Middle of Everywhere - Mary Bray Pipher [42]
That police can be helpful
How to use cleaning products
What to do for acne
Why young clerks cannot sell liquor
What kolaches, muffins, runzas, and corn dogs are
What asparagus and rhubarb are
How to change a lightbulb, a battery, and a furnace filter
How a flashlight, a microwave, and a can opener work
Where to get air for bike tires
Where to play basketball
What dry cleaning is
What fabrics need to be dry-cleaned
What happens if you don't pay your bills
Why I don't beat my children
Why we wear seat belts
What sex offenders are
Why we should wash our hands after going to the bathroom
What germs are
What homesick means
What a washing machine is
What aluminum foil is
Why American parents talk to babies
What animals pork and beef come from
What a tissue is
What a rocking chair is
What a dinosaur is
Why we shouldn't litter
How to eat an ice-cream cone
One aspect of being a cultural broker is being an introducer. Cultural brokers can attend every first meeting between a refugee and a caseworker, doctor, banker, or employer. Just being present as a supportive friend helps these first meetings, often filled with anxiety on all sides, go more smoothly. If a local person accompanies newcomers to their first Jazz in June, contra dance, or GED session, the newcomers may later return alone. Without a guide, certain things never seem to happen on their own.
Having a cultural broker can make a tremendous difference in how successfully a new family adapts to America. People come here traumatized, and the trauma doesn't end with arrival. Without guidance and support, it's difficult to survive.
Every newcomer needs someone who knows how to get things done locally. Communities are nuanced cultures, and the nuances are precisely what newcomers need help with. Songwriter Greg Brown might have been speaking of cultural brokers when he wrote, "Your hometown is where you know what the deal is. You may not like it, but you understand it." (See appendix 2 for ideas on how to help.)
LIFE'S NECESSITIES
Housing
Because of their poverty, refugees often move into our slums, what Eleanor Roosevelt defined as "inhabited, uninhabitable habitations." Slums are filled with desperate people looking for their first chance or settling for their last resort. Refugees move into neighborhoods with meth labs, crack houses, sex offenders, and gangs. Some landlords take advantage of newcomers and overcharge. A woman from Nigeria lived in a small, dark basement with poor ventilation, for which she paid more rent than would be charged for a reasonable student apartment. Some landlords will not rent to people they regard as "foreigners." I once called a landlady about housing for a refugee family. I made the mistake of telling her that they were from Macedonia. Over and over, she demanded, "Are they clean?" She wouldn't tell me what the rent was. Rather she said, "Have them come by and we'll talk about it. It's negotiable."
I have visited refugees in places where it wasn't safe to stand on the porch because the roof was falling down; in places with snakes, roaches, and rats; and in places that were hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. I've been angered at greedy, indifferent landlords. However, I've also met good landlords, eager to welcome newcomers and conscientious about charging reasonable rents and keeping things fixed up.
Many refugees live in extended families or have many children. They want to rent a unit for as many as fifteen people. Lincoln has few three-bedroom apartments, let alone six-bedroom apartments. Often the family needs a place to live before the adults have any savings. Deposits necessary for rentals are difficult to acquire. Finally, even if a place can be found and money garnered, the rents are just too high for a family living on minimum-wage salaries while sending money home to relatives.
A cultural broker can help a family locate a safe neighborhood near their ethnic group. Cultural brokers can help determine what is a reasonable rent. They may need to read the lease and cosign, or