Why Three Generations of One Family Love Madonna Mission By Mary Wagner
It's 7 pm and your son or daughter is struggling with a homework assignment. It’s an essay, or prep for an upcoming test. You look over their shoulder and point out what they might have missed or tease out answers with nudges and hints. But what if you were unable to help them study? And what if that meant that you saw your most cherished dreams for your child’s future slipping out of reach? The language barrier is formidable for refugee families who come to Chicago from all over the world. Over the past 12 years, donor- funded work of Madonna Mission has broken though that barrier with programs that make the critical difference in helping refugee children to succeed in classrooms, and their parents to successfully resettle in a new country thousands of miles from home.
Leterbirhn Naizgi
Leterbirhn Naizgi’s home country is Eritrea, which borders on Ethiopia to the south and the Red Sea to the east. This 75 year-old grandmother is one of three generations of the Berhane/Naizgi family who say their life in Chicago would be vastly different if not for Madonna Mission. It’s where Leterbirhn learned to hold a pencil and wrote her name in English for the first time. Her granddaughter, Betlehem Berhane, 15, translates her grandmother’s native Tigrinya speech. “She’s grateful for the help that Madonna Mission has given because they understand our schoolwork,” Betlehem said. “Our parents don’t understand and can’t help us.”
Betlehem Berhane
Betlehem’s own story is a case in point. Now fluent as a teen and doing well as a junior at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, she had difficulty with English when she was younger and had to repeat the third grade. With the help of tutors in the Madonna Mission’s After School Program, “The second time was much better,” she said. “I was able to learn.” Rahaset Naizgi, Betlehem’s mother, and her husband were the first family members to reach the U.S. Fleeing a repressive Eritrean government, they arrived in Chicago in 2009 with Betlehem and her older brother, Mikiyas, sponsored by the Ethiopian Agency.
Rahaset Naizgi with her youngest, Ermias
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