Community

Developing a sense of community with the people in you environment is a key part of integrating into a new country. Communities help immigrants learn more about the world around them, integrate into a new culture, and gain a sense of belonging and that they are appreciated. When researching this, I remembered that community and belonging were well-mentioned in the “First Days Project” and Stories Told by Johannesen and Appoh. I re-visited an interview of Alicia Spinnger that I had previously read from the “First Days Project”. After moving from Mexico to San Francisco, she enrolled in an ESL (English Second Language) course. She had a great instructor for the course, but also an amazing group of classmates. “My real teachers were my classmates…. I sat in that class for weeks enjoying and learning from this amazing group. I loved hearing their stories.They were engineers, doctors, artists, cooks, journalists” The community that Alicia found in her ESL class broadened her horizons about life and allowed her to learn and adjust to speaking English with others beside her.

“Stories Told” goes in to depth about establishing community and belonging as an immigrant, and the barriers that may present themselves in the process of doing so. A woman who was interviewed for the article talked about her experience with struggling to connect with colleagues at work. The native Norwegians would often group themselves together during lunch break, and leave others who were newer to the community to form their own social group. ““When they (Norwegians) want to talk about their secrets, they put you out”” one woman stated. Actions such as these make finding a community harder for immigrants, and discourages interaction with those around them. This can also have negative affects on working through culture shock, and feed into the isolation aspect of the Flight Stage talked about in the Adjustment section. However, several families were able to find community through their neighbors, volunteer work, or church congregation. For many adults, they became involved in fundraising for neighborhood sport teams or extracurriculars with other parents. For others, joining a church congregation gave them a community of support. Johannesen and Appoh note that “The congregations played an important role in their lives by providing a sense of belonging, support in practical matters such as finding a place to live, and a network of friends and acquaintances.” In this example, the church community helped families not only have a source of support but a network of people who could help them continue to settle into life in Norway.