—Barbara LeBlanc

When civil war made it impossible for Amin Wani to work or study in his native Sudan, he took his dreams to Egypt and then, less than a year ago, on to the United States.

Now he lives in Manchester, N.H., where, at age 27, he is preparing to someday pursue medical school.

“I needed a place where I can be free and do what I want to do, to work, to study,” said Wani.

Amin Wani is one of nearly 200 refugees and new immigrants who take part in the English for New Americans program, which is run by the college’s Meelia Center for Community Service . Since the Meelia Center established the program about year ago, it has grown into one of the largest and most effective English as a second language programs in New Hampshire, said Barbara Seebart, state refugee coordinator.

Language instruction is mixed with health and wellness information, an introduction to U.S. culture and, most recently, a civic literacy class. Classes take place at the First Congregational Church near downtown Manchester, where most of the city’s immigrants live. The program benefits from a ready pool of Saint Anselm volunteers; more than 40 students, faculty, and staff members work as teachers and teachers’ aides under the supervision of program director Angela Spitia.

English for New Americans started in November 2003, after the New Hampshire state government decided to no longer run an English instruction program. Saint Anselm College took over the program and then expanded it. The state has awarded the program $51,000 in federal resettlement money for the current school year, up from $39,000 last year. The Cogswell Benevolent Trust in Manchester also provided $25,000 and the Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation another $25,200. The total first-year funding was $87,263.

On one hot morning last August, students from Sudan, Ukraine, Dominican Republic, Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Somalia, and Liberia sat around a table in the church’s second floor. As organ music drifted up a nearby stairway, students read aloud from white worksheets.

1 | 2 | 3