BRATTLEBORO-Michaella, 22, is from Burundi; Sidra, 20, is from Syria, but both have been far from home for some time now.
Michaella was a refugee at Kakuma, a United Nations Refugee Agency camp in Kenya. Sidra was a transplant in Jordan. Before arriving in mid-January, each went through a rigorous application process to be accepted as one of 85 from among several thousand applicants into the Welcome Corps Campus (WCC) program currently underway at School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro.
Both women had first applied to World University Service of Canada (WUSC), before Welcome Corps Campus, its U.S. counterpart, had formed. When WUSC ran out of spaces, their applications were channeled to WCC. They are engaging in pre-college learning at SIT before they move on to a WCC campus in late August.
Where they'll end up won't be known until the spring. They've completed the Common Application and had ample meetings with program staff: Thus, they trust program leadership to find suitable placement for them at one of 30 or so welcoming campuses across the country.
We recently sat in a large room at the SIT campus looking out to the Green Mountains as we talked about their peripatetic journey from oppression and discrimination to freedom and opportunity - and about this first stop on that journey.
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Annie Landenberger: What are you aspiring to be?
Michaella: I want to study data science.
Sidra: I would like to study AI, because I'm passionate about AI. And I also studied that major in Jordan for one year, so I got the chance to explore it more deeply and learn more about it.
A.L.: And how are things going here so far?
S.: It's actually an amazing chance; many students wish to get this opportunity. Even if we studied in Jordan, we would still struggle in daily life because we're refugees. I worked, but it was still so hard. I didn't get my human rights. And even though I studied in the university, I would still not get the chances others would have gotten, like the Jordanian people.
It was a very challenging life over there. I would stay a refugee for the rest of my life there because I can't do anything. Even if I worked, I'm not allowed to drive a car or get a license or even own a house or a property. Even work was so hard.
M.: I agree. I used to work, too. But then the salary that we were getting was very small. My Kenyan colleagues were getting like $80,000 to $400,000, but then we were getting like $8,000. And we were doing the same work. We were even doing more work.
Kenyan people normally get into universities, but us refugees, the government cannot pay for us in Kenya. So maybe many people get married, many people just start life in the camp, but that was not my dream.
I wanted to study hard so I can lift up my family later.
A.L.: Sidra, you came through Jordan.
S.: Yeah. To be honest, Jordan is one of the most welcoming countries for refugees. Even so, you're going to still struggle as a refugee.
I don't have the freedom of navigating. And I still don't get my rights, my basic rights. I worked part-time, but I was not even able to pay my daily expenses. So it was a big struggle.
A.L.: I can only imagine. What were your first impressions coming here?
M.: It's such a long way from home. Where I live, it's extremely hot, like 40 degrees [Celsius]. I was so tense, I used to tell my family "I don't know if I'm going to get used to the cold there."
S.: We're kind of used to this kind of weather because in Jordan we have moderate weather. And in winter it's cold. It snows every few years. So yeah, I'm adapting better.
A.L.: So you've left your home, you've left your family - you must be pretty resilient, pretty strong women. What would you say has been one of the bigger challenges you've been facing here, besides the cold?
S.: Of course it's hard to leave your family, but if you don't leave them to pursue a better future, you're going to keep struggling until you die. So if I move to another country and study hard, I'm going to probably struggle for a while, but then I'm going to build a future, I'm going to change my life. So even if it is a challenge, I'm up to it.
M.: Yeah, there is homesickness, but not that much, because we are like family here; we are friends, and the volunteers and staff are really like parents to us, so we feel at home. We are getting used to everything; it's good here.
S.: We've been given some time to adjust to this new environment, to this new country, this state. Others have come before us, but we are the luckiest group because we are getting to know [some of U.S. culture and geography] before joining the campus.
We're getting to know the weather, the language, everything. So it won't be a challenge for me.
A.L.: Good to hear.
S.: Some people here are really struggling with English. So, yeah - the language barrier, too, is a challenge. But we are hoping that before we join our universities we'll get used to it.
A.L.: How are your sponsorship groups working for you?
S.: We have known each other only for a very short time. [Our sponsors] are so kind and great - very helpful. They shared their life experience with us and asked us more about what we'd like to learn and what we'd like to explore in Vermont - or Brattleboro - so they can help each one of us specifically.
A.L.: What do you hope for?
S.: When I was in Jordan, I used to struggle the whole time. Now I feel less stressed because I think I'm guaranteed my basic rights, at least. When I'm given the opportunities for education, work, and protection, I am going to be able to be more productive and to make changes. When I get my education and am able to work, I feel that I'm going to be able to contribute to many things.
I would like to help other refugees, like women my age who are struggling, who don't even have the chance to access education or work. They just need the opportunity so they can be creative and productive and make big changes. So I want to contribute through my major and maybe make my own company one day. And I want to be able to help others who go through the same things I went through.
M.: I feel very grateful. I didn't know that one day I would be in America. When I was in high school, I studied hard to be in Canada. That's what I was expecting.
So now a dream to be in America has come true. I look back at the life I used to live; I feel like I can advocate for some refugees who are not able to study because of money.
When I finished high school, I was looking forward to a course [that related to] mathematics, things that deal with calculations because I'm so fond of mathematics. My high school mathematics teacher advised me to go with data science because it has so many job opportunities. It also uses statistics; I'm also good at statistics.
And I have work experience in this field because I was working as a community mobilizer. I used to collect [and analyze] data and do follow-ups on students. And I was really enjoying my job. So I thought maybe why not try data science because when you study something you enjoy, it becomes fun.
A.L.: What sort of courses are you engaged in here at SIT?
M.: Computer and digital skills, and English skills, like academic writing. We also did some cultural orientation.
S.: So far, we have had many cultural orientations so we can learn more about our rights and specific ways to deal with things. Today was the first lecture in digital literacy. So yeah, it's been going good so far.
A.L.: Are you thinking of future study?
M.: I'm so flexible. Whichever school they decide, I will go to. First of all, [an] American university, even if it's a small university, it's better than in Kenya. They told us to be flexible with courses. If they cannot find data science, they will find finance for me, or maybe nursing.
A.L.: Did you know anybody in the program before coming?
S.: Yeah, actually, we have known each other because we created a group chat on WhatsApp. But when we came here, we got to know each other even more, and we started to be friends, actually.
A.L.: So what does it feel like to have been selected as one of 85 out of several thousand?
M.: I'm proud. And my [family is] proud of me. I'm so grateful, you can't imagine. It was so competitive [and] we are the lucky ones because I think we are the last [cohort]. My friends say, "Mika, you are so lucky. We were in the next cohort but we have been told that there is no Welcome Corps anymore."
It is more than what I dreamed about. When I was in high school I was really working hard to get a grade that allowed me to apply to WUSC. I was actually the first in my, I was the, what do you say?
A.L.: Valedictorian.
M.: Yeah, of our school. And kids used to tell me, why are you working so hard? Why are you not sleeping? And I used to say, I want to go to Canada. I don't like this life anymore. I was on a scholarship in a [Kenyan] boarding school then.
Kenyans used to bully me because I'm not Kenyan: I'm a refugee. They used to tell me, "Why are you in this school? You're not supposed to be in this school. How did you manage to come here?"
I studied hard because of that.
S.: I've always dreamed [of changing] my life. Even since I was a kid, I've had that dream, so I was kind of a perfectionist. I used to study the whole time.
I was not going to live that life. I knew in my heart that I'm going to change it, even though I didn't know how actually. But even after I graduated from high school, I used to study 12 hours a day or even more sometimes. I really worked hard just to achieve my dream.
I'm really grateful that I got this chance. I've never been more grateful. This is like a golden chance, actually. Everyone wishes to do such a thing or achieve their dream, but they don't know how.
A.L.: So you should be pretty proud of yourself, too.
S.: It is hard being so far from home and family. But as I said, I'm doing this for my future. So I'm going to bear with this until I build my future and do the things I need so I can help myself and help my family. In the future hopefully I'm going to be able to see home again.
M.: Yeah. it's challenging, but I can bear with it because even when I was in boarding school, I was not with my mom and my siblings. My father died. So this is not going to be hard like it used to be.
Missing my family ... no, that won't prevent me from achieving what I want.
Anything to achieve my dream, I will do it with pleasure.
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Our interview done, we were joined by Jill Williams, SIT student life and housing coordinator, as we exited through the bustling dining hall where lunch was underway. Sidra and Michaella joked playfully with Williams: "She's our mom," they said. Williams reciprocated.
She then explained the students' day of classes taught by former SIT faculty and others. With English classes underway this week, they'll have assignments and required study hours.
Many of the WCC/SIT students may apply to work part time during their sparse free time, Williams explained, for further acclimation.
Not knowing where they will end up next fall isn't daunting to Sidra and Michaella, in part because they feel at home here and now. The "staff and leaders, they are so amazing. They put in a lot of effort, and they help us," says Sidra.
Michaella chimes in: "We trust them because, of course, we don't know more than them. Even if I have a dream college, they're going to still know better than me because they know what I'm going to face and they know exactly how to help me.
"Yeah, we trust this process because we have come a long way [through it] already," she says.
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Editor's note: For a variety of reasons related to the safety and security of refugees and their families, SIT has made Sidra and Michaella available to share their experiences with the understanding that they be identified by first names and their faces not be shown in photography. Stories presented as interviews in this format are lightly edited for clarity and readability. Words not spoken by interview subjects appear in brackets.
Annie Landenberger is an arts writer and columnist for The Commons. She also is one half of the musical duo Bard Owl, with partner T. Breeze Verdant.
This News item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.