Geo and I attended the second annual Diversity Symposium at UVM Davis Center ~ Serving and Learning from our New Neighbors in a Multicultural Environment.
Keynoter L. Michelle LeBaron from the University of British Columbia quoted poet David Whyte's The House of Belonging for the audience to consider transitioning from one home to another. The change is unsettling. In a new situation, "one good word is bread for thousands," and disperses fear in an unfamiliar environment. How "spacious" and "permeable" is our home? How is space made for everyone to belong? What could be the "good word" to help new people to feel welcomed?
A panel of one immigrant and three refugees told their stories of trying to "fit in," or find belonging in a new community. The biggest challenge to making connections, they agreed, is language. Another is just figuring out the system and where to go for assistance they need. They also agreed that it is valuable to them that they are able to preserve their own culture and traditions.
What I noted was the immigrant's comment that there are many services to assist refugees, but not for immigrants. If the refugee makes connections to the community through various agencies, the immigrant makes connections through a job.
Also thought-provoking, "We love diversity unless it means giving something up."
When we do make "space" for everyone to belong, change is going to occur for ourselves as well as the for the newcomer who had left a home behind. Everyone gives up the familiar (or "home" as one knows it), and everyone can be enriched by the resulting multiculturalism.
The break-out sessions continued discussions on how connections can be made.
One other comment impressed me: to encourage inclusion, "let's not celebrate diversity, let's hire diversity." I'm wondering, is this an expression of affirmative action? Any comments?
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