With Sarah’s earnest desire to become a U.S. Citizen, not only for herself – but for her children, it will surely lead her down the path to success. I can’t thank you enough, Jan, for the time, energy and patient heart you are putting into helping Sarah succeed with her goal! I look forward to seeing Sarah being sworn in as a U.S. citizen at her naturalization ceremony!

Amanda will be working with Samira and neighbor, Mara, to help them both prepare for their drivers permit tests. When they’ve completed this goal they will begin studying for their citizenship tests with Amanda. Amanda has volunteered to take both women to different events in the area to get them out of their apartments and more involved in the community. Thank you for helping Mara and Samira achieve their goals, and for being a friend to them, Amanda!

Samira’s children were some of the most polite and charming children I’ve ever met. I brought a big bag of books for them and they couldn’t of been more thrilled. Four year old, Malka, tugged on my sleeve throughout the mentor set up saying “Please ma’am, could you please read just one page of this book to me.” My heart melted.

Robert (far left) with Zacharia and Theresa

Today was a great day! Bob became a volunteer mentor with Giving+Learning and has begun mentoring Zacharia and his wife, Theresa, from Sudan. Theresa desperately wants to obtain her U.S. citizenship so she will be able to visit her family in Sudan – it has been 13 years since they have last seen their family! With young children at home and a full time 3rd shift job, Theresa rarely gets an opportunity to attend school. She needs to practice reading and writing in order to pass her citizenship test.

Zacharia is taking on-line classes and is asking for help to understand the material. Bob is just the man! Thank you for offering to help and being such a positive breath of fresh air and wisdom in this family’s life! I’m excited to hear stories!

When Kevin Brooks isn’t busy, serving as Chair for the English Department at NDSU, he has also been developing a relationship with a couple from Somalia. Since 2009, Kevin has been meeting with them for about one hour every week to help them develop their English skills.

Kevin says that he was first interested in volunteering at G+L because of his own work on a documentary about one of Fargo’s Lost Boys of Sudan. The African Soul, American Heart project took him to Kenya and Sudan in December of 2007. He has experienced refugee camps, which he says was life-changing, writing about his experience in this essay in the NDSU Magazine, “The Trip of a Lifetime Doesn’t Need to Come to an End.”

He wants future volunteers to know how the Giving + Learning mentor experience is rewarding to both mentors and mentees. “They have a very high interest in learning,” says Kevin, and helping them practice has brought him from the use of picture dictionaries to flash cards, and even despite the language barrier still, Kevin notes how his mentees seem to always pull the discussion into international affairs. He enjoys how his mentor relationship has become very informal over the years, and has a tip for the first time mentor.

He found that it was a great ice breaker to bring a map to the first few meetings, so that his mentees could show him where they came from and what they had endured to get here. “It’s been an ongoing conversation now,” says Kevin. (We, at G+L, recommend this as well. Go to our G+L Maps page to find out more.)

As an professor at NDSU, Kevin sees the importance of education everyday, so he hopes that you seriously consider contributing to Giving Plus Learning in whatever way possible. Kevin sees this local effort as an integral part of the F-M community, bridging the divide between the expanding cultural diversity of the area. “Giving Plus Learning is really a gift to the community,” say Kevin, and he hopes that you will help give back, too.

To learn more about how you can contribute to Giving + Learning, check out our Donate or Volunteering pages.

This is the typical scene experienced about two to three times a week in the apartment of Masekanya and Olive Nimbona. Originally from Burundi, the two fled from their country during the 1972 genocide. They endured time in refugee camps in the Congo and Tanzania before coming to Fargo in 2009.

The family is grateful for being able to live in the United States. “In America, we have freedom and enough food,” says Gabriel, one of the couple’s eight children.

Life in America, however, has had its difficulties. Prior to December 2010, Masekanya and Olive knew almost no English, and the opportunity to learn it was slim. Because the family has no vehicle, Masekanya and Olive were unable to attend Adult Education classes. Olive has had additional obstacles to learning English, since she could not read or write in her native language, Kirundi. And while Masekanya has a job, Olive usually doesn’t leave the apartment except for church, due to a stroke that she suffered during childbirth. Olive says that trips out of the apartment are very exhausting for her, so she finds it unfortunate that she has limited opportunities to interact with English speakers.

Giving + Learning has provided an opportunity for the Nimbona family that they would not have had otherwise. Dianna Hatfield-Clemenson (read about her experience) began mentoring the family, particularly Masekanya and Olive, in December 2010. Masekanya and Olive are thankful for Dianna’s help, as their English lanuage skills have improved significantly in a short amount of time.

Olive has mastered several vocabulary words, and Masekanya’s sentences are becoming increasingly longer. In addition, Dianna helps the children in such ways as taking them to the library and giving them driving lessons. The family greatly appreciates Dianna’s help and eagerly awaits each mentoring session.

“Dianna, you come every day,” says Masekanya jokingly and often. The Nimbona’s have endured much throughout their lives, and Masekanya and Olive appreciate the dedication, compassion, and friendship of their Giving + Learning mentor, Dianna.

“I wanted to be a part of something more than just my own life,” says Ann Chale, a retired school teacher who lives in Fargo and mentors for Giving + Learning (G+L).

Ann mentors refugees because it gives her a sense of satisfaction. The fall after her husband passed away, she realized that she wanted to get back into the community again and to feel the satisfaction of helping others. During that time, she found out about G+L by reading her church bulletin, and she became involved by mentoring refugees for the organization.

Those who know Ann or even have just met her can see the big heart she has. The instant people talk with her, they feel welcomed into her life, comfortable and ready to learn. These are the feelings that come with being in any great teacher’s presence.

Ann had been a first grade teacher for twenty-six years and even taught remedial English for a time. When she saw the ad for G+L in her church bulletin, she felt it was something she was supposed to do.

“I knew I had the skills for it, and it just seemed like a good fit, a way for me to get back into the community,” Ann says.

G+L has clearly been the right choice for Ann because she has gotten much satisfaction from teaching and helping refugees. She loves knowing that she is helping others and giving back. For Ann, mentoring for G+L is a perfect opportunity to utilize her skills and follow her passions.

Learning about new cultures and following the journey that G+L has taken her on are two of Ann’s greatest joys. She finds that even if cultures are worlds apart, all human beings are quite similar.

Ann recalls with fondness a lady from Liberia who never had a written language. The lady considered herself an English speaker, but her English was very different from English as Americans see it. This lady wanted to learn to read, so Ann diligently worked with her, knowing that the gift of reading is one of the most precious treasures in the world.

According to Ann, G+L is definitely an organization to become involved with. Mentors don’t need a teaching degree to help with their language skills. Most refugees are simply looking for friendship and a way to better integrate with a different culture.

For G+L, hope is a key concept. Hope was needed to start the organization, and hope is needed by all the refugees that are waiting for someone to reach out to them. Hope is the greatest gift that one can give, and for this reason and numerous others, Ann highly recommends mentoring for G+L.

“I admire this program and the people who started this program. It is truly something to be proud of and something to get involved with,” Ann says.

Dianna has been mentoring Masekanya and Olive Nimbona (read about their story) since December 2010. With her guidance they are learning to speak, read, and write English at a remarkable pace. When they first met, Olive didn’t know how to properly hold a pencil, but by April 2011, she was writing her name. Masekanya barely spoke a word of English, but now he greets everyone joyously and shows off his skills by telling the full date. “They’re eager. They’re diligent. They work hard,” Dianna says while pointing to a calendar to help Masekanya and Olive practice reading and speaking the days of the week.

Dianna was the CEO of Girl Scouts – Pine to Prairie Council until 2007 when the Girl Scouts headquarters was moved due to a merger. Afterwards, she worked as an Executive Recruiter for Spherion Staffing, but because of her involvement with Girl Scouts, she left to seek a career that “made the world a better place.”

This desire to make the world a better place is evident in Dianna’s life. She is an active member of the community and is involved in such groups as Rotary. It was through Rotary and fellow member, Dr. Jim McCulley, that Dianna was introduced to Giving + Learning. On a Friday afternoon, she met with Giving + Learning Volunteer Coordinator Rachel Mertz. Since Dianna has a Masters degree in Child Development and Family Science, Rachel set her up with the large Nimbona family. The very next Monday, Dianna met the Nimbona’s for the first time.

When watching her interactions with the grateful family and listening to their conversations and lessons, it is apparent that the relationship between Dianna and the Nimbona’s isn’t one of teacher and student but one of a close friend helping another friend. Not only does Dianna help the Nimbona’s learn English, but she also takes the kids to the library, offers to help with their driving lessons, and gives the family rides to and from work since they do not have a car of their own. The bond between Dianna and the Nimbona’s is clear and strong. There is an appreciation for the time they spend together even if it is only a few hours a week. The amount of time matters little as the family is grateful to have Dianna in their lives and thankful that Giving + Learning brought them together.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Dianna admits between praises of Olive’s improving skills. “This is the most rewarding work I’ve ever done—paid or unpaid.” She went on to say that no one needs a degree or special skills to be a mentor for Giving + Learning: “You just need compassion.”