ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
From left, Zainab Alkaby, Rafad Dhumad, Amelia Ferreras and Glendy Solis give a round of applause for Dan Rodriguez, the person who produced the films about their lives, at Lynn English High School.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — While students study immigration in school, they rarely get the chance to tell their own story of how they came to the U.S.
That’s about to change for 11 English High School teenagers who made short films showcasing how difficult the transition to a new country can be.
Each student movie is up to three minutes and depicts the teens’ arrival amid financial struggles and a language barrier.
Glendy Solis, 19, a junior at the high school, tells of her journey from Guatemala to America. En route, she had to catch a moving train by grabbing onto the outstretched arm of her guide. She went days without food and eventually moved in with her 36-year-old brother in Lynn, who she hadn’t seen since she was a baby.
“I remember how sad I was,” Solis said. “I wanted to have a better life.”
The short films will be shown on Wednesday at the high school during the Living in Two Worlds Film Festival at 6 p.m. Admission is free. The program, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation, examines the challenges and rewards of life as bicultural teens.
Rafad Dhumad was born in Iraq and said her father, a former reporter for an Iraqi newspaper, went to jail for asking the country’s prime minister controversial questions during an interview. She moved to Syria, but when her neighborhood was bombed, she moved back to Iraq. With the tension surrounding her father, she knew Iraq was no longer safe and came to America in 2013.
Maybelline Hidalgo, 16, a junior, came from the Dominican Republic. Born to young parents, she was raised by her grandmother before coming the U.S. with her father in 2011.
She had to struggle when she arrived in Lynn. Things improved when she moved to New York for four years before making her way back to Lynn. She said school saved her life during the difficult times. Hidalgo said opening up about her story to make the film was initially difficult.
“I always kept my secrets to myself,” she said.
Now, her life has improved and she is much closer with to father, Hidalgo added.
Zainab Alkaby, a 16-year-old sophomore, tells about life as an Iraqi living in Kuwait, especially as tension between the two countries mounted in 1990. She was unable to attend school while living in Kuwait, as Iraqis were not allowed to attend public school. She arrived in the U.S in 2010, which was also difficult because she didn’t speak English and was unfamiliar with clothing styles.
“I didn’t know how to fit in,” she said.
But Alkaby found her place in school, where she learned the language. Now, she is a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
“I never opened up like that to anyone before,” she said about her film. “I saw others and it just made me more comfortable. It made me realize I’m not the only one who has a story.”
Amelia Ferreras, 17, a junior, made her way to America from the Dominican Republic. She initially lived in Peabody, a city that lacked English Language Learner (ELL) classes. When she was in seventh grade, she moved to Lynn, where she started ELL classes.
As her English improved, she enrolled in mainstream classes when she got a better grasp on the language and joined the ROTC. She plans to enlist in the U.S. Army following graduation from high school.
“I took initiative,” she said. “I knew the only way is to learn English.”
Ginny Keenan, program coordinator, said the search is ongoing to find additional funding and continue the project, which only selects a dozen students annually.
“The purpose of the program is to help people understand different cultures and to bridge the gap,” Keenan said. “We’re hoping people will come in here and learn about new cultures and what it’s like for teenagers to come into a new country and meet their goals.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at gcawley@itemlive.com. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.