This is the first in an occasional series, New in New Hampshire, that highlights the personal stories of immigrants in New Hampshire and Granite State citizens involved in their resettlement and success.
Itwas winter. It was snowing in New Hampshire. She was driving on a highway. A pick-up truck pulled beside her car. The driver gave her the middle finger. Behind her, the driver of another vehicle did the same.
“At first I wondered, ‘What have I done wrong?’ But then I thought, ‘OK, I’m not a white person. I forgot about that.’ If people can do that to me, what about my friends?”
The Rev. Sandra Pontoh, Maranatha Church, Madbury, NH
The Rev. Sandra Pontoh, founder and pastor of the Maranatha Indonesian UCC Church in Madbury, NH, has lived in the United States since 1998 when she arrived in Michigan to study theology at Western Theological Seminary. She had an F1 visa, for international students studying in the United States, thanks to assistance from her home church in Indonesia.
She didn’t foresee that, while she was in Michigan, she would get a call from a group of fellow Indonesians in New Hampshire asking her to form a new congregation.
“They said they’d been going to a white church and needed someone they could understand,” she said. Besides speaking English, Rev. Pontoh is fluent in several dialects as well as Bahasa, the official Indonesian language.
She agreed, moved east, and established what is now the Imanuel Indonesian Lutheran Church in Newington. A few years later, in 2004, she led the founding of the Maranatha Church in Madbury.
While her main job remains caring for the spiritual needs of her church, Rev. Pontoh said Indonesians also face mundane, down-to-earth challenges, including how to navigate the rules and regulations of the U.S. immigration system.
In 2020 Rev. Pontoh turned the church’s mission committee into New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support (NHICS), a non-profit organization with volunteers to help with matters such as advocating, translating and interpreting, counseling and referrals. On-call to interpret at courts and local hospitals, Rev. Pontoh donates what she’s paid to the non-profit.
About 2,000 Indonesians have settled in New Hampshire, some fleeing religious persecution, Rev. Pontoh said. Many Indonesian Christians arrived after a wave of radical Islam emerged in Indonesia, a majority-Muslim nation, in the late 1990s.
While many of the immigrants had college degrees, Rev. Pontoh said they took whatever jobs they could find, including washing dishes or cleaning houses, being paid “under the table.”
“Imagine,” she said they would tell her, “I never did this in my country. Now I’m cleaning someone else’s toilet.”
As they have learned English and gained work permits, many have found better jobs in manufacturing and other fields requiring their skills, she added.
In recent months Rev. Pontoh’s been fielding frequent calls including from other Indonesian pastors in NH and other states who are concerned about excessive delays in renewing work permits for asylum-seekers in their congregations.
Until last year, the renewals from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services were more or less routine, she said, but now immigrants may wait more than six months, a delay attributed in large part to understaffing at the USCIS.
When permits are delayed, some immigrants lose their jobs because, without USCIS authorization, employers cannot legally retain even valued employees, Rev. Pontoh explained.
The ministers say that economic insecurity and a bogged-down renewal process trigger fear and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for some whose traumatic experiences led them to emigrate. Rev. Pontoh tries to help the immigrants navigate the system.
“These Indonesians are my friends, my family,” she said. Even though her own experience was different, she identifies with their fears.
“We’re always afraid because people will think we’re strangers. We don’t speak English well. We feel we’re not accepted.”
She encourages more friendliness.
“Even to say, ‘Hi, How are you?’ That’s really important. Just a smile. It’s a huge thing. It says, ‘You’re not alone.’”
Rev. Sandra Pontoh’s advice to new immigrants:
Find someone to trust
Find someone to help with learning English
Find someone to contact immigration attorneys or officials on your behalf
Go to a church or school
Find a leader who can take you to the office of the person you need to see
Gloria B. Anderson is a former New York Times news executive whose work included editorial and international development for the News Services division. E-mail: gba@gba-global.com. Julie Zimmer is a volunteer with Welcoming New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Immigrant Rights Network, and is a former communications instructor at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa. E-mail: juliecorkzim@gmail.com
The second issue of 603 Diversity Magazine is now available!
Visit 603diversity.com to view the digital edition or to order a print copy.
“603 Diversity Magazine is dedicated to sharing the stories at the intersections of business and culture in New Hampshire’s diverse communities. Each issue will feature profiles of New Hampshire’s business and arts leaders, guide readers to the wealth of locally-owned businesses in the state and explore the long history of diverse contributions to New Hampshire’s development into one of the highly ranked states in the country across a range of categories, from business and economy, to health care and opportunity.
603 Diversity’s mission is to educate readers of all backgrounds about the exciting accomplishments and cultural contributions of the state’s diverse communities, as well as the challenges faced and support needed by those communities to continue to grow and thrive in the Granite State.” –603diversity.com
Afghan evacuees are on their way to a new home in New Hampshire
By Julia Furukawa and Peter Biello, NHPR
Now that the Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan, the U.S. is expecting thousands of Afghans to arrive as they evacuate their home country, and some of them will be coming to New Hampshire.
Ascentria Care Alliance in Concord provides resettlement services to people coming to the U.S., and will be working to resettle Afghan evacuees in the Granite State, with the eventual goal of finding homes for 100 Afghans.
All Things Considered host Peter Biello spoke with Crissie Ferrara, the Program Manager for Services for New Americans at Ascentria, about their efforts to resettle Afghan refugees.
New Hampshire Public Radio
Listen to the interview and read the full article here:
New Hampshire preparing to welcome 125 Afghan evacuees
By Shawne K. Wickham, Union Leader
Two refugee resettlement agencies say they expect about 125 Afghans who were evacuated after the Taliban took over their homeland to be resettled in New Hampshire.
Ascentria Care Alliance in Concord expects to resettle about 100 Afghan evacuees, according to Crissie Ferrara, New Hampshire program manager for that agency’s Services for New Americans program.
“Many people were really scared for their lives and for their safety, for themselves and their families, and they felt this was the best option for them, and the only option to keep their families safe,” she said.
…
Emma Tobin, chief program officer at the International Institute of New England, said her agency is proposing to resettle up to 25 Afghans in Manchester and Nashua.
Agencies don’t know a lot about those they will be helping to settle here, Tobin said, but she expects some have high levels of education and are fluent in English.
Unlike many refugees who come to the United States from camps in other countries, however, she said, “They may also arrive with literally no belongings because they fled,” she said.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services is offering free and convenient Covid-19 vaccination via mobile vaccination van. Walk-ins are welcome, no scheduling necessary, and vaccination is free and available to anyone 12 years of age and older. No health insurance needed. The mobile vaccine van offers Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines.
Want to schedule the mobile vaccination van for an event or group? The van is available upon request for any size group across the state of NH at no cost. To request the mobile vaccine van, visit vaccines.nh.gov
“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On Saturday May 1, New Hampshire activists honored International Workers’ Day (also known as May Day) by raising up the voices and concerns of NH workers in front of the State House.
The rally was sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, One Fair Wage, Granite State Organizing Project, NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, Welcoming New Hampshire, Rights and Democracy NH, 350 New Hampshire, NH Youth Movement, NH Service Workers United for Power, NH Council of Churches, Kent Street Coalition, and NH Faith & Labor.
Speakers included Rep. Latha Mangipudi, Rep. Maria Perez, Rev. Jason Wells, Rev. John Gregory-Davis, Lidia Yen, Martha Alvarado, Martin Toe, Anthony Harris, David Holt, Linds Jakows, Eva Castillo, Isaac Grimm, Dr. Randy Hayes and Rev. Dr. Gail Kinney. Music was provided by the Leftist Marching Band.
Are you interested in working with fellow New Hampshire residents to learn more about the barriers to opportunity in the Granite State? Join a team that will listen deeply to community members across the state and ensure that their voices are included in the Charitable Foundation’s next strategic plan.
BY KRISTEN OLIVERI, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (learn more about us) is developing its next strategic plan and is committed to learning from a diverse group of people, especially those who have faced barriers to opportunity and whose voices have been historically excluded from important conversations in our communities.
We’re looking for 15 New Hampshire residents from across the state to lead a community listening and research project beginning in April, 2021 and present findings to the Foundation in July, 2021. All of this work will be done remotely; no in-person sessions will be conducted. (Training and other supports will be provided.)
The community researchers will design the research project including what questions will be asked and how information will be gathered from community members. The project will be guided by the following question: “What barriers to opportunity exist for Granite Staters and what could be done to help lower or remove these barriers?”
Please read the announcement below from the USCIS Public Engagement Division:
USCIS Announces Plans to Revert to the 2008 Version of the Naturalization Civics Test
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today it is reverting to the 2008 version of the naturalization civics test.
On Dec. 1, 2020, we implemented a revised naturalization civics test (2020 civics test) as part of a decennial test review and update process. On March 1, 2021, we will revert to the 2008 version of the civics test.
We determined the 2020 civics test development process, content, testing procedures, and implementation schedule may inadvertently create potential barriers to the naturalization process. This action is consistent with the framework of the Executive Order on Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems, which directs a comprehensive review of the naturalization process to eliminate barriers and make the process more accessible to all eligible individuals.
Applicants who filed their naturalization applications on or after Dec. 1, 2020, but before March 1, 2021, with an initial examination (interview) before April 19, 2021, will have the choice to either take the 2008 civics test or the 2020 civics test. We will notify applicants who are affected by the change. If the initial interview is scheduled on or after April 19, 2021, applicants will take the 2008 civic test.
We will also host a public engagement and conduct other outreach activities to ensure applicants are familiar with the different features of each test and which version of the civics test an applicant will need to take, based on the filing date (also known as a received date) and initial examination.
Please refer to the links below for information and updates on vaccine allocation in New Hampshire. This information explains who can register to receive the vaccine, how to register, and the estimated time frame for each phase of vaccine allocation.
New Hampshire COVID-19 Vaccine Phases
Learn about the vaccine registration process, determine if you qualify, and register here:
The Governor has authorized the allocation of $500,000 in state’s CARES ACT Coronavirus Relief Funds to support the COVID-19 specific needs of communities of color and other historically marginalized communities in New Hampshire. The NH Community Support Program is administered by the Governor’s COVID-19 Equity Response Team.
Important Dates & Timelines:
Application will be reviewed and awarded in the two cycles:
All applications received by November 24, will be reviewed beginning on November 25, 2020. Award decisions will be made on an expedited basis.
Applications received November 25, 2020 through December 3, 2020 will be reviewed on a rolling basis and awarded until all funds are expended.
Funds must be utilized by December 30, 2020.
Eligibility Criteria:
These funds must be used for either:
A new COVID-10 specific project or a new expansion of an existing project that falls under one or more of the areas identified below (see bullets).
To support costs that were incurred providing COVID-19 specific services that fall under one or more of the identified areas below (see bullets). These expense must have been incurred between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020.
Funding is available for the following needs:
All proposed uses of the funds must be to support costs incurred providing COVID-19 services between the dates of March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020.
COVID specific education or messaging focused on Communities of Color and/or non-English speaking communities in NH.
Programs that promote connection and community-building in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic for Communities of Color in NH.
Increased access to technology that can support children and families during COVID-19.
Support for increasing environmental or structural modifications for increasing COVID-19 safety (such as plexi-glass, PPE, etc).
Support for funerary, burial costs for families in financial need that suffer a loss due to COVID-19.
Support for increasing access to food, housing, childcare, eldercare and supplies for Communities of Color and economically disadvantaged families in NH that have had a loss of household income, or increased expenses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Support for access to isolation and/or quarantine housing support necessary as a result of COVID-19.
Support for increased access to COVID testing for Communities of Color in NH.
Remote learning supports (technology, remote learning sites, tutoring, etc) needed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Increased support for Communication Access (interpretation and translation services including live, telephone, virtual and signage) related to COVID-19 services or needs.
Other needs not outlined above that are specific to COVID-19 impact of vulnerable communities in NH.
How to Apply:
The application below is a fillable form. Please complete and submit your application, electronically, to covidcommunitysupport@goferr.nh.gov.
The general election isn’t just about electing the next President and Vice-President of the United States. Voters will also be casting votes for their state’s Governor, US Senator, Representative in Congress, Executive Councilor, State Senator and State Representatives. Are you familiar with each of the names that will be on your ballot? Learn about the candidates in advance so you can vote with confidence!
Ballotready.org is a great resource for learning the background and opinions of each candidate, as well as other helpful tools and information for voters.
KNOW YOUR CANDIDATES! – Infographic created by Manchester Community Action Coalition
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Portable Document Format (.pdf) . Visit nh.gov for a 
