Migration

Last week I attended a year of the city event called Migration: A local and global phenomenon. This presentation made me much more aware of the make-up of our country and the workings of our world, it also presented me with the organizations present in Baltimore dedicated to helping immigrants that arrive in our city. What was most interesting was on the lecture was set up. It was designed so that the first person that spoke was from an organization that was dedicated to helping a certain group of people entering the country. After this person talked about their organization they introduced someone that was helped by their organization and they shared their personal experience of migrating from their home country to the United States. It was the first pair that impressed me most. The man was from Zambia and was also an immigrant. He promoted his program that focused on a sense of healing and a sense of hope for the future. They tried to restore the human spirit through cognitive, emotional and behavioral therapy. The woman that was helped by this organization was from Ethiopia and immigrated to the United States eleven months before she came to speak in front of us. She spoke mostly about her experience with sexual abuse in her country and how she felt the need to escape and find safety in the United States. There were also pairs from Asia, from Mexico and also from the Philippines. But the theme of these talks seemed to be one of escape and getting away for safety or for a better life or an improved life.
All of these people wanted to be able to live a new life in a different place in a safer place. This seems to be the opposite of the feelings of Olivia and Duke in William Shakespeare’s The Twelth Night who seem to be content living in their households, content in mourning, content in their laziness and their current way of living.
This presentation really opened up my eyes to all the different types of people living in Baltimore City. When I think of the city I think mostly of the black people living in the city, forgetting that there are also people who travel here from Mexico, from many different parts of Asia, and from many different parts of the world. I think these people are easily forgotten simply because the majority of people living in Baltimore City are black and aren’t Asian or Spanish.
Not only was I able to see the mix of people that enter the city everyday but also how hard it is for them to leave there country to come to the United States. I think many people, including myself really take for granted being born in this country, take for granted our freedom. When the woman who spoke about her sexual abuse in Ethiopia began to cry because of her intense fear and intense pain that came with those memories, I realized how truly lucky we are to have a safe home that we won’t have to leave unwillingly. But at the same time it was inspiring to see that all of these people that came into the country had groups had other people there to help them with their adjustment, to help them with the huge transition between their home country and the United States.
Through this presentation I realized just how much immigration is changing the face of the world, and more specifically how it is changing the face of our country and or our city. Without immigration our country would not be what it is today, a mix of cultures and races from all over the world, a country that set it’s foundation on the immigrants of the world. In the next few years as we watch Baltimore grow and improve we will also watch waves of immigrants come in and with each one change the make-up of the city.