Here’s a Tip of the Week a step outside the usual — the short story, Lu, Reshaping, by Madeleine Thien, which recently appeared in the New Yorker magazine. In the broadest terms, it’s a story about a Chinese immigrant’s struggle to make emotional sense of a life in the United States.

In some respects it’s a familiar saga. The female protagonist must rely on her pre-teen daughter to clean up the English in her writing for work. With her work-mates she is the Other, stuck just outside their easy companionship. People with less experience climb up the ladder while she remains stuck. At home she’s alienated from her husband, who is more a pragmatic associate than lover. Hence a series of secret affairs.

For Exchange readers there’s a particular bonus — the story contains a fascinating trove of Chinese idioms that render emotional states into unexpected language. Read the piece to discover the context and meaning of sayings such as, Did a ghost hit the back of your head?; Stop kicking tangerines around; and, I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice.

Here’s an another resource offered by the YMCA of the North for new immigrants seeking help with referrals to social services, employment, medical assistance and more. The YMCA’s New American Welcome Centers and Refugee Hubs support immigrants through integration services, community partnerships and strategies to build cross-cultural understanding.

The Y’s Welcome Centers and Refugee Hubs are located at St. Paul Eastside, Blaisdell, Burnsville, River Valley, Emma B. Howe in Coon Rapids, Ridgedale, and University YMCAs.

Among the services provided are:

• Family well-being inventories
• Referral to Immigration, employment and cash assistance
• Community orientation workshops
• Public Assistance navigation and direct assistance with applications
• Child care
• ESL courses
• Housing search and energy assistance
• Driving license application and driving classes
• Elder care and more

Get more information from Ali AlGhafilee, the Y’s family support specialist, at
ali.alghafilee@ymcamn.org, (612) 465-0596.

For a examination of an Afghan family’s exodus to Minnesota, take a look at this detailed story just published in Sahan Journal, “The 44-day journey that changed Muhammad Nishat’s life.”

(Sahan Journal describes itself as a “nonprofit digital newsroom fully dedicated to providing authentic news reporting for and with immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.” For anyone interested the insider’s perspective on immigrant issues, it’s worth a bookmark on your browser.)

Nishat, whose work brought him into regular contact with US forces in Afghanistan, escaped with his wife and eight children, but only after a harrowing trip across Kabul to the desperate scene at the international airport. After three days at the airport, he and his family got jammed in a plane to Qatar. From there it was on to Germany, Virginia, New York, and, finally, Minnesota. Now the family awaits stable housing in a hotel that remains unnamed for security reasons.

Fifty-five thousand Afghans are currently in the early stages of resettlement. About 100 of them have already arrived in Minnesota. Sahan Journal reports that Minnesota has promised to resettle more than 500 Afghans shortly, while resettlement agencies push for an additional 400 people.

With a new wave of Afghani refugees right around the corner, here’s an opportunity to learn more about best practices when interacting with recent arrivals.

The free webinar, “Best Practices in Newcomer and Immigrant Health: A Virtual Short Course for Clinicians and Interpreters,” will be offered from 1-4 pm, September 21 and 28. Organized by the Center of Excellence in Newcomer Health, the webinar is aimed at physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and professional medical interpreters.

For more information on this course and registration info, go to: A Virtual Short Course for Clinicians and Interpreters. 

With the pull-out of US troops from the 20-year ware in Afghanistan comes a new international refugee crisis, as aid groups declare that they’re prepping for the displacement of tens of thousands as the Taliban takes over swaths of the beleaguered country.

The millions of Afghans who have previously fled violence have landed in Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, where they are often impoverished, subject to work limits and pressured to leave.

The American Immigration Council is a quick and easy source for an overlook at Minnesota’s immigrant community. It’s Minnesota-specific fact sheet is available here.

You’ll find some surprising information within. For example:

• Nine percent of state residents are immigrants;
• This nine percent comprised 11 percent of the state workforce, with a concentration in the health care and manufacturing sectors;
• In the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metropolitan area in 2018, 11 percent of business owners were immigrants.
• Immigrant-led households in the state paid $2.9 billion in federal taxes and $1.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2018.

The American Immigration Council says that it works “toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring.” Sign up for the organization’s email list here. The Council’s website and blog offer perspectives on how the US immigration system works, the ins-and-outs of the Dream Act, the complexities of the Central American refugee crisis and more.