“…in looking at the diverse approaches to death in our country, we learn not only about each other but also about ourselves.” (Joris de Bres, 2005)

Mariam is a young, Christian Ethiopian refugee, working behind a Wellington shop counter. When her brother in Ethiopia died, she wanted to do what is the cultural norm back home - shave her head as a sign of respect and mourning. But she feared her boss would not understand and she would lose her job. Encouraged by her refugee counsellor to broach the subject with her employer, Mariam was surprised to meet a respectful response. Mariam shaved her head, and her boss agreed that she could wear a beanie or scarf when serving if that made her feel more comfortable.

This story, recorded in Last Words and featured in national publications like the New Zealand Herald, illustrates how communicating with others about cultural values, beliefs and practice is critical to living in an integrated community, especially perhaps in times of grief.

About Last Words
Last Words is a 200 page publication commissioned by the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand (FDANZ) and published in 2005. Based on a 1987 publication by the Ministry of Health, Last Words recognizes and helps plan for the ways in which different groups in New Zealand approach death. It is intended for those who work with the dying and the bereaved as well as those wanting to care for, support and understand friends, neighbours and colleagues as they approach death or deal with its aftermath.

Endorsed by the New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner, Joris de Bres, the resource “offers insights into the beliefs and practices likely to be important to different groups of New Zealanders - particular foods or remedies, the comfort of familiar prayers and rituals, the presence of wider family and community members, ceremonies to say farewell or to dispose of the physical remains of the deceased.”

The handbook describes 32 separate ethnic, cultural and/or religious approaches to death and dying, based on the traditions of the most populous sub-groups in New Zealand. Accounts are largely based on interviews and personal experiences that provide insight rather than definitive statements and these perspectives are written in the context of immigration to New Zealand. However, Last Words is careful to recognise that even among distinct groups, there is great diversity in how death is marked: “Things aren’t fixed,” says author, Margot Schwass. “You can’t fill out a checklist and say, if you’re a nurse with a Muslim man dying in bed three, ‘I’ve got to do this, this and this.’ It’s not going to be as cut-and-dried as that.”

Recognition that migration has intersected with culture and religion to create changes in practices is also illustrated. For example, ongoing cultural migration amongst Chinese New Zealanders has revived an old tradition of throwing rice into the grave, ” a tradition that had been lost but is being revived by new migrants coming in,” says Ms Schwass.

The Impact
To engage with dying and death in a manner that is appropriate and familiar, and respecting of ethnic, cultural and religious beliefs and practices helps to bridge an emotional time. It also acknowledges the relevance of such beliefs and practices in often vastly different spaces from where they originated. Acknowledgement and understanding are often not enough and, as Dr Rod Macleod of the University of Auckland writes, planning, preparation and practice are crucial: “…to get it right we must ask what to do and how to help, … we must ensure that social and cultural aspects of life and death are identified, embraced and understood by health professionals so that the needs of patients, and their families, are met as they approach death. Planning and preparation will ensure that practitioners understand different cultural perceptions of dying and death and respect patients’ belief systems and cultural norms.”

Having a wide range of approaches to death and dying documented has resulted in a well-used resource for those working in the caregiving and funeral sectors. As FDANZ President Neil Little of Davis Funerals in Auckland explains, qualifications within the funeral profession are gained post-employment, which means initial training is largely provided within funeral homes. “Many funeral homes put together their own training programs and supplement them with whatever resources are available,” he says. “Last Words has provided an invaluable education tool for people coming in to the funeral profession and is an excellent source of knowledge around a number of cultures and faiths. Furthermore it has been of benefit to some of our colleagues in rest homes and private hospitals, as well as funeral celebrants and the clergy. Many FDANZ members provide death education in their communities and this publication has been useful in this area also.”

Baby Tomasa was reunited with her father after three months of separation

On May 20th 2007, readers of the Sunday Washington Post Magazine would have seen an arresting photo of two year Tomasa Mendez crying in her mothers arms after watching her father being hauled away by US immigration authorities.

When the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) was tipped off about a planned raid on a New Bedford garment factory it was able to activate a newly developed communications strategy and direct the way the media handled the story.

MIRA’s timing was perfect. The story ran in the middle of a heated national debate about reforming US immigration laws.

Was the story and placement a lucky coincidence for those working with and for undocumented workers? Well no. It was all part of MIRA’s carefully thought out communications plan aimed at reframing public debate about immigration.

Baby Tomasa whose crying face became the poster for the movement

MIRA is a coalition with more than 100 members working to improve the lives of immigrants and refugees. Because it had prepared itself by building relationships with the local community and the media, MIRA was able to keep one step ahead and ensure its message was at the forefront of the coverage.

Normally, local Massachusetts right wing radio blasts attacks on immigrants, but MIRA was also able to quiet them with a frontal attack,” explains MIRA’s communications associate, Shuya Ohno. This time, “We were able to generate the sympathetic frame first.”

Ohno determined to turn things round and in the months leading up to the New Bedford raid he consulted partner organisations and started implementing a strategy for getting MIRA’s voice into the immigration debate.

Starting from the premise that most reporters had no desire to hurt people and would recognise a human story if it was offered to them, Ohno cultivated journalist contacts and tutored community leaders in press etiquette. He made sure he returned every press call and sought out individuals from relevant communities to illustrate the human side of the stories. Key to the strategy was maintaining the trust of the people MIRA served, keeping a clear distinction between larger policy issues and advocacy with sensitivity for the individual.

Ali Noorani the Executive Director of MIRA adds, “I thought of how the Red Cross kept the focus during Hurricane Katrina on individuals and so we kept the focus on individuals and not immigration policy.”

MIRA’s highly coordinated and sophisticated communications strategy shifted the focus of the US immigration debate towards the largely ignored human side of the story. This included the children and families of the estimated 7 million undocumented workers adversely affected by the current laws and 3 year backlog of naturalization applications.

Recognizing that immigrants as well as community groups working with them were often unprepared to lobby effectively to meet their needs, MIRA developed strategies to mobilize both groups to speak with one voice on the issues that matter to them. Media training helped organisers understood how the media operated and was able to provide what reporters wanted. Families were prepared too, and told they didn’t have to answer questions if they didn’t want. Care was taken to maintain the immigrant workers’ dignity and ensure they were not exploited.

This result was an immigrant-led communications plan that drives how a story is developed, what information the public receives and how it shapes their opinion on the issues.

The New Bedford raid presented a perfect opportunity to put MIRA’s communications strategy to the test. The key message was agreed and fed to reporters in mainstream and ethnic media. Community leaders were identified and given talking points. Within hours of the event MIRA was ready to hold a news conference and frame the raid’s impact in its own language.

The arrest by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials of 350 “illegal workers” was immediately redefined as an action against “350 mothers and fathers”. As MIRA looked for a new line for the second day’s coverage, reports started coming in of youngsters separated from their parents turning up at a local church in New Bedford. So MIRA established a ‘press centre’ at the church and distributed news feeds focussing on the ‘destruction of the immigrant family’.

MIRA’s main aim was to steer public emotion so it would overcome the politics of fear propagated by anti-reformers. Ohno and his colleagues calculated that most people have a sympathetic response to images of mothers and crying babies. So people and personal effects became the focus of MIRA’s message, as executive director Ali Noorani explains: “We had the visual of diapers and food on a big (collection) table. We found a key community leader to do the press conference so that there was local leadership buy-in.”

Sympathetic coverage

As a result of this minute by minute monitoring and directing of activities MIRA coordinated a total of 11 press conferences and four large events in the first 12 days following the raid. Media interest was maintained with a stream of new angles including compelling stories, voices and images to build public support. Articles in the local media were followed up in The New York Times and Washington Post, as well as popular blogs like Huffington Post.MIRA’s own website U-Tube were also used to channel information and attract funds.

Ready access to a growing data bank of individual stories also improved the relationship that MIRA had with their press contacts, “We were transformed from a policy shop to an organizing shop. We became seen as a trusted convener and advocate,” says Noorani.

With sympathetic coverage of the affected families and children from media leaders like The New York Times and the Washington Post, MIRA was also able to garner the support of groups such as affluent suburban families who had traditionally not been supportive of their mandate –coverage worth over $175,000 in contributions and the popular support needed to advance immigration reform.

Racism is a learned behaviour and often, it is learned when children are very young. Children are quick to notice and mimic adult responses to people that are different from themselves in the world around them - whether these differences are physical, social or cultural.

Early childhood educators in Berlin have developed an innovative approach to cultural education for teachers and child care workers working with children as young as two years old. The Kinderwelten program uses story-telling and role-playing to help even the youngest children adapt positively to the ethnic and racial diversity that is increasingly part of their classroom and community.

The Kinderwelten program provides teachers with a wide selection of large friendly “Persona” dolls. Each dolls has a unique personality as well as characteristics that are in some way different than the group at large. Each “Persona” doll comes with its own life history that includes a family history, sibling and parent names as well as a number of stories about how they had been treated unfairly, teased or excluded because of their differences. These Persona dolls “visit” the classroom to share their stories with the youngest students. Specially trained teachers use the dolls as tool to open up a discussion about being different, the child’s feelings and responses, and most importantly, to encourage empathy for what the dolls may have experienced as a result of their unfair treatment.

The empathy based approach of the Kinderwelten program makes it unique. By deliberately seeking to cultivate and teach this trait to young students, the Kinderwelten program seeks to overcome the short term focus of other more traditional intercultural educational initiatives. For instance, while programs based around “Africa” or “Asia” week may expose children to new cultures or traditions, they do little to help children understand or relate to the actual experience of people from those cultures that may now be part of their communities.

Success
The Kinderwelten program uses an Anti-Bias approach that originated in California and was adapted for German schools by the International Academy for Innovative Education, Psychology and Economics at the Free University in Berlin. The program was particularly popular with teachers that were looking for ways to bring diversity teaching into the classroom but in a way that would be meaningful and practical for their students.

In 2000, the program was launched as a pilot at four child care facilities in Berlin that had a high percentage of immigrant children, and was soon expanded. In 2004, the Kinderwelten program was recognised by the “Transatlantic Idea Prize” for Integration and Diversity by the Körber Foundation’s Usable program. In 2005, the “Kinderwelten” concept expanded to other cities in Germany, with Stuttgart, Hanover and Jena each opening 12 new pilot programs. The Persona Doll method is now widely used internationally, with programs available in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

In November 2007, the formal project wrapped up with a series of meetings of all regional partners and in 2008 a DVD was produced describing the work done with the experiences of the Persona doll in classrooms across Germany. Today, Berlin-based Kinderwelten has renewed funding from the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the Bernard van Leer Foundation in The Hague. For the next phase of the project (2007 - 2010), Kinderwelten is partnering with day-care centers, primary and special schools to deliver Ant-Bias education incorporating Persona Doll training in after-school programs.

For a selection of library resources related to this Good Idea, see sidebar at right.

Hier geht es zur Fallstudie auf der Seite Koerber Stiftung: Vorurteilsbewusste Arbeit in Berliner Kindertagesstätten beim Projekt »Kinderwelten«.

Oratia stream planting 2007

Streams are the lifeblood our planet and are generally a natural draw to the people who live around or near them.

Leveraging this spirit, the vision for Project Twin Streams is “Working together for healthy streams and strong communities: creating a sustainable future.”

Project Twin Streams, is an innovative community initiative that brings together diverse groups around the shared goal of restoring and reclaiming local streams. This multifaceted initiative is successfully overcoming cultural differences and encouraging a sustainable community development approach to urgent and local environmental issues such as storm water management, stream restoration and pollution.

Project Twin Streams is located in Waitakere City, one of seven territorial areas within the Auckland region and home to over 186,444 residents from a range of cultural communities. For instance, 16 per cent of residents identify as “Asian”, 15 per cent as Pacific peoples, 13 per cent as Maori and 10 per cent as “other.” Thirty four per cent were born overseas, and after English, Samoan is the most common language.

Project Twin Streams community catchment areas

Located in the heart of Waitakere City is 56 Km of stream banks that are the focus of Project Twin Streams (key facts and figures).

Around the issue of restoring the health of these local waterways, Project Twin Streams builds cross cultural relationships by encouraging local groups to take ownership and responsibility for finding and implementing solutions to the problems facing the water catchment. The result has been a growth in community spirit and connection. As one local resident described, “You get to know your neighbors…you know that you are not alone and that we “awhi and tautoko” [encourage and support] each other here.”

Background

Project Twin Streams is the result of a local council- community partnership created in 2003 as part of the eco-city mandate for Waitakere City. Funding of NZ$39.5 million over a ten year period (from 2003-2012) allowed for the purchase of 100 properties in the 1:100 year flood plain to restore the natural flow of the waterways as well as 56 kilometers of streamside planting to create a natural filter for storm water runoff before it goes into the streams.

In order to engage the local community and build the sense of ownership over these issues, the Waitakere City Council began by contacting existing community groups to engage them in specific activities such as stream restoration, planning eco-sourced native plants, weeding, removing rubbish, and providing habitat for relocated native fauna.

A Cultured Environment

The use of arts to expand and celebrate community building is another unique aspect of Project Twin Streams. For example, six local community groups have collaborated on a sculpture to celebrate the cultural diversity involved in Project Twin Streams.  Janet Holt, the Project Twin Streams Arts Coordinator, says that the project has become increasingly exciting and taken on a life of its own: “This is community engagement in its purest form - all of these groups are working together to incorporate their ideas into the overall design.”

The resulting sculpture reflects this diversity. The central pillar of the sculpture is the theme of growth: the growth of nature, people, plants, community and cultures all around the stream. The bottom panel of the sculpture is based on Maori designs, the central pillar on designs from the Croatian community and the large leaves and birds on the top will be decorated in mosaics with Pacific designs.

Success

By creatively engaging a community around a shared physical issue that was literally right in their backyard, Project Twin Streams became a channel to connect local people with their council and their neighbors and a way of encouraging new migrants to build a greater sense of ownership and connection to their new homes.

In 2007, Project Twin Streams received international recognition as a finalist in the International Thiess River Prize and was Highly Commended in the Sustainable Urban Communities Category at the Auckland Regional Council’s Sustainable Environment Awards.

The success of Project Twin Streams also helped to initiate several other projects including the Project Twin Streams Sustainable Household Living demonstration, the Millbrook Edible Garden and also resulted in changes to the management and operation of Vision Waitakere Gardens, a retirement village adjacent to the streams.

Until last year, Rahul’s Dad used to drop him off at school on his way to work each morning. Recently arrived from Bangalore, India, both of Rahul’s parents were uncomfortable with the idea of him walking to school and hadn’t yet had a chance to meet any of their neighbors or his other classmates.

“Going to school is way more fun now!” Rahul enthuses. “Mom is with me, I get to be outside and I see my two best friends before class starts.”

The change is the result of the Walking School Bus (WSB) program. A “Walking School Bus” is a group of children who walk to and from school together supervised by neighborhood adults. Like a real bus, it “travels” at a set time and the children come out to join at stops situated close to where they live.

The Walking School Bus is run by adult volunteers (usually parents) who act as the “drivers” and “coordinators”. For Rahuls mom, Renu the program has also provided the opportunity for her to get involved in the local school and meet other parents. “It’s been a nice way to start to start to get to know our new community” she explains. “Now I see other parents and have an opportunity to have a casual chat and find out about the small things that can help Rahul adjust better to his new school environment.”

Established in 1999, there are now over 300 “Walking School Bus” routes operating in neighbourhoods throughout the Auckland region. Each route is coordinated through the local school, with over 1800 volunteers supporting the program city-wide. This means that more than 5,000 students use a Walking School Bus every day.

The Walking School Bus has benefited the students, the parents, the school and the local community. Daily walks provide a chance for children to learn road safety and increase their confidence and independence. Parents and caregivers have a chance to meet and speak which builds a stronger community and sense of investment in and around the school. An increase in the number of students walking has also meant a decrease in the traffic congestion and pollution on the school run. Not surprisingly the local transportation authority has also become an enthusiastic partner of the initiative.

Research from the University of Auckland has confirmed what participants in the Walking School Bus program like Renu and Rahul have experienced first hand: that particularly for new immigrants, this initiative creates community cohesion, provides an opportunity to socialize with other parents and develop a relationship with the school. The research also showed that having this relationship between home, community and school results in better outcomes for students - they tend to do better and as a result, stay in formal schooling for longer,

The success of the Walking School Bus has spread to a number of other jurisdictions and focus areas, for example:

• Waterloo (Canada), where is has been used by a local school board to support leadership initiatives for older students;
• the state of Victoria (Australia), where VicHealth piloted a walking school bus programme as a health promotion initiative in four local council areas that has expanded to include 58 council areas;
• Seattle (US), where the Harborview Medical Center was nationally recognized by the 2007 Foster McGaw Prize for its work with ethnic communities, including its use of a walking school bus programme to promote child safety in inner city neighbourhoods;
• Additionally, recent pediatric health research has evaluated the Seattle programme as an effective strategy for combating child obesity in low-income, urban neighborhoods.

Phase Two of Dublin’s Migrant Voter Campaign recently kicked off with the launch of campaign postern in another 14 languages. Each one is designed to inform the cultural and language communities of Dublin about both their right to vote and the importance of making sure they participate in elections.

Among the languages represented are Arabic, Lithuanian, Russian, Chinese, French African and Romanian.

Even if you’re not based in Dublin, go ahead and click here to download one of the posters and help inform and inspire…

In our first webinar, “Routes to Belonging: The Role of Cities in the Civic and Political Integration of Immigrants” the presentation by Kica Matos, on the City of New Haven’s brave and innovative Elm City ID Card (the first of its kind in the US) raised so many follow up questions by participants wanting to learn more that the time ran out before she could respond to them all.

As a follow up, Kica has kindly rejoined Cities of Migration to provide further insight into the program. Have another question or want to know more? See http://citiesofmigration.ca/inclusive-immigration-id/ or Contact us at: citiesofmigration@maytree.com

Question: How many non-immigrants have the ID card? What is the benefit for non-immigrants to get the ID card? - from, The Migration Policy Institute, Washington, USA

Kica: “The City of New Haven does not keep track of ID card holders on the basis of status. In addition to being an ID card per se, the card also serves as a library card, a debit card, is a coinless alternative to parking meters and garages and gives residential access to the public beach, golf course and recycling center.

Question: How did you deal with concerns that people might have had that the US national immigration authorities would want to access the names in the database? from, The Maytree Foundation, Toronto, Canada

Kica: The information in the database does not reveal anyone’s immigration status. Moreover, in 2008, the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, after a series of hearings, held that information contained in our database falls under one of the Freedom of Information exemptions and thus, cannot be released. Procedurally, to quality for this exemption, the city received a letter confirming this from the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Question: Do you have security information on your card that can accessed by the police? from, The Intercultural Work Group, Dublin North West, Inner City Network, Dublin Ireland.

Kica: Our records are private and we kept at City Hall. The information cannot be accessed by the police.

After Kyle Ismail, one of our participants in our last webinar, briefly described the cultural bridging work that his organization is doing in the streets of Chicago, we had several requests for further information on IMAN. You asked, we responded: check out the video clip for overview of their mission, success and methods: The Grow Your IMAN Campaign Documentary.