But while the acting scene was silent in New York, things were anything but quiet in Armenia, where Djirdjirian’s family hails from. In September 2020 a war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a semi-autonomous state that is populated by ethnic Armenians but lies within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan.

The area, which was once part of the Soviet Union, has been a source of conflict since 1988 when residents declared their independence from Azerbaijan and allegiance to Armenia. Fighting in the September 2020 war lasted 44 days and resulted in nearly 7,000 deaths before a ceasefire was declared.

Djirdjirian joined members of the Armenian diaspora in New York City to support the civilians and fighters in Armenia and to call attention to their plight, which has been documented by the group Genocide Watch. In addition to shipping supplies to Armenians, she helped organize multiple protests, including “Report the Truth” march, which started at NBC’s Rockefeller Center studios and ended at ABC’s studios at Lincoln Center, where organizers staged a three-hour rally.

She also enrolled in Fordham’s Graduate School of Service (GSS), and in December she will graduate with a Master’s in Social Work. In addition to sounding the alarm about the plight of Armenians, Djirdjirian now hopes to tend to the mental health needs of the diaspora.

“In 2020, we were doing all these things, and unfortunately, we were getting no media attention. A lot of us in the community had burned out. Our mental health was not good, our physical health was not good. We were not sleeping, we were not eating, and we were still expected to go about our day as if our people were not being murdered,” she said.

“So, I said, ‘I need to help in a more official capacity.’ If that means that I need to get my master’s in social service and pick up a few skills that I can apply to this situation, then that’s what I need to do.”

A Volatile Situation

In September of this year, Azerbaijan forces attacked Armenia and for the first time, crossed the internationally recognized border between the two countries. A cease-fire was declared on Oct. 7, but the peace is fragile. Armenia belongs to an umbrella alliance that is overseen by Russia, but news reports have indicated that Russian leaders’ preoccupation with its war with Ukraine may be distracting them from other arrangements, such as those in Armenia.

Complicating matters further, Azerbaijan receives support from Turkey, with whose people it shares ethnic ties. Although Turkey is a United States ally and a member of NATO, the United States government has taken the side of Armenia when it comes to what is known as the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide. That event, which took place in the early 20th century and resulted in the death or deportation of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians, happened when Turkey was the seat of what was then the Ottoman Empire and is recognized by the White House every April 24.

On Sept. 22, U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Armenia to show support for the country. Djirdjirian said she found it heartening and said she hoped it would lead to pressure to cut aid that the United States currently contributes to Azerbaijan.

“It definitely gives me hope, because not only did Pelosi visit Armenia, but she made a very clear statement naming Azerbaijan as the aggressor who needs to back off their offensive. That is the first time in history that someone from the U.S. has made that very clear distinction,” she said.

Gaining the Tools to Help Others

At Fordham, Djirdjirian found the tools she needs to influence policy through classes such as International Social Development and Capacity Building, which she took with Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., and her field placement at the Goddard Riverside Community Center, which is two blocks away from the Lincoln Center campus.

Popescu, who works extensively on behalf of asylum seekers, said that one of the goals of GSS is to train students to think systemically and look at all the factors contributing to complex problems. The situation in Armenia was a complex emergency with multiple possible crises, and that was even before the COVID pandemic, she said.

“Is Ani prepared? Yes. Does she have a lot to learn to truly be instrumental in the work she wants to do? Absolutely. But she came across in my class as someone who realizes she has a lot to learn, she knows how to listen, and she’s great at networking and identifying people and groups who can support her in her effort,” she said.

Popescu noted that when she was still a student, her mentor told her the best social workers “are entering through the client’s door,” much as Djirdjirian will be if she works directly with those affected by the crisis after graduation.

“The caveat is that when you come through the client’s door, you really have to address your own trauma; otherwise, you’ll be triggered by the trauma of others,” she said.

“You don’t need to be the client, but when your family has been discriminated against, you understand that and if you decide to find a way to address it for your family and beyond, you become a much more capable graduate student.”

Djirdjirian is right to focus on the way that collective trauma can be passed on through generations, given Armenia’s history, Popescu said.

“When I think about the displacement that the Armenian population has had to deal with, you have people scattered around the world, carrying around with them trauma that they don’t have the resources to address,” she said.

“Let’s say a person identifies a therapist who speaks their language. That means a lot. [But they may] still be facing a therapist who has absolutely no understanding of the trauma that they’re carrying or the experience of conflict and displacement they lived through. That’s what happens with displaced, traumatized populations, where generations after generations carry that trauma with them, and now they’re bringing it into a new context.”

Connecting to the International Community

At Goddard Riverside Community Center, where Djirdjirian, Susan Matloff-Nieves, vice president for innovation and justice, said she recognized early on that Djirdjirian would benefit as much from her organization’s international connections such as the International Federation of Settlements (ISF) as she would from working on local issues, such a get out the vote campaign and with youth and young adults.

She connected Djirdjirian with Bobbi Nassar, a member of IFS who is a co-chair of the United Nation’s NGO Committee on Human Rights. Through Nassar, Djirdjirian is learning how change happens on an institutional level, Matloff-Nieves said. On Oct. 27, for instance, Djirdjirian presented a briefing on the status of Armenia to the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York and the Office of Disarmament Affairs.

“Good community organizing requires good relationship building. You have to build those individual relationships,” she said, noting that clinical work and community organizing both rely on building relationships and supporting people to change behavior.

Post-Graduation Plans

Djirdjirian is realistic regarding the challenges ahead. Asked to describe Armenia’s plight in a nutshell, she points to the philosophy of Pan Turkism, whose goal is to unite all Turkic peoples, such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Armenia, whose people are not Turkic, is stuck between the two, and Djirdjirian fears that because Armenians were the victim of genocide once before, the current conflict may spiral out of control again as the Turkish and Azerbaijan governments push to unify their peoples.

She plans to continue to advocate for Armenians and hopes to combine her new skills with the skills she had before she came to Fordham.

“If I can take this human rights knowledge and spread the word through my art, whether it’s writing, music, or creating a documentary, or some sort of campaign that will move people, I think that’s what I need to do,” she said.

“I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but I’m trusting that it will reveal itself to me through this work and just through time. I know that when the time is right, something beautiful is going to come of marrying these two.”

—Photos courtesy of Ani Djirdjirian

The coalition has more than 50 representatives from non-governmental psychology organizations, including Fordham faculty and alumni—most notably, PCUN’s president, David Marcotte, S.J. The scholars work together to develop research-based recommendations for policymakers at the U.N. 

“The primary goal of PCUN is to promote evidence-based policies,” said Harold Takooshian, Ph.D., PCUN’s treasurer and secretary and professor of psychology and urban studies and director of the organizational leadership program at Fordham. “We behavioral scientists feel that the best way to make policies is based on evidence. We conduct research on timely topics like migration and hunger, and research helps us find better solutions to problems.”

Throughout the pandemic, PCUN not only continued to work, but experienced its greatest growth, including a new book series that released its latest book this May, said Takooshian. Thanks to virtual programming, PCUN was able to increase the number of participants in its annual U.N. Psychology Day celebration from hundreds of people at an in-person gathering to nearly 2,000 virtual registrants in a Zoom call last year, said Takooshian. PCUN also started a monthly webinar series where scholars are invited to discuss their work, including renowned psychologist Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., and Fordham GSS associate professor Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., an expert on forced migration. 

‘We Need Help From Everyone’ 

One of PCUN’s biggest contributions is its book series on how scholars can use behavioral science to address today’s global challenges, particularly the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030—a list of global challenges that the U.N. aims to address. 

All three books in the series can be used as resources in college courses related to psychology, social work, and international studies, said Takooshian. The books can also help people become more aware of timely issues—not just scholars, but people from all walks of life, said Elaine Congress, Ph.D., a book editor for this series and associate dean and professor at GSS. 

“Psychologists and social workers don’t have all the answers. There are so many problems facing the world, and we need help from everyone,” said Congress, a social worker who serves as the the main representative of the Fordham NGO at the U.N. “Our book contributors—psychologists, social workers, U.N. officials, heads of NGOs, and experts in other fields—really manifest this. It’s important that this is a multidisciplinary effort.” 

Researching Life-Changing Conditions and Potential Solutions

The book series was developed by not only Fordham professors, but also undergraduate and graduate students, some of whom are now alumni. 

Sanhaya Soi, FCRH ’21, connected with Sameena Azhar, Ph.D., assistant professor at GSS, over their shared Indian heritage, and they collaborated on a chapter about mental health in India in the most recent book, Behavioral Science in the Global Arena: Global Mental, Spiritual, and Social Health. 

“The way that mental health is viewed in Eastern societies versus Western societies is pretty different. In individualistic nations like America, mental health has a scientific outlook. In India, mental health is seen in regards to what karma or fate you are born with,” said Soi, who was born and raised in India and immigrated to the U.S. four years ago. 

Soi said she hopes her chapter helps people understand how stigmatization of mental health developed in India and other countries—an issue that will continue to stay relevant after the pandemic is over.   

“Mental health is something that people have been struggling with since the beginning of time,” said Soi, who earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Fordham and now works as a recruitment consultant for Kintec Search, Inc. 

Shenae Osborn, GSS ’21, who earned her master’s degree in social work and interned at the U.N., co-edited two books and co-authored two chapters. One of her book chapters, which will be published in the upcoming book Behavioral Science in the Global Arena: Global Health Trends and Issues, describes the difficulties of caring for a family member with dementia—an illness that is on the rise—and explains how to support people with dementia and their caregivers. Her other chapter, published in Behavioral Science in the Global Arena: Global Mental, Spiritual, and Social Health, shows how Christians and Jews often turn to their religion for hope, especially when they encounter a difficult situation like a terminal health diagnosis. 

Osborn, a psychotherapist and volunteer U.N. representative for the International Federation of Social Workers, said that she hopes her overall work makes a difference in the world. 

“I have had the opportunity to work on improving policies to reflect real modern-day situations like COVID-19,” said Osborn, a California native who plans to own her own practice where she can continue to work with low-income individuals. “My contribution, although small, is still a step in making a difference.”

A Longtime Relationship with the United Nations

Fordham’s relationship with the U.N. extends beyond PCUN. In 2013, Fordham became one of 16 universities to work with the UN as a non-governmental organization (NGO) that raises public awareness about U.N. activities and global issues. Fordham and the U.N. have co-hosted events, including the U.N.’s first International Educational Day. The University has also selected students for leadership training at the U.N. and developed a special field practicum for Fordham social work students who intern at U.N.-affiliated organizations. 

Takooshian said he hopes that PCUN will continue to help scientists reach policymakers, particularly with its book series that will expand in the coming years. 

“Almost everything related to peace, urbanization, and health is behaviorally-based. That is, human behavior shapes these problems,” said Takooshian. “The premise of our book series is that studying human behavior is able to reduce the problems, and I’m glad to say that the U.N. itself embraces what we’re talking about. In the past three years, they started a behavioral science unit. PCUN does not work with them yet—but it’s just a matter of time.”

“The idea is to support women who are seeking asylum and to make their transition and waiting period more bearable and sustainable,” said Marciana L. Popescu, Ph.D., website co-founder and associate professor in the Graduate School of School Service. “We want the ability to preserve confidentiality and anonymity for online visitors. This is extremely important because we’re dealing with a population that lives in fear.”

More than 79 million people are displaced worldwide, according to a 2020 report from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and more than half are women. Tens of thousands are in New York City alone. Few attempt to seek health care services in fear of deportation, and the pandemic has worsened the situation, especially for women asylum seekers, said Popescu. 

Her Migrant Hub was built thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. In addition to accessing resources on the site, asylum seekers can share best practices and meet women who have experienced similar struggles. The project began in January; the website was launched in late June in honor of World Refugee Day. 

“It’s designed by the women, down to the colors that are used on the website, the images, the graphics, the logo, the website name itself—everything was done collaboratively and driven by the women who are part of this group,” said Dana Alonzo, Ph.D., website co-founder and GSS professor who specializes in mental health. 

Showing the Experts What’s Missing

The website was developed by a team of about 20 people, including a Fordham graduate student and an alumnus. Because Her Migrant Hub was developed in conjunction with the target audience—the women asylum seekers themselves—it is unlike many resources developed by experts and scholars, said Popescu and Alonzo. 

“They are teaching us what it means to be an asylum seeker, to live in NYC and not be able to get the services you need,” said Alonzo. “They are looking at the website and saying, ‘This is what we’re missing.’” 

Among them is Marthe Kiemde, 36, who fled political persecution in Burkina Faso with her husband while pregnant in 2016. She said that during their first four years in the U.S., they raised their newborn in New York City shelters, where they also received career training and got back on their feet. 

“I know many immigrant women who are struggling right now. They don’t know where to go to get any services, especially in health care. They are afraid to go because they don’t have any papers … But this website is secure,” said Kiemde, who helped research immigration and childcare policies for Her Migrant Hub and now works as a hospital dietary associate. “With this program, we’re going to help many, many women.” 

Another website collaborator is Vanessa Rosales-Linares, 40, an asylum seeker from Venezuela. She said she was an anesthesiologist who fled her native country in 2017 with her husband and 8-year-old daughter after giving medical treatment to government protesters and fearing punishment from political leaders. Rosales-Linares said she now wants to help people who were once in her position. 

“[The website has] good information because it’s from many people who have in the past had the same problems. They are telling their histories and teaching how to improve their situation for new immigrants,” said Rosales-Linares, a website designer for Her Migrant Hub and a nursing student at Lehman College. 

‘A Window Into What Is Happening’

In addition to providing local health care resources, Her Migrant Hub simplifies the asylum seeking process and an asylum seeker’s rights in New York City through text and graphics. It also provides an online forum where women asylum seekers and allies can share their experiences and read stories that help them feel less alone, said Popescu and Alonzo. 

This fall, the website will launch several new features, including expanded translation services; a workshop webinar series designed and co-taught by women asylum seekers; and Her Migrant World, an educational page that takes a deeper look at global migration and the people at the center of it all. 

“We hope that Her Migrant World will be a window into what is happening and why people take so many risks to come here and the reality on the ground,” Popescu said. 

‘This Feels Like Home’ 

After project funding ends in December, Popescu said she is confident that her team will continue to make a difference in the lives of women asylum seekers across the city. Within their team, they have also found a home. 

“We talk all the time. All our joys and sorrows started to be shared in the group, so the group provides support,” said Popescu, adding that they chat via WhatsApp. “At our second meeting or so when we first met, one of the women said, ‘This feels like home.’”

The grants—totaling $600,000— have been awarded by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. They will fund University efforts to provide mental health services to young people, help women asylum seekers, and teach English language learners.

Fordham Provost Dennis Jacobs, Ph.D., said he’s grateful to the foundation for supporting the University’s work in the community.

“Fordham is deeply committed to applying its academic and programming expertise in partnership with organizations in the surrounding neighborhood to help address the most pressing needs within the Bronx community,” said Jacobs. “Through the generous support of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, Fordham is particularly focused on how it can assist those who have been most devastated by the interconnected crises of 2020.”

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation provides grants to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable New Yorkers, aiming to eliminate barriers to care. The foundation’s values reflect Fordham’s mission and those of the organization’s namesake, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, who was known during her lifetime as a staunch advocate for immigrants, children, and the poor. The foundation originated from the 2018 sale of Fidelis Care, a nonprofit health insurer run by the bishops of the Catholic dioceses of New York.

Virtual Mental Health Services

The first grant of $300,000 will support a virtual mental health program to be run by the Graduate School of Education called Clinical Mental Health Services in the Bronx Community. It will use telemental health services to reach at-risk students between the ages of 8 and 16. The program responds to the pandemic-related suspension of existing programs that Fordham delivered at schools and community organizations before the crisis began. Four cohorts of 25 students in need of help—whether from stress related to gun violence, racism, the pandemic, or other factors—will be assessed and receive therapy. The program will offer two 45-minute intensive sessions per week for the students. Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., associate dean for educational partnerships at GSE, helped facilitate the grant and GSE psychology professor Eric Chen, Ph.D., will direct the program.

Helping Women Asylum Seekers

A second grant of $150,000 will be used to help women asylum seekers in New York City gain access to much-needed mental health care. According to a 2020 report from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than 79 million people are displaced worldwide, more than half are under the age of 18, and more than 50% are women. In 2019, there were 46,000 asylum seekers in New York City alone, said Associate Professor Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., of Graduate School of Social Services (GSS). Popescu has extensively researched the problem and will be directing the program with GSS Professor Dana Alonzo, Ph.D., a specialist in mental health treatment. With increasingly restrictive policies pushing asylum seekers to go underground, few attempt to access mental health care services, said Popescu. The pandemic has only made the situation worse—for asylum seekers in general, and for women in particular. The project aims to identify the challenges of these women and connect them to services that are within their rights.

English as a Second Language

An additional $150,000 will go toward expanding the Institute of American Language and Culture’s Community English as a Second Language Program (CESL). That grant follows a $116,000 grant awarded by the foundation in 2019. The program provides free ESL instruction primarily to adults in the Bronx in partnership with churches and other community organizations. The CESL program began in 2018 with financial support from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, which has annually renewed funding, scoring the program’s attendance, educational gains, and program management as “above standard.” The Cabrini grant will help the initiative continue to grow. CESL serves more than 300 students and hopes to serve at least 500 a year by 2023.  Institute director James Stabler-Havener will continue to direct the program with Jesús Aceves-Loza, who serves as the institute’s advisor for Latin America.  In spite of the pandemic this year, students continued learning and instructors continued to teach virtually via apps and cell phones. In the coming year, the group plans to build on existing partnerships with community organizations and the city to offer citizenship courses as well. The growing initiative will also provide internship opportunities to underrepresented students at the University.

That was the message Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., associate professor at the Graduate School of Social Service, wanted to drive home during a talk to alumni, students, and staff this week.

Her discussion, “The Silent Pandemic—Mental Health Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for the Most Vulnerable,” which was organized by the Office of Alumni Relations, highlighted how the pandemic has impacted every area of society–from jobs to education to human connection– and how that impact has disproportionately affected marginalized communities.

More than 7.3 million people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide. But the virus’s effects have been felt most severely by those living in poverty, those who are homeless, minorities, and immigrants–not only in terms of physical health, but mental and financial health as well.

“One major issue we are dealing with that directly affects our mental health is uncertainty,” said Popescu, whose work focuses on migration policies and their impact.

But for those who live in poverty or who are homeless, uncertainty was already part of their lives, she said. People living in poverty, for example, had little access to existing health services, probably suffered from preexisting conditions that were not treated properly, and faced precarious employment situations before the pandemic hit.

A Complex Emergency

“We’re not talking about a public health crisis anymore, we are talking about a complex emergency,” she said.

In a complex emergency, preexisting issues such as mental health concerns, food insecurity, domestic violence, and the internet divide become exacerbated.

“How do you deal with food security, when you counted on the school lunches?” Popescu asked as an example.

Even some of the protections government and health officials recommended furthered divides across groups, she explained.

“When you are homeless, you don’t have access to the basic level of protection,” she said. “Where would you wash your hands? Where would you go for info? Can you access testing—do you know you can access testing?”

Even the ability to social distance or access remote education shows a person’s privilege, Popescu said.

For immigrants as well as migrants, whom Popescu referred to as “people of forced migration,” living situations often include overcrowding and multigenerational households, on top of the fact that many immigrants work in “essential jobs” and have had to continue to go to work through this crisis.

“We are dealing with all this in a context of privilege,” she said. “People might be forced to continue to work. If they lose their jobs, they have no protections in place. [Their homes are] not always safe. [There’s] little time to work and support children.”

‘People Are Losing Hope’

While their individual histories and traumas are often different, the Black community and people in communities of forced migration, particularly those from Latin America, face similar hardships.

The CDC found that in New York City, COVID-19 death rates for Black/African American people—92.3 deaths per 100,000 population, and Hispanic/Latino people—74.3, were much higher than those of both white people—45.2, or Asian people—34.5.

“Both groups were pushed to the margins,” Popescu said, citing high rates of poverty, educational quality, access to health care, and police/ICE brutality.“[We can] see all the steps we as a society took in pushing these groups further to the margins—this was to be expected.”

These communities also feel the impact of previous and current trauma that can dramatically affect their mental health. For example, she said, this generation of migrant children probably has two main experiences in life—one in their home country, living in conflict, and one of the journey of migration to the United States.

Popescu warned that people in distress from the pandemic, particularly those already dealing with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, might be susceptible to potential suicide.

“Death by despair—I’m afraid we have to prepare ourselves to deal with this because people are desperate. People are losing hope,” she said.

Popescu emphasized that it’s not enough to provide individuals with resources and put it upon them to “find help” for their mental health and other issues; it’s up to the community to support them.

Listening to Marginalized Voices

One of the first ways communities can do that is to have people in power listen to both Black and immigrant voices.

“They’re both invisible when it comes to policy—they’re not represented,” she said. “On the other hand, when anything can be used against this population, visibility increases.”

Another way to support them, she said, is to make sure they have accurate information available in an accessible format, including in their native language.

“We really need to think of the fact that engaging the people who are directly impacted—it’s one of the most important steps we need to take,” she said. “Unless you share the lived experience of the population … you’re not an expert.”

This spring, a group of 10 Fordham faculty members traveled there to see it for themselves. From March 17 to 22, they visited the Kino Border Initiative, a consortium of six Catholic organizations in the border city of Nogales—both on the Arizona side and the Sonora, Mexico side. Kino aims to promote border and immigration policies that affirm the dignity of the human person and a spirit of binational solidarity.

The trip was funded by Fordham’s Office of Mission Integration and Planning and featured faculty from arts and sciences, the Graduate School of Social Service, the Graduate School of Education, the Gabelli School of Business, and the Law School. The group raised $13,000 to purchase toiletries and necessities for the migrants and documented their time on a blog.

Big Changes in Just One Year

Jacqueline Reich, Ph.D., professor of communications and chair of the Department of Communications and Media Studies, co-led the trip along with Associate Professor of Theology and Acting Associate Provost James McCartin, Ph.D. It was Reich’s second time in Nogales, having worked with Kino in January 2018. Although only 14 months had passed since her last visit, the experience was very different, she said. As before, the group stayed overnight in Arizona and crossed the border to work in a comedor, or cafeteria, in Mexico, that provided meals to people waiting for asylum claims to be heard in the United States.

In 2018, she said, they would typically have one seating of 40 to 50 people—mostly men, a few women, and very few unaccompanied minors. This time, there were multiple seatings with 300 people per meal.

“We spent a lot of time holding babies while people could eat, or entertaining children, or sitting and talking to groups of families that had left Honduras, Guatemala, or regions of Mexico that were affected by gang violence and poverty,” she said.

In addition to serving meals, the group hosted a party at a women’s shelter, met with border patrol agents, and hiked along the border to understand the conditions there. They also attended an “Operation Streamline” hearing in Tuscon, Arizona, where immigrants appear in a group before a judge, who often deported them for being here illegally after two quick questions.

Glenn Hendler, Ph.D., a professor of English and American studies and acting chair of the English department, said he knew a little about the crisis at the border before heading there, but learned a lot from the trip. He was surprised to learn, for instance, that a wall was constructed through the middle of the Nogales in 1994, long before President Donald Trump made building a border wall his signature campaign promise.

‘Never Got to Say Goodbye’

Although he does not speak Spanish, he was able to connect with a 6-year old girl at the comedor whose father was washing dishes nearby.

“It was an incredible joy to make a child who was going through a horrific experience laugh,” he said.

“The next day, we were serving a meal, and I heard a little girl yelling ‘hola, hola,’ and it was the same little girl again. She was happy to see me, and I was happy to see her. But there were so many people there, that they just got rushed out. So, I never got to say goodbye to this little girl. For some reason, that just broke my heart.”

Speaking with the border patrol complicated the picture for Hendler because it showed how difficult the job is, but it did not change his mind about the moral implications of the situation. In fact, he said he now felt more emotionally connected to what had previously been an abstract concept. He also said that the bonding experience he had with the other nine faculty was “very powerful.”

Accompany, Humanize, Complicate

Carey Kasten, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish, echoed this, saying she was moved by the possibility of future projects at Fordham. Her scholarship touches on issues related to the border, so she was familiar with the situation. But she was moved to learn things like why black water bottles are a must for those crossing the border at night. (They don’t reflect moonlight).

“We were told to accompany, humanize, and complicate. To see those real items that our guide had collected on hikes through the desert, and also to see people get out of a van who’d been deported and go into the soup kitchen we were working in, was something that really stood out,” she said.

She was also shocked at the level of needless suffering taking place. When people are deported to Mexico for instance, they are given back any cash they had on them when they were apprehended in the form of a check. But the checks are only cashable in the United States, so once a week, a nonprofit group called No More Deaths visits the comedor to help people cash them. She also wasn’t impressed with the judge who spoke to them after presiding over the deportation proceedings.

“He said, ‘I’m just carrying out my marching orders.’ And I thought, ‘You’re a lawyer. You could leave and get a different job.’”

She felt more empathy toward border patrol agents. “They have fewer choices, and their job sounds really hard,” she said. “I found it really complicated to parse it all.”

McCartin said the goal of the trip was to give faculty members an experience different from their everyday work life that would also then affect their work life. The group will reunite soon for debriefing and discussion of possible future plans.

One conversation that will always stay with him happened when a man from Honduras asked him if Americans all thought they were criminals.

“I said ‘Oh gosh, no, I have no problem with you.’ This guy was like, ‘Really? I can’t believe that.’ I said ‘No, I can see how you have a sense that that’s how Americans talk about you, and there are plenty of them that do, but there are also a lot of us that don’t really begrudge you trying to have a better life,’” he said.

“This moment of his being surprised that we’re not unified in our attitudes toward people at the border—a lightbulb went on for this guy, and I’ll remember that.”

Carrying Their Stories Back Home

Michael C. McCarthy, S.J., vice president and presidential assistant for planning in the Office of Mission Integration and Planning, said the trip was a necessity, given how immigration is now a major global challenge.

“Because this is such a major social issue and it impacts questions of justice, what we want to be as a society, and how a place like Fordham, as a Jesuit university, tries to develop students, we decided the border would be a great site for this immersion experience for a diverse group of faculty members,” he said.

Reich is making sure the issue lives on, having structured the syllabus of one of her spring classes, Films of Moral Struggle, to include representations of borders and migration. The class is also sending Easter cards to people in detention at the border to bring a little color and humanity into their lives, she said.

Above all, she said she’ll hold onto memories of conversations with the migrants she met, like one with a man at the comedor who was sporting a University of Michigan hat. He’d lived in the U.S. for 22 years before being deported after being stopped for a traffic violation.

“I will always carry their stories with me,” Reich said.

Photos courtesy of Fordham faculty.

At a poster session on Dec. 16 at Fordham’s Westchester campus, students from
Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service presented information and petitions for topics they hope to change—from the DREAM Act and legalized prostitution to geriatric prison reform and Native American rights.

Jonathan Wilson and three other classmates made their case for changing the narrative around guns, from one of control to one of safety.

“The problem is the rhetoric of gun control and Second Amendment rights that is always brought up when commonsense gun laws are brought to the table,” he said.

The group wore shirts with the phrase “Locked and Unloaded,” to call attention to Nicholas’s Law, which was passed in June by the New York State Assembly and is under consideration by the New York State Senate. It’s named for Nicholas Naumkin, a 12-year-old boy from the town of Wilton who was killed by a friend who used his father’s loaded handgun.

“There really was no penalty for the parent, so this is about making it stricter so the law gets enforced. You can have a gun in your home, but we want it locked and unloaded when it’s not in your possession,” said Wilson, whose own half-sister accidentally killed herself with her parents’ gun when he was 7.

Karen Zokas, whose group focused on food insecurity, solicited donations for the Westchester Food Bank, and invited people to write on paper plates what it meant to them to be hungry. The issue, she said, is relevant to clinical social work that she plans to practice upon graduation, because if people are hungry it’s impossible to think about their own mental health. And it’s a lot more widespread than people might think.

“Twenty-thousand children under the age of 5 are passing away in this country because they don’t have enough nutrients. That’s a lot,” she said.

Even wealthy Westchester County is not immune. Fellow classmate Samantha Leushner noted that research has found that one out of five residents is hungry there.

“You have to focus on that word ‘hungry.’ Its not just food insecurity, but literally [that]you’re going to bed and your stomach is rumbling and you might feel nauseous,” she said.

A group focused on criminal justice reform named itself the Fordham Social Work Criminal Justice Network. The group has established partnerships with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions.

Member Gretta Heaney said she was shocked and ashamed at how ignorant she was about the subject before she came to Fordham. Books such as Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow (The New Press, 2010) inspired her to take action.

“For many of us who care about social justice, there’s a lot we don’t know about. There’s a lot of ignorance about how the system works—the suffering, the discriminatory policies,” she said.

“I was just oblivious to it. So it’s a real raising of consciousness.”

All the students are enrolled in the class Social Policy II: Policy Practice and Human Rights Advocacy. Marciana Popescu, PhD, associate professor of social work, one of three faculty members teaching it, said the fair exemplified raising awareness and developing networks beyond the classroom.

“They get to experience what it means to be an advocate, and they also learn how to present their work shortly, concisely,” she said.

“You only have a few minutes when people stop by your table. How can you maximize your time to say ‘This is the issue,’ and ‘This is why you should sign.’ That’s part of their professional development.”

On Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m., Fordham will host a panel discussion on the many legal issues that have exacerbated the crisis, its human rights implications, and its humanitarian imperatives.

Dominicans of Haitian ancestry have been pouring over the border into Haiti since 2013. That’s when the Dominican government ordered that all Dominican Haitians must prove Dominican lineage with ancestral birth certificates dating from before 1929, or be expelled.

“An estimated 200,000 people are at risk of being rendered stateless,” said Marciana Popescu, PhD, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS).

Popescu said that birth certificates aren’t issued as rigorously on the island as they are in the United States. She said that the timelines for appeal were rigid and the process was not clear. Lack of information, in some cases, and low literacy levels in other cases, plus the difficulty of obtaining proper identification explained the decision of many to not challenge the Dominican laws.

In August, Popescu visited Haiti at the invitation of Fordham student Kara Lightburn and saw the crisis firsthand. Lightburn is earning her master’s degree from the University’s Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA), and simultaneously spending time on the ground in Haiti. In 2010, she founded Social Tap, a New York-based nonprofit providing services through Haitian partnerships. The group is assisting Popescu with research on the refugee camps forming at the border.

The two women will present an assessment of findings next week.

The ambiguities created by the new laws, the political tensions, and the limitations of international definitions of refugees further complicate this situation. In the absence of a refugee status, no official refugee camps were set up. The haphazard arrangement has left the displaced population living in flimsy tents partially covered with tarps vulnerable to the elements.

“The rain comes in through top and bottom,” said Popescu. “The day after I left, the entire camp was flooded.”

Several people have already died of cholera, she said, since the refugees were not educated on the dangers of drinking untreated water.

While the Dominican Republic has not officially started deportation proceedings, Popescu’s research has shown that an overwhelming 86 percent of Dominican Haitians are returning to Haiti “spontaneously.” Additionally, the military and police have been routinely putting people in cars, taking them to the border, and leaving them there.
The refugees are heading to a country experiencing over 70 percent unemployment, so getting them out of the camps and integrated into the society will not be easy, she said. Further complicating the situation is that the tiny nation is in the midst of a national election.

“Until there is a new government, it’s not clear who is responsible for what,” she said. “One thing is certain, people want to move out of the camps. And while they believe that either the Haitian government or the international organizations should take responsibility, they don’t put much trust in either… and with the ongoing elections, they are left waiting. And for some, especially the infants and the elderly at camp, time is running out.”

The event is being co-sponsored by the IIHA, GSS, and the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice.

Women in rural towns and villages around the world work daily to contribute to the agricultural and economic development of their communities.

On October 15, The Institute for Women & Girls at the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) recognized these rural women during a panel presentation and discussion at the Lincoln Center campus.

“Women: Pillars of Socio-Economic Development Fabric,” which coincided with the International Day of Rural Women, featured:

• Margarette Tropnas, board president of The Haiti Initiative at Social Tap, Inc.;
• Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., associate professor at GSS;
• Colette Mazzucelli, Ph.D., professor at the New York University Center for Global Affairs;
• Diana Duarte, communications director at MADRE;
• Melika Edquist, web specialist for the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University; and
• Moderator Matthias Resch, executive director of Community Development International (CDi).

The panelist’s presentations covered an array of topics, said Resch, ranging from Tropnas’s description of growing up in rural Haiti, to Mazzucelli’s explanation of the SMS data service known as Crisis Mapping, which disseminates information about unfolding humanitarian crises.

One topic spotlighted during the evening was an ongoing collaboration among several of the participants—the Clean Fuels and Cook Stoves for Haiti project. An effort to provide clean cooking fuels to rural families, the project has a particular impact on women and girls, who are responsible for collecting firewood and cooking meals, Resch said.

A video shown during the evening revealed that the current use of wood-based fuels causes numerous health, safety, and environmental problems. Long walks to collect firewood leave women and girls vulnerable to violence; inhaling fumes while cooking can lead to severe respiratory problems. According to the video, between 1.6 and 3 million children die each year from indoor pollution.

In Haiti, the use of wood-based fuels has also prompted a national deforestation crisis.

“Ninety-eight percent of the country is deforested,” Resch said. “And the fact that there are no more trees causes an increased vulnerability to landslides, flash floods, and hurricanes.”
In addition to improving the health and safety of thousands of women and girls, the production of new fuels can create economic opportunities for the local participants.The group plans to launch three pilot projects in Haiti to evaluate the energy needs of rural communities and introduce clean fuels in lieu of firewood and wood-based charcoal. These include briquettes from recycled waste (such as coconut husks) and ethanol distilled from sugar cane.

“It’s about community embedment and developing resources that are already there —bottom up instead of top down work, and local empowerment and local solutions instead of external inputs,” Resch said. “It’s about inclusion and participation… a living example of what it means to work with communities, work with women, and empower them.”

To watch the video shown at the panel, and to participate in the group’s effort to win a donation from the company Cultivate, click here.

The event was co-sponsored by GSS’s Institute for Women & Girls; The Haiti Initiative of Social Tap, Inc.; Community Development International; and the International Health Awareness Network.

— Joanna Klimaski