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Learned that we share values

To the editor:
Fifteen Cambridge Community College students and instructor Marilyn McGriff recently returned from a visit to Sweden. One of the learning experiences scheduled for us was ìBeginnerís Swedishî in Orsaís Lacentrum, an adult learning center in a mid-sized town in central Sweden.
This is a picture-postcard community, complete with tall pines and traditional red houses. Hardly the place youíd expect to find immigrants from Middle Eastern countries. Yet, on that wednesday morning we sat in a classroom beside these very people; all of us struggling to learn a few words in a new language. For me it was a lark. For the immigrants it spelled the difference between success and failure.
Itís pretty humbling not to be able to articulate much more than the most simple message; but pictures help. And so after class, with a cup of coffee, my photo album, and a handful of Swedish words, I sat down in the midst of the men and women from places that we read about in the nightly news: Iran, Iraq, afghanistan, Pakistan, India.
What could we possibly have in common? Homes, family, homesickness, flower gardens and needlework, holiday celebrationsÖand, of course, our inability to speak the Swedish language!
I was struck by their need to find a welcoming country where they could live safe and productive lives. I was struck by the realization that we have contributed to many of their difficulties. I was struck by all the values that we share. And, I know that while we are different, we need not be enemies.
Kathryn Keen
Stacy

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