美国国家公共电台 NPR--Mexico shelters migrants from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East

Mexico shelters migrants from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez visits a shelter dedicated² to serving Muslim migrants in Tijuana. It's the first of its kind in Mexico.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The city of Tijuana has migrants from all over the world in its shelters, ranging from Central and South America to Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The shelters do the best they can with what they have, trying to accommodate³ all these different cultures. But for Muslim migrants and refugees⁴ wanting to adhere⁵ to their religious practices, being thrown together can make it tough to stay pious⁶. So what options do they have in Tijuana? Well, up until late June, none - but now they have a place to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Allah.

MART?NEZ: This is prayer time at a shelter for Muslims in Tijuana run by the Latina Muslim Foundation. Sonia Garcia is the president, and recently she showed us around.

SONIA GARCIA: This place - it was a purpose of making parties every weekend, like quinceaneras, birthdays.

MART?NEZ: It's a two-story, 8,000-square-foot building that can house 150 people. It has a blue minaret⁷ on top that serves as a beacon⁸ for Muslims in Tijuana and also as a symbol for the presence of Islam.

GARCIA: And the musalla where we pray was a bar. It used to be a drinking place. So right now it's a worship place. We say, from haram to halal.

MART?NEZ: A few years ago, when Sonia was volunteering at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, she noticed women wearing hijab, and that got her thinking about creating a space for Muslims - one where they would not be served pork, one where they could pray five times a day, and where men and women would not have to sleep in the same room. The women she saw that day were from Somalia. But in the few months since her shelter opened, Sonia has welcomed in people from Yemen, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Russia. We spoke⁹ in her office where I asked her about what migrants in her shelter say about leaving their countries.

GARCIA: You know, when they leave the countries, a lot of them, they leave for many reasons. Like Latin America, many reasons - political persecution¹⁰ and war. So it's for many reason they leave, no? And we're here to support them, to help them.

MART?NEZ: And one of the common themes that we have heard so far in our trip here to Tijuana is that migrants aren't necessarily leaving their countries for a better life. They're leaving their countries for a life - just to have almost a life.

GARCIA: Yes. Yes. They don't want to leave. They leave very happy in where they are. But if there is something dangerous for them, and especially there is no more work, no life for the kids, they want to leave. They don't have a choice. They have to leave. And not only in Syria and Lebanon, I know they have - in many, many places right now, they start getting problems where they have to leave with the family.

For example, right now, what happened with Russia right now, Russia trying to take the mens (ph) to go to fight. They don't want to fight. They don't want to die. They don't want to put the family in risk. So mens are say, no, I'm going to leave. I'm not going to stay here. I don't want to be part of this. I don't want to kill people. I prefer to leave. And then I take my family out of there. This is just samples, what we hear from them.

MART?NEZ: In terms of helping¹¹ the migrants that are here get asylum¹², what things are you able to do? What kind of help are you able to offer them?

GARCIA: We help them with legal assistant, with doctors, with psychologists as well. They have many issues. We give them some art, some classes, Koran classes, also. They have a lot of mental issue, especially (inaudible) care. For example, the families who have everyday war like afganos (ph), Afghanistan, Yemenis, especially the kids - the kids, when they come here to Mexico, they're so scared. They don't want to leave the room. We have kids that never - they never park. They just silence. They don't park. They have anger problems, issues - the kids. So we notice a lot that they have problems, mental problems, because what they went through.

Imagine hearing bombs, guns every day. So we have a girl, a little girl. She doesn't talk, and she doesn't go with anybody except the mom. Even she was living here for a while. It took us many, many months for her to trust us and to finally - to say a little word, that I want to have food. I want to eat in English. Maybe six months with the time she came - it took six months for that girl to experience a little bit opening on her. This is how the kids are when they come. That's dramatical for them.

MART?NEZ: Do you hear people tell you how much they appreciate it - because, I mean, I can't imagine for a second to be a migrant and be a Muslim, to come to a country where you probably don't expect to find another Muslim, but then you find this place - a place where they can be themselves in a way that lines up with how they want to live in their identity. I mean, do people tell you, like, I can't believe that this place is here?

GARCIA: Yes, they do. And they so appreciate so much. Few days ago, we have a brother that he didn't know the place. He didn't know there is a place for Muslims. He came by himself from Russia, so he stayed in a hotel. Somehow, someone in downtown told him that said - say, you are - are you Muslim? Somehow, he met another Muslim. He said, yes. He said, why are you not in the shelter? He said, What shelter? There is a shelter for Muslims. So he came right away, and he moved in. And the same way you see his eyes was like, wow, amazing. I could pray. I could halal food. I could stay safe because they feel safe even though there is nothing outside that want to be harm them.

But when they in the community, they be safe. The womens (ph), the childrens (ph) - little by little, the community or the - actually the religious who comes, they start knowing from social media, from another Muslim that they may be - they came, and they cross. They say, go to the shelter. There is a shelter for you. It's so satisfying for me to see the people - that this place has been safe for them by the sake of Allah. God make these for them, and they're so grateful for that.

MART?NEZ: That's Sonia Garcia. She's the president of the Latina Muslim Foundation.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 accommodate   

vt.容纳，向...提供住处，使适应，顺应

参考例句：

• You should soon accommodate yourself to the new circumstance.你应尽快适应新环境。
• Are there enough shelves to accommodate all our books?有足够的书架容纳我们所有的书吗？

4 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

5 adhere   

vi.粘附，附着，遵守，坚持，追随，支持

参考例句：

• Most people adhere to the church of their parents.多数人都依附于父母的教会。
• They failed to adhere to our original agreement.他们未能遵守我们原定的协议。

6 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 minaret   

n.（回教寺院的）尖塔

参考例句：

• The minaret is 65 meters high,the second highest in the world.光塔高65米，高度位居世界第二。
• It stands on a high marble plinth with a minaret at each corner.整个建筑建立在一个高大的大理石底座上，每个角上都有一个尖塔。

8 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。