Those of you who receive the Sunday paper probably saw this already, but for the rest of you there was a nice profile in Sunday's Parade Magazine of an Iraqi family that has settled in Lincoln. It's a happy story (as are almost all Parade stories), and it portrays Lincoln as a warm, welcoming place for immigrants from Iraq, Vietnam, and elsewhere. And really Lincoln has welcomed thousands of folks from around the world over the years. It's something we ought to be proud of.
In fact, Lincoln has a nice reputation as a place for resettlement even among those who have never been here. A friend of mine moved here with his family about a decade ago. While choosing where to live, an advisor at the American embassy asked if they had any preferences on where they wanted to end up. They said no since they knew very little about the U.S. The woman then said, "Well, I hear Lincoln, Nebraska is a great place to raise a family". And here they are, with no plans to ever leave.
It's easy for Lincoln's many immigrants to disappear into the city since they tend to largely congregate among themselves in the first generation, and since we tend to congregate among ourselves whether we're aware of it or not. But they are here, and in fairly large numbers. Don't hesitate to say hi now and then.
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What great publicity for Lincoln! Zainab al-Baaj, the woman in the article who runs the MENA Hope Project at Lincoln’s Good Neighbor Community Center, will be helping women to prepare and serve some yummy worldly food at a fundraiser this Saturday. “Samples of the World” is 6pm at College View SDA Church (48th & Prescott. I’ll be there stuffing my face.
http://gncclincoln.org/
Not sure who the “we” of “since we tend to congregate among ourselves” refers to. There are a ton of opportunities to meet and interact with recent transplants to Lincoln that a ton of longtime Lincolnites have been taking advantage of for while now. Lincoln Literacy is a great example among many others. There is never a bad time to get involved.
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