Vaughan Emmanuel James Bachelor of Business Administration Business and Strategic Management Canada |
Edith Liliane Mbonjo Ejangue Endale Doctor of Philosophy Human Resource Management Canada |
Gloria Marina Silva Fandiño Doctor of Education Cognitive Therapy Colombia |
Jairo Alfonso Vargas Bonilla Master of Business Administration Business Administration Colombia |
Juana Ydalia Herrera Ramirez Master of Education Educational Management Dominican Republic |
Martha Suárez Heredia Doctor of Philosophy Science Ecuador |
Sonia Maria Carrion Moreno Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Ecuador |
Calixto Filimón López Ventura Doctor of Mechanical Engineeeering Norms and Procedures El Salvador |
Baltasar Nseng Mesian Abaga Master of Political Science Administration and Public Policies Equatorial Guinea |
José Luis Jiménez Araujo Bachelor of Science Industrial Engineering France |
Uwihanganye Augustin Bachelor of Arts English Literature France |
Eric Kwasi Elliason Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Ghana |
Luis Antonio Velásquez Quiroa Master of Strategical Planning Public Administration Guatemala |
Tashmeni Ram- Singh Bachelor of Science Healthcare Administration Guyana |
Madina Ali Abdirahman Bachelor of Science Nutrition Kenya |
Sidavanh Thongsamone Master of Arts Project Management Lao P.D.R. |
Carlos Arturo Pérez Brizuela Doctor of Science Anthropology México |
Brenda Alicia Ramírez Villegas Bachelor of Science Psychology México |
Estêvão Júlio Licussa Doctor of Economics International Economics Mozambique |
Clemence Magombedze Langa Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Mozambique |
Ernesto Luis Felix Lourenco Master of Public Health Business Management Mozambique |
Nicole Willes Doctor of Education Education Netherlands |
Adesua Julius Oluwafemi Master of Science Electrical Engineering Nigeria |
Oluwafolajimi David Oluwole Master of Business Administration Business Administration Nigeria |
Isaac Aigbokhai Okogie Doctor of Business Administration Business Administration Nigeria |
Evelio Arcilla Cedeño Doctor of Economics Economics Panama |
Silka Muriel Núñez Vargas Doctor of Physical Education Health Science and Physical Activity Panama |
Marco Antonio Gutierrez Navarro Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering Peru |
Agostinho M. Soares Batista de Sousa Master of Public Health Epidemiology Portugal |
Robert Kibuuka Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Rwanda |
Moses Mathothetja Letsoalo Doctor of Science Development Studies South Africa |
Louise Elizabeth Roberts Doctor of Education Education South Africa |
Okwera Alex Aniseto Bachelor of Science Water Resources Engineering South Sudan |
Bernard Ugochukwu Ukomadu Bachelor of Education Education Turkey |
Ssemwanga Sadat Lutaaya Doctor of Human Resource Management Human Resource Management Uganda |
Fausto Rafael De León Tavárez Bachelor of International Relations International Relations Uruguay |
José Luis Meza Torres Doctor of Science Health Science AUSA |
Kenneth Chinedu Okocha Doctor of Science International Relations USA |
Sakina Husseinali Hassanali Associate of Arts Early Childhood Education USA |
Helen Modupe Edozie Doctor of Business Management Accccounting USA |
Gina Isabel Pajares Aguirre Bachelor of Science Architecture USA |
Renel Arsel Jerome Doctor of Philosophy Project Management USA |
James Lothschutz Doctor of Philosophy Educational Administration USA |
Justina Zulu Bachelor of Public Health Public Health Zambia |
Narmada Acharya Dhakal |
Tracy Kandeya Doctor of Project Management Project Management Zimbabwe |
Introduction
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a nation in Central Africa. It has its capital city as Kinshasa. DRC borders Congo to the west, Tanzania to the west, South Sudan to the North, and Angola to the south west. The common languages spoken in the nation include French, Swahili, Kikongo, Lingala, and Tshiluba. BBC News Report (Cultural Orientation Resource Center, 2014, p.5) indicated that DRC has a 900 square miles area and has a population of 69.6 million persons. The country possesses massive mineral resources which have been the primary cause of the civil war which has lasted for several years. The BBC News Report (2017, p.1) reports that the civil war in DRC, which has been referred to as Africa’s World War, has so far claimed about six million lives. The civil unrest in the country has fuelled political and economic instability with militant groups fighting to take control of the government (Dagne, 2011, p.12).
The Swahili Language
The Swahili language, commonly referred to as Kiswahili, is an African language spoken in the Great Lakes Region and various parts of Southern Africa. It was developed by the Bantu speakers and serves as the mother tongue of the Swahili community (Safari, 2012, p.7). Swahili is mostly used in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique. In some countries such as Tanzania, Swahili has been imposed as the official language while in the neighboring Kenya, it is considered as a national language with proposals of making it an official language being deliberated (Gaw, 2009, p.2). In the DRC, Swahili is regarded as a national language. Also, people in other regions of Africa and other continents have developed interests in learning the Swahili language (National African Language Resource Center, n.d, p.3).
Resettled Congolese in San Diego, United States
The United States Refugee Admission Program (USRAP) initiated the resettlement of Congolese refugees mostly from Tanzania (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014, p.1) Congolese refugees in San Diego face numerous challenges that occur as a result of language barriers. Congolese natives speak the Swahili language that is different from the East African dialect. Therefore the Congolese refugees in the United States continue to face significant challenges which make their social lives unbearable as reported by the guardian (2016, p.1).
Challenges associated with language barriers among the Congolese refugees:
Problems in accessing
quality healthcare services
Refugees who succeed in acquiring visas and being resettled in the United States are thoroughly scanned for any diseases that pose threats to the American community (Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, 2016, p.3). However, when these refugees are resettled in areas such as the City Heights, San Diego, the risk of diseases outbreaks emerge. In such cases, physicians may be forced to turn down the refugee’s request of administering medication which is also equally dangerous to the patients (Espinoza, 2016, p.1). Therefore, the language barrier problem facing refugees from various regions who settle in the United States has left them prone to poor access to medical services as well as death due to misdiagnosis (Morris et al., 2009, p.534).
Poor education
The resettlement agencies, in collaboration with the federal and state governments, have set up English as Second Language (ESL) centers that help in ensuring that the refugees are enlightened on the use of the English language (Endicott, 2016, p.1). However, as reported by Garett (2006, p.7), many of these ESL centers have been mismanaged which leaves a significant proportion of the refugees unaware of how to communicate in English.
Access to Employment
One major challenge that Taylor et al. (2016, p.7451) suggested is that refugees flock the local economy which brings stiff competition between them and the natives. Additionally, when these refugees are in the workplaces, their counterparts who are American natives, may develop a tendency of ill-talking about them when they are still present in the room (Human Rights Watch, 2001, p.1).
Constant conflicts
with the law
Many of the Congolese refugees cannot read the American constitution because it is written in English and there are no Swahili translations for the same. Therefore, these individuals may contravene the law unknowingly, but they end up facing the same repercussions. The same problem of conflicting with the law has also affected other refugees from regions such as Syria, Palestine, and Jordan (Prettitore, 2016, p.1).
Transport Issues
When Congolese refugees are resettled in areas such as San Diego, they perceive to have a difficult time moving from place to place in and out of the city. Research by Segal and Mayadas (2005, p.566) suggested that the issue of transport has been a major drawback to refugees accessing services social services such as healthcare and stable jobs. As reported by Bose (2011, p.20), the refugees are unable to communicate with the drivers regarding where they are going or where to alight.
Making purchases
Refugees who are not versant with the English and other common languages in the US face serious problems during making purchases as suggested by Nunez (2014, p.1) Nonetheless, it is tough to find a convenient store with Swahili-speaking aides in San Diego. The few who are present in these stores are East African natives who, as seen in earlier discussions, speak a different Swahili from the Congolese.
Non-inclusion in community-based initiatives
Research conducted by West Midlands Strategic Partnership for Asylum and Refugee Support (2009, p.38) found that refugees are often sidelined during community development agendas. In other cases, Nawyn et al (2012, p.271) found that these individuals do not see the need to engage in these activities and prefer secluding themselves from the rest of the community because they feel inferior to the natives.
In the past, textbooks were the primary source for learning. However, times have changed. We now have the internet as a source for knowledge.
Granted that the internet provides abundant reading material, yet it also has videos. I recommend to every student at AIU to use videos as study material for every course. As one reads, they can search for videos about the subject, which supplement the reading material.
Videos have become such a high-quality source of teaching material that a student could use only videos, and no books, as reference material for a course, even the Phase 2 Seminar courses.
How do you find instructional videos on the internet? You can go to such sites as youtube.com and vimeo.com. You can also go to google.com, do a search for a subject and then click on the videos option below the search box. Then you will see direct links to videos from various internet sites.
How do you cite a video in bibliography? This may be the most common error that I have seen in essays. In my experience, all students need to be taught how to properly cite a video from the internet. Most times the student simply copies the web link to the bibliography and hopes the reader can clink on the link. This is not correct.
Let me give you two references to a video on youtube about citing videos correctly. Which do you think is better, more complete and makes it easier to find the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGyA0MtKDuA
Virtual High School.
“How to Cite YouTube Videos.” Online video clip. YouTube. Youtube, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2017.
The title of the video is in quotation marks in the second reference. The second proper reference citation makes it much easier to identify and find the video. That is why a proper citation is important in a bibliography.
Is there another useful tip about online videos? Yes… When you search a subject in YouTube.com, you will see a list of many videos. The best videos for learning are classes, lectures, conferences and documentaries, which are usually over 20 minutes. So above the list of searched videos, to the right, you will see a link “Filter”. Open the link to see options for filtering videos. Under Duration, click on “Long (> 20 minutes)” and the list will show videos over 20 minutes. These videos tend to be more in-depth for teaching purposes.
It is also helpful to filter for “Playlist” under the “Type” heading. Playlists are videos that have been grouped by subject.
AIU encourages students to watch videos for their courses. We accept videos as course resource material. Moreover, you now know how to reference the videos in your bibliography. So, sit back, be ready to take notes and watch videos. It is a 21st century way to learn.