The Baltimore Sun’s Impressive Series on Migrant Youth in MD

The Baltimore Sun‘s special series Unsettled Journeys documents the stories of teenage migrants who’ve found their way to the United States and are now attending East Baltimore’s Patterson High School. It’s a school with a student body population that’s 1/3 migrants.

The series is the culmination of eight months of work by a reporter and a photographer. You know that these folks took their jobs seriously when they contacted UB immprof Liz Keyes to help them understand the story in all its complexity.

Part One features the story of Narmin Al Eethawi, a reluctant refugee from Iraq. A victim of trauma and war, Narmin struggles to make find her place in the United States while having her attention pulled back to Iraq where family and a long-distance boyfriend remain.

Part Two tells the tale of Exel Estrada from Guatemala, struggling to forge a relationship with his mother after 9 years apart (and the arrival of new half-siblings), to work, to pursue his education, and to fight for his right to stay in the United States.

Part Three follows Monique Ngomba from the Central Africa Republic who came to the United States illiterate in her native tongue of Sango. It follows her struggles to learn English, to cope with the challenge of high school academics, and to adapt to the very different life she lives in the United States.

-KitJ