Early in the spring semester, Professor Susan Comerford tells the students in SWSS 055, “Working with Refugees,” her fundamental expectations for the social work course. Those expectations apply to the teacher as much as they do to the students: “If you leave this class with only an intellectual understanding, then I have not done my job. You need to understand this on a personal level.”
The “this” at question is the reality of the lives of refugees at home in a new land. As the world grapples with a refugee crisis of historic proportions, it is an apt time for college students to be gaining understanding of these issues. Perhaps not so apparent is the truth that Burlington, Vermont, circa 2016 provides a rich learning environment in this realm. Since 1989 more than 6,000 women, men, and children have started new lives in the Green Mountain State through the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program. Their countries of origin are many — Burundi, Congo, Sudan, Russia, Iraq, Burma. The greatest concentrations have come in waves from Vietnam, Bosnia, Somalia and Bhutan.
And students could scarcely find a better guide into the lives of refugee communities than Susan Comerford. For the first phase of her adult life, nearly from the day she graduated with her undergraduate degree, Comerford worked directly with and for refugees. Initially that meant putting her basic EMT skills to use in refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border; later that experience would inform advocacy work on policy issues in Washington, D.C. Looking back, Comerford says she had no “visions of grandeur,” just a deep desire to help that turned into a focus for the next 14 years.
At one point during that phase of her life, a Catholic organization recruited Comerford to travel to every country in Asia that either produced or hosted refugees. Their goal: to get a sense of need and where best to deploy personnel. “It was one of those experiences where you’re incredibly excited and scared to death at the same moment,” she remembers. “When those two things come together, you know it’s something you can’t afford not to do.”
Standing before a classroom, Comerford projects seasoned calm and kindness. But not a kittens-in-clover sort of kindness; it’s a more serious strain. She calls her students “colleagues,” and makes it clear they are to speak up and make themselves heard. They are not in high school anymore.
In essence, Comerford’s “Working with Refugees” course begins with a satellite view of the planet and zooms down to street view across the months of the semester. Each student selects a region and a country within it. They research the circumstances that “gave rise to flight.” They explore the situation in the country of first asylum and eventual resettlement. “Most importantly,” Comerford says, “find a refugee narrative from that country and get a personal sense.”
Comerford says “being in solidarity with refugees didn’t end” when she joined the UVM faculty in 1998. Her connections in the Vermont refugee community are deep, helping facilitate the many service-learning projects that give students in the course direct experience working with new Americans through local schools, support agencies, community centers, and the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program itself.
As students reflect on the service-learning work they often focus upon distinct, personal experiences that brought home the reality of refugees’ lives. For Winny Kwong-Sito, it was witnessing a dramatic, life-pivoting moment for two Bhutanese families as they arrived at Burlington International Airport. For Eyob Gizachew, it was sensing quieter lessons of joining new communities as he became part of children’s daily routines at Champlain Elementary School.
UVM undergrad Medina Serdarevic is from a refugee family herself. Working with students at the King Street Center, she would sometimes hear them greeting their parents in their native language at the end of the day. It came full circle, reminding her of her own first years in the United States. “I have learned so much in this class,” she says. “But one thing I’ll carry with me is the power that stories hold. Stories shape who we are. And by sharing them we are able to create relationships and help communities grow.”
While Serdarevic knows the reality of the refugee journey firsthand, Comerford hopes all of her student will dare to reflect on their own lives within that context. “You need to deal with the possibility that this could be your own reality someday,” she tells the class one afternoon. “These are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”