The Oregonian
Saturday, April 21, 2007
by SCOTT LEARN

When Wanning Su’s family moved from southeastern China to a tiny east Portland apartment in 2004, she was 12 years old, barely spoke English and confused about how to get to school.

"I was a little bit scared," she says. "I didn’t know the language. I didn’t know what the teacher was saying."

Wanning’s experience has not been unusual in East Portland. The area, peppered with relatively low-cost infill apartments and a growing array of social service agencies, is Oregon’s most diverse destination for refugees and immigrants, including newcomers from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Russia and the former Soviet republics.

That United Nations mix is reflected in the area’s schools. It also shows at the East Portland headquarters of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, where staff members speak roughly 40 languages and executive director Sokhom Tauch predicts the immigrant influx will continue.

"Immigrants like to cluster among themselves," said Tauch, who came to the United States as a Cambodian refugee in the mid-1970s and earned his MBA from Marylhurst College (now University) 16 years later. "This is the only place that still has some available land, and the housing is better than on the west side."

Portland has become more immigrant friendly since he arrived, Tauch said, both in acceptance and services. The immigrant organization he directs offers help from infancy to old age, including job training, translation, parenting help and school-based instruction, among other services. In 2006, it served about 7,000 clients.

Services and schools attuned to immigrant needs are helping draw immigrants and "second migration" ethnic families from elsewhere in the United States, Tauch said. Wanning’s family came for better jobs and opportunity — her dad works in construction and her mom at a restaurant — and because an aunt and uncle were here.

Wanning, an eighth-grader at Binnsmead Middle School, gets as much as three hours of English tutoring after school and participates in a girls’ leadership class.

The 14-year-old is making the tough adjustment to U.S. life better than most immigrant kids, said May Donohue, an academic support specialist for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization. "She’s very diligent and willing to learn."

But some things were strange, Wanning said. Her classmates’ various skin colors and hair styles were a bit of a shock. So was the American teenage diet (she doesn’t like pizza or hamburgers). And so was the relatively sedate pace of American life compared to its thrill-a-minute image in China.

Her advice to other immigrant kids: "Don’t be scared" and "school is fun."

Scott Learn: 503-294-7657; scottlearn@news.oregonian.com.

PORTLAND – Spring break is usually a time for students to relax, sleep in, watch television, play video games and hang out with friends. Seven Binnsmead Middle School boys, however, decided to spend their vacation participating in a three-day, service-learning project which had them waking up early to restore a nearby creek.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” said Ricardo Delgado, a 7th grade ASPIRE student, while he shoveled out blackberry root balls.

“You have to get the root out so it won’t grow again,” added Xin Yi Huang, also a 7th grader and ASPIRE student. When asked what he has learned so far, Huang said, “The native plants are good and invasive plants are bad for the habitat.”

The students are part of two youth programs–ASPIRE and SST– provided by the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), a nonprofit organization. The After School Program for Immigrant and Refugee Education (ASPIRE) is an academic and social support program for Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and Slavic students in three, southeast Portland Public Schools, including Binnsmead. The Successful School Transition (SST) program provides academic support and high-school preparedness for 8th graders at Binnsmead Middle School.

“I want the students to take ownership over their community,” said Oscar Arana, ASPIRE’s instructor. “I’ve noticed it can be easy for them to take their neighborhood for granted and throw garbage wherever. So I thought it would be good for them to help improve their surroundings.”

While picking up garbage, pulling out invasive species and planting native plants, the students would joke with each other, competing to see who could pull out the longest root and even strategize about upcoming soccer games–the boys are also part of a soccer team organized by the ASPIRE and SST programs.

“This is a good bonding experience for them,” said Maria Kimbro, a support specialist for ASPIRE and SST. “Plus, they are having a good time working outdoors, especially in the nice weather.”

Andrew Nguyen, an 8th grade SST student, learned that “the roots of trees can prevent erosion. The roots trap the soil so it does not wash away when it rains.”

“I thought this was going to be lame,” said Jerson Mejia, an 8th grade SST student, “but it was kind of fun in the end."