果冻传煤

This panel featuring women from immigrant and refugee backgrounds explores the challenges of accessing educational systems in the United States, as well as the importance of preserving traditional cultural education for future generations, including art, language, and beliefs. Presented as part of the exhibition聽Extra Tough: Women of the North, on view through Sept. 6, 2021.聽Watch an archived recording of the panel .

Virtual event co-hosted by: , Bridge Builders of 果冻传煤, , and the .

I am from Sudan, but I was raised in Cameroon where I聽was a refugee because there was a war in my own country.聽Education in Cameroon is a lot different than here in the US. Over there, for education you must have money to go to school. As a refugee, my school was paid for by an assistance program. Food is not provided for free there as it is in school here in the US. In our classes, we had 100 students and one teacher, and that teacher taught every subject. I felt more educationally challenged there. When I moved here in 果冻传煤, it was different for me to not be able to have time off for (Eid) Muslim holiday. Cameroon is a non-Muslim country, but I was able to observe my Muslim practices, the practices of my culture. I did not have that here in school. I value school a lot. My parents didn鈥檛 get to go to school, and that was a motivation for me to go and to model that for my kids. I have gone to diverse schools and will continue learning different cultures and people and helping people and making them feel comfortable as my family were helped when we came to 果冻传煤. My dream is to be a nurse, and my hope is that once I graduate, I will be able to help my community. - Marioma Ismael, 果冻传煤 student and panel participant