The Need for Advocacy
by Jonathan Giftos
First Grade Teacher 01/04 - 07/04
I think it's safe to say that teaching first grade was at once the most challenging and most rewarding experience I've had in my short lifetime. While certainly inexperienced in teaching first grade when I arrived in Honduras, I was able to struggle and learn alongside my fellow teachers and enjoy an incredibly organic experience living and working in an encouraging and supportive community. The classroom experience afforded some new skills, for which I'm very grateful, and I grew in my ability to teach young minds to love reading, be creative, and dance for no reason at all. However, it was my exposure to forced migration, gained as a result of the intimate relationships forged between teacher and community, that has had the most lasting affect on my life and career aspirations.
During my time in Honduras, I experienced at once a beautiful country rich in history and culture, and a struggling country ripe with systemic injustices that challenge many of its citizens to simply survive. I witnessed the severe hardships that might force one to leave his/her country in search of a living wage, and I saw the tremendous sacrifices families would make in order to provide their children with the basic necessities of food, shelter, health care and education. As a first grade teacher, nearly half of my student's families were torn apart through this need to migrate, and long talks with student's families helped me to appreciate that the decision to do so is never an easy one. Seeing this forced migration, I became very interested in observing and learning about this country's policies toward migrants, and I felt compelled to contribute to the growing efforts to make such a difficult process a little easier.
I am currently a Jesuit Volunteer, living in North Camden, NJ and working as an Immigration Advocate and Counselor at the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice. I also serve as an immigration consultant for the offices of US Senator Frank Lautenberg and US Representative Robert Andrews. Our law office handles cases concerning family based petitions, political asylum, immigrant victims of domestic violence, suspension of deportation or cancellation of removal, and some citizenship applications. Specifically, I've been able to assist the Honduran community that migrated here after Hurricane Mitch in taking advantage of their eligibility for Temporary Protected Status and Temporary Work Authorization. The majority of my time is spent working directly with clients, though given the often unforgiving nature of immigration policy, many of our clients fall outside the scope of our legal help. It is in these cases that I've been able to counsel clients concerning their rights as undocumented residents of this country, and alleviate certain concerns or worries that can often haunt those here without permission.
During the upcoming academic year I will be studying Social Work and Social Welfare at the Columbia University's School of Social Work, hopefully focusing on Latino settlement in the United States and the components of international social welfare that drive immigration.