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San Diego Immigrants Examine Past Challenges To Help Future Newcomers

Congolese refugee Joseph Ekyoci (far left), speaks at a community forum about his experiences as a newly arrived immigrant in San Diego while other attendees take notes, May 12, 2018.
Tarryn Mento
Congolese refugee Joseph Ekyoci (far left), speaks at a community forum about his experiences as a newly arrived immigrant in San Diego while other attendees take notes, May 12, 2018.

When Joseph Ekyoci first moved to San Diego from a refugee camp in Tanzania, he lacked the language skills to easily make friends at his new high school.

“It’s not easy, you know, the fact that we don’t speak English at the beginning,” said Ekyoci, a Congolese refugee who arrived in 2012. “Most of my life, I grew up in a refugee camp for 15 years.”

Ekyoci and other immigrants discussed challenges they faced when first arriving in San Diego at a forum held on Saturday in a classroom at Crawford High School near City Heights.

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Ekyoci said the barrier also affects parents, particularly in medical situations.

San Diego Immigrants Examine Past Challenges To Help Future Newcomers

"Most of the time the parent — we don't really have translators when we go to the hospital, especially for those who don't speak language like Swahili, they only speak one language and it's like a tribe language," the 22-year-old said.

Welcoming San Diego, a grant-funded coalition of public agencies and nonprofits, organized the forum. It was one of several forums held across the city. The goal of the initiative is to establish better support for immigrants like Ekyoci and his family so they may more easily integrate and contribute in San Diego.

A New American Economy analysis showed immigrants represented 24 percent of San Diego County's population but made up 28 percent of the region's spending power in 2016 and represented 34 percent of the region's entrepreneurs.

Welcoming San Diego lead organizer Samuel Tsoi said discussions around education are often raised at the forums because they have been held in school classrooms. But the participants also tackle other topics including employment and public safety. He said the data collected through the discussions as well as responses to 20-question surveys will be compiled into a final report which will include recommendations to the city of San Diego.

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"Things are already existing. What can we do to either get those programs out to the communities that are not yet aware," said Tsoi, who emigrated from Hong Kong to the U.S. as a child. "Or specific language groups, specific ethnic groups that are not being engaged?”

He said the final report will be published this fall.

In the meantime, the workshops may already be having an impact. Sixteen-year-old Maya Tipton, whose Japanese-immigrant mother emigrated to the U.S. to be with her father, said the workshop made her realize the welcoming role she can already play in her own school, especially with students who may also speak Japanese.

“As a high school student I’m just into going to like club events so I may be like, ‘join my club,’" she said.

Welcoming San Diego Community Forums

Thurs., May 17, 5 to 7 p.m. at Morse High School

Thurs., May 24, 5 to 7 p.m. at San Ysidro Civic Center

Ekyoci said it’s that kind of invitation that helped him transition to San Diego from his years in the refugee camp. He struggled using English to build connections with his peers when he first arrived six years ago, but a City Heights running club helped him connect a different way.

“We all had a passion of running, so we also are like working together, and that really bring us like a, like a family,” he said.

Ekyoci is now working to address language barriers for other refugees as a fellow with the nonprofit RISE San Diego.

"I always take kids to the library to help them to read a book, and I put them together to read to each other so they can understand the literature, so they can be able to read to the parent letters. They can be able to take their parent to the hospital and translate for them," he said.

The Welcoming San Diego initiative also comes from a RISE fellow — Samuel Tsoi. He said he hopes it will lead to the creation of an immigrant-serving city office.

San Diego Immigrants Examine Past Challenges To Help Future Newcomers
A nonprofit program is asking the public to contribute ideas for making San Diego more welcoming to immigrants.

>> Every year, thousands of immigrants from across the globe leave behind the only life they have known to make San Diego their new home. A new nonprofit program is asking the public to contribute ideas for making the community more welcoming. KPBS explores how they are making it happen. >> It is not easy you know, the fact that we do not speak English at the beginning, when we are going to school-- >> Reporter: Congolese refugee is a college student who came to San Diego in 2012 when he was 17 years old, from a refugee camp in Tanzania. >> I grew up in or if you can for 15 years-- >> Reporter: He is one about two dozen community members talking about how to help immigrants transitioning to new lives in San Diego. >> And I just asked people three simple questions of what are your hopes and dreams, what are some barriers you face, and what solutions do you want to see? >> Reporter: Samuel Choi is the lead organizer of welcoming San Diego, a coalition of agencies and nonprofit organizations whose goal is to create better support for immigrants, so they may more easily integrate and contribute and send ego. >> So things are already existing, like what can we do to either get those programs out to the communities that are not yet aware about these, or specific language groups, specific ethnic groups, that are not being engaged-- >> Reporter: He says discussions around education are often raised because the events are held in school classrooms, but the forums also tackle topics of implement, public safety and more. He said that is collected through the discussions at the meeting, but also through surveys. >> One is a quantitative one, where it is 20 questions, ranging from you know, how do you feel about access to healthcare, or housing, or just, simply how do you feel safe, do you feel welcome in your neighborhood? So, we will capture those, to see if there are any trends, in terms of demographics, of a breakdown of refugee versus society, versus immigrants, or age-- >> Reporter: Troy will compile all the input he collects, and a final report to this fall. He says they are still figuring out what recommendations to make to the city of San Diego. >> Now we have this data, and all these-- input from the community, how do we actually turn that into a report that is both aspirational, but not too pie-in-the-sky. >> Reporter: Anytime the workshops may already be leaving an impact, a 16-year-old says conversations with newly arrived, says the welcoming role she can play in her own school. The daughter of an immigrant says this especially applies to students who may also speak Japanese. >> As a high school student, I like going to club events, like hey, join a club you know, we are going to be talking about this and this, is going be so much fun. This is how you can get involved, within our committee, and how you can share your ideas, and you can say oh, come join this sport. >> Reporter: He says it is that time of opportunity that helped him-- he struggled using English to build connections with his peers when he first arrived six years ago, but a nonprofit running club in city Heights helped him connect a different way. >> What we will all share is coming off, like all we all had the passion of running, so we were also like working together, and that really brings us, that really brings us, like a family. >> Reporter: He is now addressing to work language barriers for other refugees, as a fellow with the local nonprofit rise San Diego. >> I always take kids to the library, to help them to read a book, and so I put them together, to read to each other, so they can understand the literature, and be able to read to their parents, letters and they can take their parents to the hospital, and translate for them-- >> Reporter: The welcoming San Diego initiative also comes from a San Diego fellow-- KPBS Ms. >> Two more forums are scheduled for this month, you can go to KPBS.org for the details. And, Cal and Dell is a welcoming San Diego funder which also supports city Heights coverage at KPBS.

Corrected: March 18, 2024 at 10:57 PM PDT
Cal Endow is a Welcoming San Diego funder, which also supports City Heights coverage at KPBS.