Samantha Oulavong has visited the 1st District police station almost every day since May teaching basic English to the migrants and their children in the bleachers of a basketball court across from the South Loop station.
Julianna Ovalles, from left, Alexa Flores, Maria Cortez and Oscar Bracho, all of Venezuela, listen to Samantha Oulavong as she teaches an English lesson in Chicago's Margaret Hie Ding Lin Park on June 8, 2023. Most of the group stays across the street at the Chicago Police Department's 1st District station.that Samantha Oulavong is not thinking of the migrants who stay at the police station in her neighborhood in the South Loop.
In a white tote, she carries small notebooks and pencils to share with those who decide to be her students for the day. “she asks a young man who approached her as she held a white dry erase board. “I wish they could be my students forever,” Oulavong said softly with a light smile. When a group that had been at the station for more than two weeks got moved, she cried and hugged them goodbye.When they’re moved into shelters, she assures them that she will be at the court teaching every morning at least during summer break.
Many of Oulavong’s asylum-seeking students are professionals, she said. There are accountants, nurses, attorneys and teachers, like her. But even if they wanted to practice, language barriers and a lack of work authorization prevent it. At least for now.So every time she can she reminds them that it’s possible to make it: “Like my parents,” she tells them.
Years later, “my mom bought her first house in cash because of the money that she made collecting cans.”
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