1409: Life in the Middle of Everywhere

(upbeat music) [Narrator] Up next on Nebraska stories, one of the largest migrations in history.

(upbeat music) A city that has become the middle of everywhere.

What it means to become an American.

Helping African coffee farmers from the heart of corn country, (upbeat music) and a visit to a Buddhist temple built by refugees.

(upbeat music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) JOHN CARTER: It was big.

Lots and lots and lots of people.

They were simply responding to the lure of land.

NARRATOR: John Carter knows pictures.

He's been interpreting ph otographs from the archives of the Nebraska State Historical Society for decades.

Carter studies photos for clues about the past.

But when it comes to homesteading there isn't much out there to investigate.

JOHN: People were not photographing that.

It really just wasn't that interesting at the time.

As Roger Welsh said, this was akin to going out and photographing people living in double-wide trailers.

It was just commonplace.

The fact that we have these photographs is simply because there was one really idiosyncratic photographer who did, in fact, care.

And he knew everybody and wanted to photograph everybody.

And he did!

NARRATOR: The photographer's name was Solomon Butcher, and he traveled through Custer Co unty in the late 1800s making images on his glass plate negatives of every family he could find.

He took hundreds of portraits on the sod house frontier.

Most of the families were of European descent.

But two of the most famous are of African Americans.

The families in these photos had come directly from slavery-- from slavery to ownership of land in generation.

JOHN: What we see in these photographs is exactly what we see in the photographs of all of the homesteaders.

What these folks are telling us is that this is their stuff.

This is their place.

They have a place in the universe.

That doesn't mean to play them down.

What it means is that that's what everybody out here was doing.

These were not folks coming out here from the wealthy and elite.

These were not the people that are coming from the noble classes of Europe.

These are folks who are coming here to answer a siren call to own land, for the first time in the history of your family going back to Adam.

That's the story.

(gentle music) [Narrator] When you think of immigrants in America, you probably think of metropolises like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago.

Not the plains of Nebraska or the small city of Lincoln.

(bright music) But it's here that thousands of newcomers arrive and make lives for themselves in a new country.

[Female] Welcome to the United States.

[Male] Thank you very much.

[Mary] We were designated an official refugee resettlement community in the late eighties.

And what that meant is when people would get off the plane in New York City at JFK, they would be handed a plane ticket and told you are going to Lincoln, Nebraska.

They had no choice.

(upbeat electronic music) [Jum] I was an interpreter.

And the interpreter's life is always in danger, because they're working directly with the US Army soldiers.

Even my wife, she was scared there would be a suicide bombers will be across the street and he will explode himself and my kids will die.

(upbeat electronic music) [Male 2] Immigration is a subject that stirs a lot of deep fears in people.

They feel their community is changing, they don't understand the changes that are going on, but more than that, they don't understand the experiences that the people who are arriving here as refugees, or many times as immigrants have been through.

(native music) [Male 3] I had to leave behind my three children, my mom, my dad.

At one point I thought they were dead.

So for about six or seven years, all what I knew everybody was killed in the village where I came from.

[Female 2] When I know I cannot stay, I take my children, four children and run to the Thailand and Burma border, and still it is safe for our family.

[Narrator] What makes these immigrants in Lincoln so unique is not that there are so many of them but that there are almost all refugees.

On top of all the usual immigrant issues, differences in language and culture, what happens to a society when so many people coming out of tragedy and escaping war and persecution become fellow citizens?

You know, as stranger, when you come any for any place, you have to discover it.

You have to know where you are.

They did their best to help us, but you know, they have other clients, so I can't press on them or tell them to come down for us, they, they did their best, but not enough for us.

[Helper] Where was Khalid born?

[Male 4] Born in Iraq.

[Helper] In Iran.

[Male 4] Iraq, not Iran.

[Helper] If everything, you know, goes through, it shouldn't take more than, you know a year or so.

He doesn't have, you know, work, he doesn't have any documents, it'd be much easier to do.

[Cher] Oh, you are, you're F1.

Yeah.

-So you're not permanent.

-No.

[Cher] I can give you the application, I can give you the instructions, and you can see what it says.

But if you have any questions, like if you ask me things like, should I apply or what happens?

I can't tell you cause I'm not an attorney.

[Shoki] I can see that refugees are depending on their traditions and their own life and they have the, they're lonely, not able to go into the American's life yet.

Even if they stay for eight years, or nine years, or 10 years.

Still you go to them, you find them, they are, they have something which is still tidy, as if they fear something which is unknown.

(drum music) [Annette] Our government enables people to come here but then just leaves them adrift.

It's easy for people to say they need to get a job, but if you don't know how to read the signs to take a bus, or how to apply for a job or dress properly for a job, or speak the language or read a form or fill in a blank, how can someone assimilate into our society?

(upbeat Reggae music) (upbeat Reggae music) [male 5] When I came, I think I lost, I had lost everything when I came to Lincoln, and Lincoln gave me so much and for the past few years thought about giving back to the community.

(upbeat Reggae music) (people laughing) [female 3] Language is the key, you know, you can know, when you have a language you can communicate with people, but without language you be like, like blind person.

So, It's very important to encourage them to come to school and learn.

Now they're doing okay.

They can say their name, they can write their address, they can answer the phone.

[Annette] So do you walk to school?

[person in backgroud] Hoo hoo [female 4] A train?

[Jum] I want to admit my kids in the school first.

That's my first priority, to admit them to school.

And then I want to search for a better job to find a better job and work two three times, because I have a big family, five kids.

And I want to live here forever.

(somber guitar music) [Mary] Who are we gonna call "us"?

Are we gonna call "us" only white people, only rich people, only people who've been here a long time?

Only Christians?

Who do we want to include in our circle of caring?

Who do we want to extend compassion to, extend justice to and fairness to.

(somber guitar music) (somber guitar music) (somber guitar music) (flute music) (flute music) [Narrator] For more than two centuries, hundreds of thousands of people have come to America from somewhere else.

(flute music) (flute music) Imagine for a moment what it would be like to come to America today.

(flute music) (flute music) (flute music) (flute music) (percussion music) (percussion music) On Flag Day, June 14th, immigrants from India, Sudan, Iraq the Philippines, Vietnam, Bosnia, Mexico, Kazakhstan and Algeria took the oath of allegiance at the Homestead National Monument itself.

A monument to American freedom and opportunity.

Many of them had left combat zones, dictators, poverty and stagnation.

(gentle music) (foreign language spoken) [Girl] It was like, there was like a relief.

Like we felt better like when we came cuz there was nothing to worry about.

It's better here cuz like you don't have to worry about like getting hurt or anything.

[Susan] Check in time for this ceremonies at one o'clock they'll start arriving by 11 because they don't wanna take any chances on getting to the wrong place, something happening, you know this is an very important day for them.

[Narrator] Becoming a citizen is a journey like no other.

You must demonstrate knowledge of US history, geography, government, and civic principles.

You must read, write and understand English.

(gentle music] You must convey an attachment to the principles of the US Constitution, (gentle music) and you must swear an oath that for some is a bittersweet farewell to one's former identity.

[Speaker] Hassan Osman Ali, Iraq, Fam Biam Vietnam, (gentle music) Libya, Zouki Bosnia, Jasmine Grace, Iman, Sudan, Boundy Ou, Vietnam.

[Boundy] The whole family come together because he was in the he worked in the military, that's for the South Vietnam and he was in prison camp for five, five and a half, five years.

[Richard] Do you hereby declare under oath that you will absolutely and entirely renounce and objure [Female] In Vietnam, you work hard but you don't see the result.

And, and so That's, that's the one nice thing in America if you work hard, you believe in whatever you believe in, then you get.

(foreign language spoken) [Female 2] We wanna benefit, like she can vote.

Yeah.

Like she, she feel like she an American now.

So she want to be a become American.

[Randy] I think people, I don't know if they realize what everybody goes through to become a citizen and we're all born into it.

We take it for granted [Richard] That you will support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America.

For me, at Levins, the cynicism, so much of what we do in the courtroom in particular is unpleasant and sad.

And this is both pleasant and joyous.

So when I leave here, I'll be kind of on a high until I get home and, and and it'll carry into tomorrow when I, I will do three or four or five criminal matters, sending people to prison.

So help you God, if you do say I do (all repeat) I do.

you're now United States citizens.

(clapping) (foreign language spoken) (foreign language spoken) (foreign language spoken) [Girl] We're thankful they give us a home and food and everything.

So thanks we are thankful for everything.

[Hassan] Thank you very much America.

[Fatima] The first thing is I am an Algerian and I am an American.

Cause you know, long time I learned Algerian.

[Boundy] It's important to reserve our culture here and it's also important to adapt to American culture.

I'm from Mexico and I'm American.

I'm from Vietnam and now I'm American.

I am Saturnino Paconio from the Philippines.

I'm now I am American.

[Jasmine] I feel special, free to be you and just do the best out of it, you know, get the best out of it.

I am Fatima from Algeria and now I am an American and I am happy.

(percussion music) (percussion music) (percussion music) (percussion music) (percussion music) (percussion music) (upbeat music) (grain pouring) - [Narrator] Nebraska is a long way from the African Coffee Belt, but it's here in the heart of Corn Country where Laban and Cora Njugana are hoping to stem the loss of coffee growers in Laban's native homeland of Kenya.

(soft guitar music) (grain grinding) - For us the way coffee started was somebody when we were in Kenya just asking us, can you help us market our coffee?

And my response at that time was no, we're not in coffee, I don't know anything about coffee, I don't even drink coffee.

(grain pouring) - [Narrator] Raised in the capital city of Nairobi, a city with a population of 5 million people, Laban's parents were the first generation in his family to receive a formal education.

His father is a college graduate.

- My dad is more conservative, behind the desk kind of guy.

My mum is out there figuring how things work, and she's not as scared to try anything.

(grain pouring) When it comes to work ethic and being bold, that was my mother, and I have a little bit of that in me.

- [Narrator] Cora was raised on a family farm near Aurora.

Like Laban, she also grew up in a close-knit family.

- We would ride all over the farm.

We would find trouble to get into.

(Cora giggling) too out there.

Play with our dolls, build forts, stuff like that.

I learned a lot just hanging out with my mom, about how to be an adult, how to raise a family.

- [Narrator] Family would be at the heart of many future decisions made by Cora and Laban.

- We wanted to be closer to family, have that support system as we began our family and started raising kids.

And so that's how we ended up in this part of Nebraska.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] It's also how they ended up in the coffee business.

As a boy, Laban spent holidays on his grandmother's farm, helping with chores like harvesting coffee.

- My grandmother is still alive.

She is a hundred and five years old, cannot read and write.

In Kenya, coffee was always a very serious cash crop.

So my grandmother tells us that's how I fed my children.

So you tend to find that a lot of people are really emotionally attached to this product in Kenya, because that was their source of livelihood.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] On return visit to Kenya, Laban's grandmother asked him for help.

It was a request Laban found he couldn't ignore.

- I get a little bit emotional when I talk about my grandma.

A lot of farmers in Kenya had uprooted, or have uprooted and continue to uproot their coffee.

They move to other things.

- [Narrator] Laban's grandmother was among those who quit growing coffee.

- Why is it when I look at the American market, Kenyan coffee is one of the most expensive coffees, but when I look at the farmer, they are some of the poorest people anywhere in the world.

So I started digging in, just trying to understand the coffee trade in the US.

The market side of things.

What are they looking for?

Why don't they carry Kenyan coffee on a consistent basis?

- We spent probably two years just building relationships, both in the US and Kenya.

But the more I went to Kenya and the more I learned, and the more I talked to producers and co-operatives and things in Kenya then, I think I started seeing what some of the challenges were and how we could overcome that.

- When I was done with all this, I figured out, you know what?

This problem can actually be resolved.

The only way the Kenyan coffee farmer is ever gonna get a just price for their product is accessing the market directly.

- [Narrator] Zabuni is the first American Specialty Coffee Auction House to directly connect the Kenyan coffee farmer with the American consumer.

It's success is dependent on the personal relationships the Njugana's are cultivating in Africa.

- I have to go to the rural areas in Kenya and talk to friends and family and relatives.

I have to sit in their homes and answer questions about who is this consumer?

Why do they like my coffee?

What do they look like?

Why is my coffee important to them?

We have to answer those questions.

So for us we just felt like that bridge is not there.

There's no one truly representing who the American consumer is to people in the origin, but there's also no one representing this producer in a very effective and honest way to the American consumer.

- [Narrator] The producers ship their coffee here to Nebraska, where it is sold through online auctions to small coffee roasters in the Midwest.

- It would not have been possible with people in this community, and even in Kenya, this would not have been possible.

- You wanna bring it up and get that really good with, hit the cup sometimes that releases some aroma.

- People just getting involved in ways that they didn't have to be, beyond their professional capacities, and wanting to see a business like this in a community like this, in a part of the country like this just succeed.

- The oils, the fruitiness, the characteristics of that coffee is now gonna come out and shine in this part.

(utensils cluttering) (people chattering) - [Narrator] But it all circles back to Laban and Cora's commitment to family, and a promise a grandson made to his grandmother.

- We haven't been able to bring my grandma's coffee here yet, but I did assure her that some day, for sure we'll make sure we get her coffee and the group of coffee farmers that she's with.

Get their coffee here and for us to be able to sell it.

When I say that this is personal, this is not just a product to deal with, it is personal, and you can't mess with grandma or her stuff.

We've got to do right by her, and by those other women in her village and where she comes from.

(upbeat music) ♪ ♪ AFTER THE VIETNAM WAR, EMIGRATION FROM VIETNAM WAS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH.

THE UNITED NATIONS CREATED AN ORDERLY DEPARTURE PROGRAM TO MAKE EMIGRATION SAFER AND PROVIDE PROPER LEGAL CHANNELS.

IN 1990, LINCOLN WAS DECLARED A "REFUGEE FRIENDLY" CITY BY THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, MAKING LINCOLN A MAJOR RESETTLEMENT SITE FOR VIETNAMESE REFUGEES.

SETTLING IN TO THEIR NEW HOME INCLUDED FINDING A WAY TO KEEP THEIR CULTURE ALIVE.

MANY FOUND SANCTUARY IN LINCOLN'S CATHOLIC COMMUNITY.

BUT FOR BUDDHISTS, THERE WAS NO GATHERING PLACE.

SO IN 1991, A GROUP OF VIETNAMESE NEBRASKANS FOUNDED THE LINH QUANG BUDDHIST TEMPLE.

>> MY DAD WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THIS TEMPLE.

WHEN THEY CAME HERE, A WAY FOR THEM TO JUST KIND OF GET TOGETHER WAS THROUGH RELIGION.

>> MY FAMILY AND I CAME TO AMERICA IN 1993, WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY START GOING TO THE TEMPLE UNTIL MAYBE A FEW YEARS LATER.

BUT WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN BUDDHISTS.

>> IN THE EARLY YEARS OF LINH QUANG BUDDHIST TEMPLE, A RENOVATED HOUSE SERVED AS THE MEETING SITE.

>> IN 2007 WAS WHEN WE CAME OUT THERE.

WE HAD THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY AND THEN THE BUILDING PROCESS STARTED, AND THEN 2011 WAS THE GRAND OPENING THAT WE HAD THIS LOCATION.

A LOT OF THESE HERE THAT YOU CAN SEE ARE STATUES THAT WE JUST RECENTLY GOT BROUGHT OVER FROM VIETNAM.

>> RETAINING OUR VIETNAMESE CULTURAL HERITAGE IS SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT TO MY PARENTS, AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU KNOW WE WERE TAUGHT AT VERY YOUNG AGE.

( monk chanting ) >> THE FIRST LANGUAGE OF MANY WORSHIPERS AT LINH QUANG BUDDHIST TEMPLE IS VIETNAMESE, AND THE SERVICES ARE STILL OFFERED IN THEIR NATIVE TONGUE.

THERE ARE, OF COURSE, OTHER REASONS SACRED TEXT AND WORSHIP SERVICES ARE NOT TRANSLATED.

>> SOME OF THE WORDS, THE TEACHING, IS ACTUALLY VERY DEEP.

VERY -- IT HAS DIFFERENT MEANING, AND SO WHEN WE TRANSLATE THAT TO ENGLISH, IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY TRANSLATE IT CORRECTLY.

>> THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF SERVICES.

THERE'S THE MAIN ONE IN HERE AND THEN THERE'S A SEPARATE ONE FOR THE BUDDHIST YOUTH GROUP.

THE OLDER PEOPLE ARE GENERALLY IN HERE DOING THE PRAYING AND THE CEREMONY WITH THE MONK.

( praying and chanting ) >> DURING A BUDDHIST CEREMONY, WE HAVE THE GONG.

WE CALL IT THE CHIÊNG .

AND THEN WE HAVE THE WOODEN, MOK TOK.

THIS IS MADE OUT OF WOOD, AND THIS IS MORE OF RHYTHM.

IT PROVIDES RHYTHM WHEN YOU CHANT.

SO THE GUY THAT YOU SAW WITH THE GONG?

THAT WAS MY DAD, ACTUALLY, SO HE'S BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS.

THERE'S CERTAIN PARTS IN THE BOOK WHERE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HIT, AND HE JUST KNOWS IT BY HEART.

>> AT LINH QUANG, SOME HAVE BEEN ON THE JOURNEY ALL THEIR LIVES, WHILE OTHERS ARE NEW TO THE PRACTICE.

ONE OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHISM IS SEEKING PEACEFUL LIVING.

>> THE MAIN TEACHING OR PURPOSE OF BUDDHISM IS SO THAT PEOPLE CAN LIVE WITH COMPASSION, WITH HARMONY, AND WITH LOVE.

>> WHEN BUDDHA WAS FIRST BORN, HE TOOK SEVEN STEPS, AND EACH STEP THAT HE TOOK, A LOTUS FLOWER BLOOMED BENEATH HIS FOOT.

A LOTUS, IT GROWS IN A VERY SWAMPY, DIRTY AREA, RIGHT?

HOWEVER, WHEN IT BLOOMS, IT'S VERY BEAUTIFUL.

AND SO AS A BUDDHIST, YOU'RE KIND OF LIKE A LOTUS.

YOU DON'T LET ALL OF THOSE BAD THINGS INFLUENCE YOU.

>> WE HAVE THE STORY OF BUDDHA PLAYING OUT IN THESE FIVE PANELS HERE.

IT STARTS WITH HIS BIRTH AND THEN TO THE POINT WHERE HE DECIDES TO GIVE UP THE THRONE AND GIVE UP HIS POWER OF BEING THE PRINCE TO SEEK ENLIGHTENMENT.

>>BUDDHISM IS FULL OF SYMBOLISM.

FROM NUMBERS TO COLORS, EVERY DETAIL POINTS BACK TO BUDDHA'S TEACHING.

>> THOSE FOUR PILLARS, THEY REPRESENT THE ENTRYWAY INTO THE TEMPLE AND IF YOU CAN IMAGINE THE THREE SPLITS IN BETWEEN REPRESENTING THE PAST, THE PRESENT, OR THE FUTURE.

THERE'S CHINESE SCRIPT AS WELL AS VIETNAMESE SCRIPT BASICALLY SAYING THOSE THAT PASS THROUGH THE TEMPLE MAY BE BLESSED.

>> INSIDE THE TEMPLE, SYMBOLIC GRAY ROBES ARE WORN DURING THE SERVICES AS PEOPLE PRAY AND CHANT.

>> SO WHEN YOU COME IN HERE, WE'RE ALL EQUAL, RIGHT?

PUTTING ON THE ROBE, WE'RE ALL THE SAME.

>> AFTER OUR SERVICE, WE WOULD INVITE EVERYBODY HERE TO COME AND JOIN US IN WHAT THEY CALL A GATHERING PLACE TO JUST ENJOY A FREE LUNCH WITH EVERYBODY AND KIND OF BOND WITH ONE ANOTHER.

>> PEOPLE DON'T ALWAYS EXPECT TO FIND A BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, BUT THE MEMBERS OF LINH QUANG LOVE TO OPEN THEIR DOORS TO NEW PEOPLE.

>> WE WELCOME THOSE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO COME TO TEMPLE FOR PRAYER OR JUST FOR PEACE AND QUIET AND THE TEACHING.

>> FOR ME, THIS WHOLE AREA JUST BRINGS ABOUT CALM.

IT'S JUST A QUIET PLACE FOR YOU JUST TO SIT AND TO REFLECT.

>> BUDDHISM IS A RELIGION, BUT TO ME, IT'S MORE LIKE A TEACHING.

JUST A WAY SO THAT YOU WOULD LEARN TO LIVE LIFE RATHER THAN FOLLOW IT BLINDLY AND NOT UNDERSTAND IT.

AT LEAST UNDERSTAND WHY YOU'RE A BUDDHIST.

IN MY OPINION, I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT.

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(upbeat music) "Nebraska Stories" is funded in part by the Margaret and Martha Thomas Foundation, and Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.

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