Chicago Tribune
October 23, 2009
They left violence-riddled countries like the Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sudan, only to move to neighborhoods in Chicago that were also beset with violence.
From Chicago Tribune:
They left violence-riddled countries like the Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sudan, only to move to neighborhoods in Chicago that were also beset with violence.
Teliane and Yoann Bakala were caught in the crossfire of bullets in Rogers Park; Prince Kannah was attacked inside the cafeteria of his Edgewater school; Ashal Yai always checks to see if gang violence is brewing on her street in Uptown before setting off on foot.
“It’s a whole new American dream,” said Kannah, 16.
The refugees have contributed to a new documentary film, “A Fairyland of Violence,” that is being shown Saturday in Chicago. In the short film, the youths recall their personal experiences navigating a new, often-scary world where gangs and guns collide with their dreams for a better future. It took the group of teens, which also included an 18-year-old from Sudan, a little more than three months to complete the film. The project was funded by Adobe, the software company, and the Howard Area Computer Club House in Rogers Park.
“They thought when they got to America, it was supposed to be perfect,” said Sarah Poole, an adjustment counselor in the youth program for Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries. “They never thought they would have to worry about getting beaten up.”
Ashal Yai, 15, was born in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Hoping to flee the country’s war, which pitted Christians against Muslims, her family fled to Egypt. They later moved to the United States, settling in the Uptown area.
“My mom said we could get a better education” here, Ashal said. What her mother hadn’t predicted was the threat of gang violence, something her daughter says shadows her daily life.
“We see violence everywhere,” she said.
Yoann Bakala was 5 and his sister Teliane 2 when their family fled the Republic of Congo for the Ivory Coast. Seven years later, the family moved to Rogers Park.
For the Bakala children, two episodes altered their view of the city. The first was when a joyful family picnic on the lakefront erupted in violence among a group of young men. “I saw a bat and chain,” said Yoann Bakala, 17. “I was scared. I’d never seen anything like that.”
The second happened while the family was driving near their Rogers Park home. As they waited at a stoplight, they said, a man began shooting his gun at a police officer and bullets whizzed past their vehicle. Teliane, 14, recalled lying flat, in terror, in the back seat.
“They all have seen the impact of violence on their lives. They’ve had to move,” said Lea Tienou, a refugee youth case manager at Heartland Alliance, who works closely with the film-making group. “Then they came here and are exposed to so much more.”