Category: Portland Public Schools

243 Deborah Ibonwa

11/27/2020

Deborah was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Her childhood was disrupted by war and time spent in a prison camp and refugee camp before moving to Michigan-- then Maine in 2000. She was almost nine years old when she found herself learning English in Portland Public elementary schools. Deborah has spent her life since figuring out how to navigate the new culture, through grade school, Catholic high school, Clark University and University of San Francisco School of Law.

Now Deborah is a community lawyer with Maine Equal Justice and she intends to help others to navigate the complicated systems they find themselves working with in Maine. Maine Equal Justice is dedicated to increasing economic security, opportunity and equality for people in Maine.

Maine Equal Justice (1-866-626-7059 ) often partners with these other organizations for specific free services for people in Maine who are living in poverty:
ILAP, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
MIRC, Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition
Pine Tree Legal Assistance

Music: "My Powe r" by Beyoncé featuring Tierra Whack, Naja, Yemi Alade and Moonchild Sanelly on The Lion King Album.

nms243_deborah_ibonwa_drc_and_rwanda_november_29_2020.mp3
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089 Juliana Bean

1/24/2016

Juliana Bean is originally from Brazil. She was raised in Natal, the "Sun City," with 360 sunny days a year. Natal, the northeastern most state of Brazil, is a sister state to the state of Maine. FMI: Partners of the Americas.
From a surprisingly young age, Juliana had a passion for learning and teaching. Having had access to English books from her aunt's school set her on a trajectory to be the English, Spanish and Portuguese translator/interpreter/cultural broker she is today.
Juliana describes her work for the Portland Public Schools and the Multilingual Multicultural Center as a Parent Community Specialist (Portuguese/Spanish). She also suggested other ways the community could be involved: Volunteering, Contributing to current Crowd Funding Campaign, and attending the Rock Around the World cultural event March 18, 2016.

Music: Housefires sings "This Love"

nms_089_juliana_bean_brazil_january_24_2016.mp3
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023 Minh Canfield

8/3/2014

Minh grew up as one of nine children in her family. She remembers loving the smell of flowering rice near her family's home in Hue, Central Vietnam's imperial citadel. She made Maine her home 13 years ago. Minh has a passion for education, and has loved learning since she was a child. She now teaches Title I Math in Portland Public Schools while raising two young sons, together with her husband.

Music: Tran Manh Tuan playing Ve que.

nms_023_minh_canfield_vietnam.mp3
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011 John Abore

5/11/2014

John Abore is originally from Sudan (now South Sudan) and escaped the violence and impending war by retreating with his grandparents to a refugee camp in Uganda at the age of 5. He grew up in difficult conditions but was allowed to study at the local high school on scholarship and began university in Uganda before coming Maine in 2004. Once here, John completed his undergraduate degree and is now working to finish a masters degree in Public Health. His dream is to get a Ph.D. in Public Health and then take his knowledge back to South Sudan to help create better hospitals and health delivery systems for the people of this newly formed country (2011).
John and his wife raise their three young children on Munjoy Hill. He works for the Portland Public Schools as an Acholi translator and cultural broker throughout the district helping new families to assimilate to the vastly different culture here.
*Note of clarification: John intended to say Sudan was run by Egyptian Administration under British rule, not Ethiopian rule.

nms_011_john_abore.mp3
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007 Abdi Yousaf

4/13/2014

Abdi shares his stories about what it was like growing up in Maine in an immigrant family, what education means to his family, and some of his hopes for his future.
He also characterizes how he perceived Somalia when he visited there last summer with his family--a child of the diaspora sees third world Somalia with first world eyes.

nms_007_abdi_yousaf_april_13_2014.mp3
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002 Ina Demers

3/9/2014

Ina is from Semarang, Middle Java, Indonesia and arrived in Maine in 1974. She was a teacher by trade, but because of her Chinese ancestry was not allowed to be hired as a teacher in Indonesia. She came to the US, got her Bachelors, teaching certification and Masters degree from USM, and has been an educator since. She currently works in the Portland Public Schools as an Education Technician III, teaching English in an ELL classroom (English Language Learning). She is also active in the union to advocate for Ed Techs in the Portland Schools.

Ina has a passion for service and supports many programs including the Multi-Cultural/Multi-Lingual Center, The Center for Grieving Children, and runs a drop-in English Conversation program for adult learners, hosted at Whole Foods conference room in Portland.

nms_002_-_ina_demers_middle_java.mp3
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243 Deborah Ibonwa

089 Juliana Bean

023 Minh Canfield

011 John Abore

007 Abdi Yousaf

002 Ina Demers

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