Spotlight July 2024 

IIB would not be able to make WNY a better place for, and because of, immigrants and refugees were it not for the great people on our team and in the community.

New American Success Story    

Nearly 20 years ago, Karina Krantz and her family came to Western New York as refugees from Ukraine. We resettled them and helped them acclimate to life in their new home country.

Recently, Karina opened a boutique market in Pendleton called Filled with Love Buffalo Market. The market offers a wide selection of Eastern European delicacies, organic foods, and additional products sourced from local farmers and businesses.

To give back to IIB, Karina is offering customers the opportunity to round up their orders to the nearest dollar or make financial contributions at the register to support the IIB mission.

Click here to learn more about Karina's New American experience and her new business.

New American Intergration

Maimouna Samba, Administrative Assistant

Maimouna Samba organizes everything and everyone in the highly compliance-based New American Integration department. She started as an intern in 2022 and returned to IIB after graduating from Buffalo State University, where she was a Chancellor Award recipient. 

Maimouna has a keen interest in refugee policy, having written her thesis on refugee integration in the United States. In January, she was one of a handful of students who interned at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, where she participated in events and sessions centering on economic development, aid, public diplomacy, human rights, political crises, and migration geared towards Central African countries.

Like all members of the NAI department, Maimouna enjoys ethnic food. Her favorite is from her home country of the Gambia-- a traditional rice-based dish called Benachin with chicken. Always pursuing new interests, her hobbies include reading, traveling, and crocheting, which she recently acquired.

Learn more about how we help New Americans become part of our community.

Volunteers 

IIB welcomes visiting delegations from around the world who come to study American ways of solving problems to bring best practices back to their home countries. Volunteers personify the term "City of Good Neighbors" by hosting these visitors in their homes during their stay or by having them over for supper one night. 

George and Marcia Hillock have been volunteering in this way for decades. 

The Hillocks and visitors from Europe who came to connect with local resources on the topic of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development. From left to right: Begona Perdiguero Ginabreda (Spain), Jonas Bergmann-Paulsen (Norway), Marcia Hillock, Marko Maras (Montenegro), and George Hillock.

Q & A with Volunteers George and Marcia Hillock

Why is hosting international visitors a valuable experience?
"Hosting international visitors has opened our eyes to the rest of the world. Despite different cultures, languages, dress, and experiences, we have learned that people across the world are basically the same as us. It’s a leap of faith to invite a total stranger into one’s home, but after a few hours of dinner, activities, and open conversation, our visitors leave us as friends, sharing a deeper understanding of the common bonds that unite the human race."

Do you have a memorable story of hosting? 
"One time we hosted a woman from Ukraine who was part of a group helping to reduce the suffering caused by the Russian invasion. That evening, we decided to take our guest to the Sportsmen’s Tavern in Buffalo, which was noted for live music, especially Country & Western and Rock & Roll. When our guest told the others in her group everyone wanted to go. That was no problem as our van carries seven. The band was in fine form that night, and everyone spent the evening singing and dancing.

When the night was ending and it was time to go, one of the visitors pulled me aside to thank us. She said that her mother had just passed away a couple months before and this evening was the first time she was able to enjoy herself. We were touched by the fact we could bring a little bit of light into the life of this person who we had just met hours before."

What would you say to someone who might be thinking of hosting an international visitor for the first time? 
"Fear of the new and unknown is natural and is the biggest obstacle to hosting. Life is supposed to be an adventure not just a routine. Get out of your comfort zone. Put your guests and self at ease with dinner and conversation. It will be a memorable evening for all."

Learn more about hosting international visitors or our many other volunteer opportunities.

Interpreting & Translation  

The Manuel family. From left to right: Jerry, Richard, Raine, and Zita 

IIB Interpreters Jerry and Raine Manuel, born in Burma, migrated to the United States 12 years ago. Between them, they speak English, Hindi, Burmese, Tamil, Shan, and Urdu.

After escaping Burma, they did not live in a refugee camp. They lived as "urban refugees" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for four and a half years. 

They say that life was not easy for them. While they worked as interpreters for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Malaysia was not a signatory of the UN Convention on Refugees, and technically, they were considered illegal immigrants and could be arrested at any time and deported. 

"We were strangers in a strange land, and even though we had a difficult life, I worried most about the future of the children, says Raine. "We had two small children, and we always worried about getting arrested and deported."

Random checks by the local police, immigration services, and special services made things difficult. According to Jerry, 10 percent of the Malaysian population is Tamil, which helped. 

"The kids and I could speak Tamil, and my wife could speak Hindi. We dressed in a formal way, carried books in English, and spoke in Tamil when we were on public transport," Jerry says. "We had a few close shaves, but on the whole, it was a cat and mouse game." 

They say that this experience explains why they have so much empathy and sympathy for fellow refugees and immigrants who struggle in America. It's also one of the reasons why they work with refugees, including as interpreters.

Jerry loves reading, listening to music, and playing guitar, while Raine's hobbies include cooking, listening to music, and taking walks. They have two children, Richard and Zita.

To learn more about the work our linguists do, click here. 

Employment Services   

From left to right: Mu Htoo and Mirvet Bassam  

Our Employment Services team is led by Mirvet Bassam and Mu Htoo, continue to find opportunities for their clients; they are New Americans themselves. Mirvet is originally from Iraq and Mu was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, but her family is from Myanmar (Burma). They know too well our clients' journeys and the obstacles they faced to get where they are.

The whole team works diligently to remove barriers, teach job skills, and prepare clients for their new careers. They create many opportunities for our clients through employer partnerships, community engagement, and educational programming. Job Club and Career Club offer training for job readiness and interviewing, library familiarization and access, DMV training and NYS ID when needed, Department of Labor training on worker rights, financial literacy training through M&T Bank, and a Job Fair to meet potential employers.

Click here to learn more about how we prepare New Americans to enter the workforce and how we can help employers with staffing.

"The International Institute of Buffalo makes Western New York a better place for, and because of, immigrants and refugees."