Lifting the language barrier

This church group is helping recent immigrants figure out how to function in their new city and country. DP
Church helps refugees read, speak English

By Rosa Salter Rodriguez, The Journal Gazette

journalgazette.net: Betsy Kachmar is standing in front of a huge screen in an auditorium at Fort Wayne’s Fellowship Missionary Church, working with that most American of educational techniques – a PowerPoint presentation.

On the screen, pictures flash of buses and maps of Fort Wayne, with Citilink routes indicated by mazes of colored lines labeled with numbers and letters.

In the audience are about 100 refugees from the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Many are in native dress, which can include flowing tunics for men, and women’s faces are painted white as a sign of beauty.

Many have grown up in refugee camps in Thailand. Most speak little English and have never ridden or even seen a public transit bus before coming to the United States.

Yet family groups huddle diligently, poring over maps, while some sit singly, writing down curlicued Asian characters on sheets of notebook paper as a translator outlines what Kachmar says. As the Citilink communications director finishes her talk about how to recognize a bus stop, pay a fare and obtain a transfer, she asks whether there are any questions.
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