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A group of immigrant families confront a fundamental need: the ability to communicate. In this new English-speaking culture, limited access to language education leaves them facing a world that’s foreign at every turn. Through courage and unexpected alliances, their journey to learn English through ESL programming leads to something much deeper—lifelong friendships and a newfound sense of belonging.
[ Khawla, Ayat, & Jameel ]
Ayat believed life in America was the hope for her children’s futures, so she and her family left everything to pursue it. Years of struggle passed, each nearly driving the close-knit family to surrender and return to Jordan. Just when their endurance was at an end, their ESL community brought the support they needed to reach for each of their dreams.
[ GloirE ]
Driven from his home in the Congo by tribal war, Gloire lived most of his childhood in the refugee camps of Burundi. He spent his days like so many children: learning in school, playing countless games of soccer, and gazing in fascination at the rare airplanes that would fly overhead, wondering what it might be like to be a pilot himself. But when happenstance brought his family to Ohio, the new relationships he formed and resources he found became the stepping stones to make that dream a reality.
[ Asma ]
Despite the promise of opportunity, Asma looked out the window of her new American home with fear. A muslim woman like me could never be welcome. This isolation would be broken by the unlikeliest friend: a Jewish woman, a volunteer at Asma’s English class, who opened her eyes to the goodness that can be found anywhere.
[ THE LOPEZ FAMILY ]
Life in Venezuela was great. But when political turmoil turned the country upside down, the Lopez family was forced to leave behind their high-profile, successful careers for a seven-hundred square foot apartment and the daily struggle to provide. Hope seemed scant, until they connected with an ESL program that laid the foundation for making America their second home.
