Immigrants make life richer

A few years ago, I stayed at our local hospital overnight for some tests. That evening the physician who was looking after me and others was a bright young doctor from Iraq, she had grown up and was serving our community in Cedar Falls. The cardiologist I met the next day had grown up in Pakistan, and my own doctor was born in Iran and had gone to school in the U.S. These are the immigrants who are taking care of you and your family.

The president is constantly spreading fear, hate, and lies toward immigrants and refugees — the new Americans who have escaped horrific conditions, are here legally, and our communities are helping them to be at home. Let me introduce you to some of them who I have personally known, so that you see them as human beings, just like your ancestors who came from Europe, Africa, and all over the world.

I played soccer for years, and my teammates included many Bosnian refugees who escaped genocide and came to Waterloo 30 years ago and are part of our community now; they include a USDA meat inspector, truck drivers, construction workers, brick layer, bakers, a coach, and a pastor. Other team members included a neurologist from Croatia, an architect from Bulgaria, several UNI faculty members from Brazil, Poland, and England. An amazing soccer player from Iraq. Circumstances outside of their control brought them here. These are the refugees and immigrants who have made Iowa home, much like the Danish, the Germans and others. They belong here just like everyone else; they are deriving sustenance from and contributing to the local economy and local life, like everyone else. Local people understand that, but forces of hate and prejudice come from outside the community.

My gardening work has brought me to many backyards, including those of recent refugees from Congo, Rwanda, Burma; we always immediately connect, our common language is our shared love of gardening and fresh vegetables. They are eager to develop roots here and gardening and love of good food sure helps, just like for all of us. Local communities care deeply for these new Iowans; a church in Waterloo recently made available nearly 2 acres of unused lawn, which is now a large community garden with many plots for the local community, including recent refugees. The City of Waterloo and the Highland Park Neighborhood Association created another large community garden at Highland Park as a way of helping families grow some of their own vegetables. Love is spoken in Waterloo, Iowa.

My community involvement has brought me in touch with a young refugee who grew up in a Thai refugee camp, graduated from West High School in Waterloo, and is now pursuing a master's degree to become a mental health counselor, addressing Iowa's shortage in behavioral health workers. Another youth, a refugee from Burundi, who is studying physical education at UNI and plans to stay in Iowa to teach! And another bright young woman who came to Waterloo as a refugee from Burma, she is studying nursing at Hawkeye college and works at a local nursing home caring for the elderly in our community.

Our community life is richer because we have known these amazing people who deeply appreciate our community and our nation. They are forever grateful to be here because they have suffered and escaped dictators, violence, lawlessness, and lack of a functioning government. Let's be mindful of the life circumstances that have compelled people to leave their home region and come here. They belong here and deserve our respect.

In his book, Rediscovery of Turtle Island, Gary Snyder writes "We are all Indigenous to this planet, this mosaic of wild gardens we are being called by nature and history to reinhabit in good spirit. Part of the responsibility is to choose a place. To restore the land one must live and work in a place. To work in a place is to work with others. People who work together in a place become a community, and a community, in time, grows a culture." The task of working together to build community and culture in our region is the ever-continuing task of citizenship, it requires active participation of all of us, including new Iowans.

Kamyar Enshayan lives in Cedar Falls and can be reached at kenshayan@gmail.com