Human Rights Center | Ahna Hendrix

Help the hungry: Food donations low, but students can help

For most of us, at least one of the meals consumed within the past week has had leftovers on one edge of the plate. In America, it seems unimaginable that people are starving or in need of food, but it is a reality, and one that is hitting us on a local level.

Even with reports that the economy is beginning to rebound, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service continues feeding hungry people every day. The numbers are growing, and food agencies across North Carolina are struggling to keep up with the demand.

It is time that we step up and help our neighbors.

The newest face of hunger is not just the homeless lining the street, but people with mortgages and families.

According to the Jordan Institute for Families at UNC, in February, 129,589 people in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties benefitted from food assistance.

This figure is up 19.7 percent from last year, and was the biggest year-to-year rise since 2002.

With these astounding numbers in our own backyard, it is time we begin thinking about the food we consume and what we do with the food we discard.

So, at the beginning of the 2010 summer semester, a donation box will be located outside The Daily Tar Heel offices, making it very accessible for students to bring in dry food donations.

Judith Blau of the Human Rights Center in Carrboro and her sociology students agreed to partner with us and will be responsible for transportation of the donations to the council once a week. With about 30,000 students enrolled, UNC has an opportunity to make a serious difference in our community and lead by example for others in North Carolina.

Imagine the possibilities if every student donated one item per week. We could create incredible change in the UNC community.

For a list of items that can be donated or for more information, visit the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services’ Web site at www.ifcweb.org to find out how you can begin sharing.

We never know when we could end up on the other side of the fence.

Burmese Water Festival to be held in Carrboro

Water guns, water balloons and spray fighting will all be a part of the Burmese Water Festival to be held at Abbey Court Condominiums this month.

To honor the growing number of Burmese who live in Abbey Court, the Human Rights Center will be hosting the festival, originally called Thingyan.

“We promote inclusion and pluralism, and choosing events that are major holidays for our neighbors have been a way of doing that. We have Burmese refugees who live in Abbey Court, they are shy and underserved, so we thought we would celebrate them,” said Dr. Judith Blau, founder of the center.

The festival celebrates the Burmese New Year that is held in mid-April. Water constitutes the main aspect of the festival and its’ representation is a cleansing of the old and a welcoming to the new.

“It is a Buddhist celebration. It signifies the cleansing of the body for the New Year. It doesn’t have any religious intention to it, it’s simply just a cultural ritual,” said Aye Aye, a member of Blau’s sociology class.

Last year the center hosted “Las Pasadas,” to honor Hispanics in Abbey Court. They had a horse, featured Latin music and ethnic food. Some of these activities will be woven into the festival, but the emphasis will remain on the Burmese holiday.

Some Burmese immigrated on their own. Others moved here as part of a federal government relocation program for political refugees. Burma, now called Myanmar is embroiled in conflict and is ruled by dictatorship.

“Within the recent years, there was a crisis about monks being killed by the government because they were rebelling against the dictatorship government. The citizens have been trying to overthrow the government,” said Aye.

“There’s been a lot of political repression in Burma. I suspect that our neighbors were caught up in political repression or ethnic conflicts,” said Blau.

Aye’s family is Burmese and they immigrated to the U.S. in 2003. It was a difficult time for the entire family, but mostly for his parents because of the language barriers.

“Our whole family had no prior English speaking experience. It was hard. But I think it was a lot harder for my parents because they would complain to me about how they were not able to communicate with their employers. There weren’t any translators available in their work field,” said Aye.

Blau estimates that around 10 percent of the Abbey Court population is Burmese and several of their children are regulars at the center, but the population is not limited to Abbey Court.

“There are a few families, but in other communities in Carrboro there are even more. The center sees about six Burmese children. Their families recognize our good intentions and we are honored to serve their children,” said Alfonso Hernandez, a center worker.

Thaw Tu Tu and his family arrived in the U.S. two years ago and none of them could speak English. Now Tu Tu, who attends the after-school program at the center, makes perfect scores on his math tests.

Communication with the new Burmese population has been difficult for families, the center and police.

“It can be difficult when we deal with Burmese in the area because of the language barrier. Fortunately there are students at UNC-CH who are available to translate, otherwise we would be without,” said Major Charles Blackwood of the Orange County sheriff’s office.

But the center will be prepared to communicate with the Burmese during the festival since several of Blau’s students are Burmese and speak the same dialect. Blau’s sociology students will be on hand to direct the festival and take part in the fun.

The festival will offer a variety of activities including tug-of-war, face painting, parachutes, kites, and several water games. It will also include a Mariachi band and tamales. And the festival will take donations for the victims in Haiti and Chile and raise awareness about Fair-Trade.

“As a sociologist a festival affirms social community and relations, builds solidarity and helps to reaffirm human rights through its success on community,” said Blau.

“We want an active and comfortable community for Abbey Court, and we want them to feel at home. We have to realize that coming to America from a different country is difficult,” said Hernandez.

The festival will be held April 24 at Abbey Court Condominiums from noon until four.

And then there are those who make dreams come true…

“They are all so different from one another, yet they are all so passionate about what we are doing at the Center,” Judith Blau said of the three who run the Human Rights Center.

Alfonso Hernandez, Nancy Hilburn, and Raphael Gallegos, work to fulfill the mission of the center, which Blau created, everyday.

The walls of the center, are painted bright and cheerful colors, one fading into another as the walls fold into another part of the apartment in Abbey Court Condominiums where the center is located.

The living room has been turned into a study room with desk space lining the area and computers neatly sitting on top. The sounds of educational games and laughter ring through the center, and it doesn’t take long to notice the magic abound.

Gallegos was the first to come along, joining the center as a graduate student. He is from Mexico and spent eight years living in Germany before moving to North Carolina and attending N.C. State University. He graduated with a B.A. in sociology and Latin American Literature before coming to UNC-CH to begin his master’s program in sociology.

“I was initially assigned to TA for Dr. Blau during the fall of 2008. At the time, Dr. Blau was working on establishing a nonprofit organization. We talked about Abbey Court and helping the Latino community,” said Gallegos.

After the organization was created, Blau rented out an apartment at Abbey Court and established the Center.

“The ultimate goal would be to have the resources to assist all the undeserved population of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. To be able to close the economic, social and cultural divide that exists,” said Gallegos.

Hernandez came along during this time, too. Blau was introduced to him, and they began a friendship through email. They shared a special alliance for human rights and it was not long before Blau asked him to move into the Center.

“Alfonso and I met in Abbey Court and I liked him a lot. Then, when I decided to rent the apartment, I needed someone to live there to be consistent with zoning laws and I asked him to move in. When you meet someone good you have to hold on to them,” said Blau.

Hernandez’s mother had decided to move to Texas, so the offer to live at the center came at the perfect time for them both. The center was just beginning to take off.

“In the beginning the center struggled to gain trust from the community, but once the connection with Scroggs Elementary School was made, the center began to bloom like the beautiful flower it is,” said Hernandez.

Posters are hung up on the walls translating simple words into English and overflowing bookshelves line the wall in the dining area. Student volunteers sit with their heads down focused on the children they are working with, helping them complete their homework.

Nancy Hilburn is the final piece of the team. She works at Mary Scroggs Elementary School as an inclusion specialist during school hours and in the center after school four days a week.

One afternoon she was asked to join a meeting with school associates, Blau and Gallegos. From the meeting came the relationship that formed between the Center and Scroggs.

“In the meeting with Dr. Blau, it was apparent that she and Raphael were open to a partnership with our school in which we could work with the children of Abbey Court in the Center,” said Hilburn.

“My role is as a tutor coordinator and liaison to Scroggs. I love that our children enjoy coming here and that we are a place that honors all people and wants all people to have what they deserve in life,” said Hilburn.

The Center offers English and computer classes for adults, help finding jobs and soccer programs for children.

The center operation is mostly the responsibility of Hilburn and Hernandez, while Blau and Gallegos spend time in the community advocating for human rights.

“We go to lots and lots of meetings together and sometimes give presentations because we are very engaged in this larger campaign for human rights in the community,” said Blau.

“The goal is to create a sense of community so that people fight to protect other people’s rights. To empower individuals, so that in the future they can fight for their rights,” said Gallegos.

The Center also has many UNC-CH student volunteers who tutor the children. Blau is a UNC-CH sociology professor and requires her students to spend a certain amount of time working at the Center.

“UNC-CH students are generally good volunteers, but coming from a human rights class they are especially good,” said Blau.

The foundation of the Center rests on the shoulders of Hernandez, Hilburn and Gallegos however. All are deeply devoted to the Center and spend a large amount of their personal time towards its growth.

“I don’t ever expect the world to have total peace because the world must have difficulties in order to grow and progress; this works in every level of life. What hope the Center is giving now and in the future, is to provide the necessities and education of society, and in broader terms, the world,” said Hernandez.

Immigrants really do want to learn English, says LINC

“Immigrants really do want to learn English, but they don’t always have time because they have to work and take care of their kids,” said Marleny Ruiz, co-chair of Linking Immigrants to New Communities.

LINC is sponsoring free ESL classes at the Human Rights Center in Abbey Court Condominiums and created the Know Your Rights program which is taught monthly.

The organization, part of UNC-CH Campus Y had been discontinued for about a year before Ruiz resurrected it. Ruiz then asked Jakelin Bonilla to join her in LINC’s mission.

LINC “helps ease the transition of recent immigrants to the United States through student interaction and raising awareness in the community,” according to their Web site.

Ruiz and Bonilla put together a program for LINC that they felt would cover important aspects in relation to the community’s immigrants.

“We had been a part of programs helping immigrants and Latinos before so we just incorporated what we had already learned into LINC,” said Ruiz.

Anna McCreight and Emily Egan, two LINC volunteers are responsible for conceiving lesson plans, keeping track of the participants progress and serve as managers for the classes.

“We’ve designed the classes around a one-on-one model where we pair UNC volunteers with students to work on the lesson plans we’ve designed. It’s a flexible model that allows tutors to show up to class and simply pick up where they left off,” said McCreight.

Many tutors come from a service learning project called APPLES. It is a student-led program “that builds sustainable, service-learning partnerships among students, faculty and communities in North Carolina and beyond,” according to APPLES Web site.

Ruiz said the classes are more geared towards adults since the children often learn English at school.

“Students ages range from 20-50, so we have a diverse bunch. Many are hoping to develop their English to improve communication at their jobs, participate more in their child’s education and be able to engage with more people in their community,” said McCreight.

The second program offered through LINC specializes in teaching immigrants about their rights and where they stand with the law.

Know Your Rights is a monthly class offered to the community through the guidance of LINC and a lawyer.

“I was trained in Mexico on how to give these presentations, but we have to have a lawyer present because we are giving legal advice to the people. The goal is that they are made aware of the rights they do have, even though they are undocumented,” said Ruiz.

LINC is planning campus discussions featuring guest immigrant speakers to bring awareness of the immigrant’s plight.

“We just want to raise awareness and show that these are families and are people who need a lot of help. We want to take the stigma away from what immigration is,” said Ruiz.

To volunteer in the English classes one does not need to have a teaching background or experience. If interested, just contact Marleny Ruiz at ruizm@email.unc.edu.

Technology Without Borders Assists Low-Income Families

Many low-income families do not own computers or have internet access, but thanks to several community organizations this will change in the near future.

Technology Without Borders is a UNC-CH Campus Y organization that will be installing free wireless internet at Abbey Court Condominiums and distributing free computers.

“There was a group of us sitting around thinking about what we wanted to do for the semester, so we tried to figure out what we could do locally. Once we found the Human Rights Center everything just fell into place,” said Shaddi Hasan, one of TWB’s co-chairs.

TWB has not been around for long. The group was only awarded its grant donation of $8,000 in the fall 2009, but that has not stopped the group from dreaming big when it comes to trying to conquer the “digital divide.”

According to Wikipedia, the definition of the digital divide, “refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all.” This gap is preventing people of all ages from applying for jobs and entering college, and it is impeding their education.

Technology Without Borders is starting in Carrboro’s Abbey Court Condominium.

The project will be completed in three stages. Volunteers will begin with the installation of the wireless network, follow with the distribution of computers to eligible homes, and finish with community computer training classes through the Human Rights Center, said Hasan.

TWB members have already begun to work with the students to get to know the families at Abbey Court.

“The internet changed my life infinitely for the better, and then multiply that by how many people this is going to affect and it is just amazing,” said Ashton Mickey, a TWB member who is volunteering at the Center.

The installation of the wireless network is under way, and the distribution of free computers will soon begin.

“We will be giving computers to every family that doesn’t have one who has a student within the next month or so, thanks to the school system and Kramden Institute,” said Hasan.

Kramden Institute in Durham, a not-for-nonprofit organization, “is dedicated to empowering hardworking, economically disadvantaged, students by awarding them home PC computers,” according to their Web site.

Renny Johnson, manager of Community Connection Program and IT director for Chapel Hill and Carrboro school systems, made the computer donations happen, according to Hasan.

Hasan said TWB’s main goal with the project is to raise the number of K-12 students who have access to computers and internet in their homes because it is a serious impediment to their learning and educational opportunities.

“In the Chapel Hill and Carrboro District, 1,100 kids classify as underserved which means not having internet or computers in their homes. One of the main reasons we chose Abbey Court to begin is because 191 of those students live in Abbey Courts alone. Also, the Human Rights Center already had a presence there,” said Hasan.

The Human Rights Center is housed in Apartment E8, and TWB has already installed two of the modems for the wireless internet in that building, making it completely wireless and operational.

The people who are involved with the Human Rights Center are very excited for the project.

“We have a child who comes here who doesn’t even really know how to type on a computer and in this day and age that is a big detriment. So that is going to change for him, his life is going to be changed by this, and that’s amazing,” said Nancy Hilburn who volunteers at the Center and works for the Mary Scroggs Elementary School in Chapel Hill.

Hilburn is the inclusion facilitator at the school and comes to the center to help the children with their homework after school.

Another person witnessing this change first hand is Alfonso Hernandez. He lives at The Human Rights Center and manages the after-school program for the kids.

“I feel like once it is up and finally running the kids will still be coming here, but they will be able to have it (internet) at home as well,” said Hernandez.

“We are also going to provide classes for adults on how to use a computer because many of the parents have to ask their kids how to use a computer. The parents will also benefit a lot to learn about the internet,” said Hernandez.

Technology Without Borders is steadily working towards putting in the wireless devices around Abbey Court and will continue over the next several months, while holding classes which will help prepare the families receiving computers how to use them.

“What we need to see the most in all of this is how much we can accomplish when we work together,” said Dr. Blau, founder of the Human Rights Center.