaching goals and take their places in the larger world. Also, I am deeply grateful to know that many lines from Krishna's poems will live on in honor of who he was and what he gave from his "song that was loud and touched everyone's heart." Widening the Circle I lived to share the stories about my country I lived because I want to know what is happening in other countries. Is the same thing happening in other countries, as in my country? Like a blustering wind that never calms down. ~Mary Niangbawi, Burma 
"I had never written a poem before, because back in my country I never had a chance to write a poem. I was like a robot with no battery in it. The robot who is supposed to do many things but not until you turn it on. I lived in a big refugee camp, but there was no one who would hear my voice. I've had many experiences in the past, but I just hid them inside my heart. I was washing my experiences with my tears. I was thinking no one would hear my voice. I said to myself, "I can do this." I was like the robot, fully charged and energized. I will take away a feeling of pride because now I am a poet and I can express my feelings through a poem." ~Bhagi Biswa, Nepal 2011 Stories of Arrival Anthology This year's anthology, The World is Our Heart, Poetry is Our Soul: Memories and Stories of Immigrant Youth gives the reader a sense of the "ripple effect" of stories and poems. One can feel them widening and expanding themselves across boundaries and borders in a complicated choreography of tenderness, longing, heartbreak, honesty and hope. The anthology is divided into five separate sections: Part 1 - Naming Myself: Poems of identity and praise, of "voices that are rising up and ready to tell words to everyone in the world;" Part 2 - Rivers of Memories: Poems that tell of loved places & people, of traditions and cultures, and of difficult circumstances and immense courage; Part 3 - Family Photos: Poems in celebration of families; Part 4 - Feelings From Our Hearts: Talking with feelings, living with feelings, falling in love, and concluding with a poem for peace Part 5 - About the Poets: Biographies of each poet. This was the first year of our three years that, thanks to the generosity of IPM, Bread for the Journey, Jack Straw and other collaborative partners, we were able to publish a bound book which also includes a CD recorded at Jack Straw Productions with each poet reading one of his or her poems and with some group and individual songs. As in other years, the students in the project loved the experience of recording in the Jack Straw Production Studios. All agree that it is a highlight of the project. The experience is empowering for these young poets. After a bus ride into the University District of Seattle, which takes them out of the school environment, they find themselves in a professional recording booth with their own individual voice coach who lavishes careful attention on their poetry and helps them shape their words to present their poem with clarity and expression. The young poets wear their head phones proudly as they speak into the microphone and watch the engineer work the elaborate sound board. 
They understand that their poem will be broadcast on the radio, and they stand up to the moment with pride in their work and great excitement about bringing their voices and their stories to the community. Whereas last year we were not able record in time for the radio broadcasts to occur during the school year, this year the students' poems were featured throughout April in honor of National Poetry Month on a local popular Public Radio station, KBCS, 91.3. The students' work has been archived on KBCS and is also featured on the Jack Straw Production website. We are grateful for these community partnerships and the many ways they reach a wide audience. KBCS estimates that at any given time of day an average of 300-400 people are listening to the station.  To Learn More About Jack Straw Productions: CLICK HERE
To Listen to KBCS 2011 Archive of Poems on Jack Straw's Website: CLICK HERE (Note: Recordings are near bottom of page) To Listen to the 2010 Archive of Poems on Jack Straw's Website: CLICK HERE To Learn More About Bread for the Journey of Seattle: CLICK HERE To Read Merna Hecht's First Archived Essay about the Voices Project: CLICK HERE 
Other Highlights of Our Community Involvement and of How We Widened Our Circle: The Poetry Café and Poetry Anthology Release Party We added a Poetry Café to our community presentations. It was a well attended event. We held it in an intimate space on the school campus (the faculty lounge). Many of the poets' peers showed up. It was obvious that they were spell-bound by the poems. The principal and other faculty and staff members and the superintendent were also there. Carrie and I noted tears and deeply absorbed listening. Some of the readers chose to dress up quite formally. Three young women from the project did a wonderful job as emcees. This year's anthology release party brought in more community members than in previous years, including many who do outstanding community work with immigrants and refugees, such as the executive director and development director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the education coordinator for Schools Out Washington, which serves immigrant and ELL students throughout the state. We hold this event in the School District Administrative office building, so that the administrators can attend without excuse to miss it! The Northwest Immigrant Rights Auction, October, 2010 Four Hundred people heard two of our 2010 Stories of Arrival poets read a poem. Yvener Cadeus from Haiti and Hofsa Yallah, from Somalia presented their work on the center stage of this city-wide fund-raiser for an organization that does vital pro-bono legal work and much more for immigrants and refugees in the metropolitan Seattle area and throughout Washington state. We were given our own table, where we displayed a huge poster with photos about the project and our anthologies. Three students from the project, Yosef Woger from Ethiopia; Helber Moo, who is Karen from Burma; and Victor Delgado from Mexico "staffed" the table and talked with many people, answering questions and describing the project from their point of view. The Seattle City Lights Social Justice Initiative Meeting with the Seattle City Council, July, 2011 Though none of us were present, this year's anthology and a write-up about the Stories of Arrival project were showcased at this recent meeting, and several of the poems from the CD were played for all in attendance. Teacher Workshops and On-going Connection to ReWA We met with the Refugee Women's Alliance Education Coordinator (ReWA) and several other ReWA youth outreach workers and educators. This meeting, along with a teacher workshop for district teachers, allowed us to define our mission and goals to other educators and youth advocates and to widen our visibility in important ways. We also continued our support of ReWA by donating money from the sale of the anthology to them for a second consecutive year. This is both good community partnering and an important way that students feel the power of their voices and poems, knowing that their heartfelt writing gives financial support to an organization that does vital work in their own community. To Learn More About ReWA: CLICK HERE Scholarship, June, 2011 This year the proceeds from the sale of the anthology allowed us to create a scholarship fund of $600 to be awarded to a senior who participated in the poetry project and wrote a winning essay. Meron Shiferaw, from Ethiopia, whose life dream is to become a nurse, received the award. When asked to address how she thought creating poems about leaving a home country helps other people understand what a young person who comes to the U. S. as a refugee or immigrant experiences Meron wrote in part: Meron Shiferaw  "Reading these poems, people will hear different life stories about struggling to survive, about suffering and humiliation, but also about wonderful places, the most beautiful in the world that the poets in the project were not allowed to enjoy and call their home. They all have their reasons, their "why" they had to leave that place and come to the U. S. to find a place to start a new life. Everything they had either they lost or somebody took from them and in a new country they have to start to build a new home, new friendships and learn a new language.
It is hard for somebody who never had to leave their country to understand how it looks when you leave your country and come to a new world where everything is different......Writing poems tells the rest of the world that somebody somewhere is not doing the right thing. Writing poems while the memories are still fresh is a wonderful opportunity for me and my classmates to bring a little piece of the world we come from, so people can read or understand what we are going through and what our feelings are." And, when asked to write of her plans for her future education Meron wrote beautifully about her desire to become a nurse, saying in part: "My mom in Ethiopia wanted me to get a good education, a better life, and to be successful. Her decision to send me to the USA opened a door to my future life. My goal all of my life since I was a little girl is to be a nurse. It will answer the question that I have asked myself since I was a child - why do people in Africa have to die because there is not enough medication or health care for them? Also, why are there not enough doctors or nurses? These were the questions that always revolved in my mind. And that is why I want to become a nurse." Showcase of the Project in Teachers & Writers Magazine, Spring 2011 (Published in New York City by the Teachers & Writers Collaborative) This is a themed issue on "Translation." This magazine reaches an estimated audience of 1,200. They published an in-depth article about the project. To Visit Teacher & Writers Collaborative Website: CLICK HERE Fishtrap Conference: Migrations and Passages; Joseph, OR, July 2011 A breakout session during this conference about immigration and forced migrations and related issues featured a showcase of this past year's Stories of Arrival Project. International Board of Books for Young People, Regional Conference, Forthcoming in Fresno CA; October 21-23, 2011 The conference theme is "Peace the World Together through Children's Books." The majority of presenters at this conference are from countries other than the USA, including Palestine, Cuba, Mexico, South Africa, Ghana, and China. It is an honor that the Stories of Arrival project will be showcased during one of the breakout sessions of this conference. To Learn More About the Conference: CLICK HERE Associated Writers Programs, Chicago, IL - February, 2012 There will be a panel presentation about the project. To Learn More About the Conference: CLICK HERE 
2011 Anthology Ordering Information The 2011 anthology is titled The World is Our Heart, Poetry is Our Soul: Memories and Stories of Immigrant Youth. It sells for $20 (including mailing) and may be ordered directly through the project director by e-mailing Merna Hecht at mernaanna@yahoo.com. Proceeds from the sale of the anthology, which includes a CD with each poet reading a poem, is donated to the Refugee Women's Alliance and to a college scholarship for a senior in the project who shows exceptional merit. The young people participating in this project have journeyed to Washington state from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Burundi, Congo, Eritrea, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Iraq, Kenya, Laos, Mexico, Nepal, Palau, Romania, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Thailand, Tonga, Togo, Turkey, other parts of the U.S., and Vietnam. All are learning English. All have left behind members of their family on their journey here. Many of them will be the first in their families to graduate from high school and continue on to college. | 
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