REFLECTION
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Reflecting back to the beginning of my immersion experience I had considered several questions that I would then keep in mind throughout the experience itself. These questions were ultimately the roots from which my project would stem from.
The questions were as follows:
1. What is your story?
2. What obstacles/struggles did you face?
3. How did you overcome (if you did) those obstacles/struggles?
A lot of these questions are very direct. Typically one might ask the questions in an interview perhaps, or when watching something and having to answer follow-up questions. But, I created those questions so that I could ask myself the questions throughout my immersion experience. After reading about another immigrant's story I would ask myself what is their story? what obstacles/struggles did they face? how did they overcome those? were they not able to overcome those? why or why not?
I was able to reflect on a lot of personal experiences and have a growth mindset in that aspect because, as a child whose mother is an immigrant the experiences I had aren't firsthand. I got the secondhand experiences that just came along with my mom migrating to the United States, and only speaking one language.
Throughout my immersion experience I was able to see different perspectives from many immigrants. This was something I emphasized from the beginning of my immersion experience. I wanted to be able to understand perspectives of not just my mother's or mine.
I was able to see the perspectives of those children on the freight train in the movie Which Way Home. I immersed myself in the journey, and in the emotions captured within the film. I was able to immerse myself in the stories of immigrants who were interviewed as well. I learned about their backgrounds.
I think the most important thing to take away from my immersion experience is knowing that every immigrants story is different, and also keeping in mind that shutting them off from the world won't help solve anything rather make things worse. It's about helping them adapt to a new culture, and become citizens of a country. It's about giving them the resources needed and passing the correct laws. Being an immigrant is more than just being labeled "illegal", it's about making the choice, in some cases, to leave behind a difficult life, and trying to find a better new life for one's family, or for oneself.
