Migrants discuss their American experience with faith

Krista Naposki / News Editor

“The Faith of Migrants: An Interfaith Discussion,” featured five migrants who all had different experiences; they were from different countries and faced different obstacles, but they all had one thing in common, their faith.

Mahamud Lugor, from Sudan, escaped rebels who took him into their army. With his soft-spoken manner and his polished khakis, button down shirt and sweater vest, he has integrated into the United States well. He came to America through Lutheran Family Services in September 2001 with his mother, grandmother and five siblings. He could speak little English when he arrived and said he is still learning. “The scripture says that God is not supposed to help you escape trials and tough times, it is supposed to help see us through our problems,” Lugor said.

Jame Kinney works with Lutheran Family Services, the program that helped Lugor’s family. She works as a co-sponsorship developer to find people to help migrants adjust to American life. “Churches are getting involved,” Kinney said. “Sometimes we have to push our pastors.”

Paulina Rodriguez was forced to migrate to the United States from Colombia after being threatened by guerrillas because of her work as a judge. “I’ve always had faith … it hasn’t been easy, there have been many obstacles, this country has given me the chance every day to survive,” Rodriguez said. Though she spoke through an interpreter, she did not spare words. “In Columbia it was easy because of my own environment, my family was Catholic … There’s an increase need to believe, to hope more for one to survive; it makes faith grow … I have to thank God,” Rodriguez said.

Ebher Rossi considers himself an American. He moved to the United States from Argentina when he was six. “In Argentina it was not uncommon for people to disappear if they were against political leaders,” he said. His family thought of the United States as a melting pot. “My dad wanted to be an American,” Rossi said. “We kept our language and food, but as far as we looked at the world we were Americans.”

He said the church and legislature is not always receptive of minorities or migrants, though. He cited how Adam and Eve were foreigners and enjoyed special protections and the public community seems to want to give migrants rights, but some North Carolina representatives continue to push bills to take away migrants’ drivers’

licenses.

Blancha Zendejas Nienhaus, married to business administration professor Brian Nienhaus, has lived in Burlington for two and a half years. Because she married an American, she had an easier time than some migrants. In general, she said, “Mexicans are family people, Hispanics, sometimes many come here by themselves, so they deal by renting a house and sharing with six other people.” She also said that because people are used to a family atmosphere, the churches become an extended family to migrants.

“The Faith of Migrants” is part of the Interfaith Dialogue series by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. Senior Danielle Buynak, coordinator of the series, spent the past two spring breaks on the Mexican border helping a program called Border Links. While there, she recognized how most of the migrants got help from religious affiliations. “I wanted to know how faith seems to play big parts on their journey to the United States,” Buynak said.

Contact Krista Naposki at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.

Krista Naposki / Photographer

‘The Faith of Migrants’ is part of the Truitt Center’s Interfaith Dialogue series.