Lowell recognizes immigrants’ triumphs, tribulations on World Refugee Day
By CAMERON MORSBERGER | cmorsberger@lowellsun.com | Lowell Sun
June 22, 2023 at 5:05 a.m.
LOWELL — In celebration of Lowell’s diverse communities, local advocacy organizations recognized World Refugee Day on Wednesday, honoring those who escaped violence and instability by immigrating to the United States.
The Lowell chapter of the International Institute of New England and the ACE Center for New Americans at Massachusetts Baptist Multicultural Ministries hosted events to elevate residents’ personal refugee stories.
IINE — a wide-ranging immigrant and refugee assistance group — invited four refugees to take the stage at Middlesex Community College Wednesday evening to share their international journey through this year’s theme of “hope away from home.”
Mapendo Mutingamo, who hails from the Congo, recalled her “backpack story,” her immigration journey that’s a reference to how refugees travel light with their lives on their backs. She lived in a big house with her four siblings, mom and dad, who was a famous artist, but that reality quickly changed when her father went missing for an entire year.
The family left the country to reconnect with him, settling in “a slum” in Kampala, Uganda, Mutingamo said. Their new, temporary home “was smaller than a restroom,” she said, and they didn’t have any beds. They shared a public, outdoor bathroom with most other residents, and food was hard to get.
Fifteen years later, their lives improved with good schools and a larger home, Mutingamo said, but their status and access was limited because they could not get their citizenship. They eventually came to the U.S., where Mutingamo recently completed IINE’s Certified Nursing Assistant Training Program with MCC.
“Take this from me: Life is like a potato,” Mutingamo said. “Sometimes it’s smashed, sometimes it’s hard, and sometimes it’s turned into fries, so enjoy it as it lasts.”
Over the last year, IINE has helped hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan, Haiti, Ukraine and elsewhere, Lowell Managing Director Caroline Rowe said, and volunteers and local organizations make their work possible.
“It’s so awesome seeing everyone come together, everyone who makes such a difference for all of our refugee clients in Lowell and making Lowell such a welcoming place,” Rowe said. “We can’t do refugee resettlement without a community that is welcoming and supportive.”
Refugees are fleeing persecution, war and other “terrible situations around the world trying to find peace and security and happiness,” IINE President and CEO Jeff Thielman said. Since IINE’s Lowell operation recently expanded, Thielman said they are continuing in their mission to aid people in need.
“We are grateful for all the refugees we bring to our communities, especially here to Lowell,” Thielman said. “This city has been made a lot better, we think, because of all the refugees that have come here over the years.”
The ACE Center for New Americans — which assists immigrants, refugees and evacuees in securing housing, basic needs, legal counsel and education and job training in Greater Lowell — held space for those refugees at the Sampas Pavillion.
After a musical performance by What the world needs now – Interfaith Coalition Singers, local youth spoke on their experience coming to America.
Sarah Htwe, a junior at Lowell High School, started her life at a refugee camp in Malaysia, where her parents fled from their home country of Myanmar. At 3 years old, Htwe came to Waltham before moving to Lowell.
Htwe learned English and Burmese at the same time, to stay connected to her parents while also acclimating to her new home. In doing so, she became a translator, not only for her parents but for other members of the community.
“Both my parents came here knowing very little English, however, we made it this far,” Htwe said. “I remember my mom and dad talking about how, whenever they went to grocery stores, they had to act out what they wanted. There was no Google Translate at the time, so they improvised a lot.”
Lugyino, another Lowell resident, similarly fled Myanmar due to the worsening violence in the region. Lowell High student Taw Taw Lay, 17, shared some of Lugyino’s story and how he managed to escape.
Pushed out of the urban parts of the country, where people faced threats of arrest and imprisonment, Lay said Lugyino was forced into the jungle alongside other displaced residents. Through airstrikes and severe lack of food and water, Lugyino survived, even when the military began dropping its heaviest weapons and killing innocent civilians in early November of that year. Lugyino thought that day “would be his last day on Earth,” Lay said.
Since resettling in Massachusetts, Lugyino’s life has changed considerably.
“Despite the many hardships Lugyino went through,” Lay said, “he is now studying for a Ph.D. here in UMass Lowell and is a member of the Burmese community now.”
Alongside other members of the Lowell International Church’s Burmese Youth Group, Lay performed the Bamboo Dance on stage.
Lowell’s diverse refugees bring “vibrancy and joy” to the city, state Rep. Rodney Elliott, D-Lowell, said during the event. As refugees pursue and actualize their own “American Dream,” Elliott said Lowell serves as an example for “how we treat those seeking refuge with dignity, grace and kindness.”
“Our economy, our society, our schools, we simply would not be the city that we are today without the contributions refugees have made to our city,” Elliott said. “And on this day, we recognize the struggles endured by those who have come to the United States seeking refuge.”
