Week 5

At a staff meeting this week, we talked about why we are working at the Freedom Network and it was interesting to hear more about the other interns who are working there this summer. There are two college students, one of whom came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was young, and the other whose parents are immigrants who shared their experiences. One of them talked about the experience of being bilingual and how that has been both a blessing and a curse. He said that it is a blessing because he is able to communicate with many different people and is able to help his parents by translating for them. However, it has also been a curse because he has had to do things far beyond his years, like helping his father with taxes at age 9 and translating for his parents while he was having an operation. One of them also said that, as a second generation American, he feels an obligation to fight for immigrant rights because so many people he knows are affected by it, but that it feels more like a duty than a passion. He said he is still searching for where his passion lies in regards to immigration. This conversation gave me a glimpse into the experiences of immigrant children growing up in the U.S. They are obligated to bridge the gap between native-born and immigrant people in the U.S. and this can be a very negative experience for them.