What do you think?
Rate this book
This Much I Can Tell You: Stories of Courage and Hope from Refugees in Minnesota
“Malaba trails off and he leans in closer and pauses. ‘Now come to my world,’ he says, his voice soft.” In this collection, storytellers like Malaba—a refugee from Zimbabwe—usher readers into the memories of their harrowing journeys to Minnesota. Moses describes the murder of his brother and his own subsequent torture. Januka remembers her family’s experience living in the jungle, walking on foot from Bhutan to Nepal. Lah Paw reminisces fondly about her life in the refugee camp and the lessons she has learned about life in America. The storytellers were journalists, pastors, farmers, accountants, and healthcare workers, and other respectable professions and identities, before being forced to abandon all that was familiar, fleeing with only their lives, in pursuit of safety and freedom in a foreign land. This compilation by Minnesota Council of Churches Refugee Services captures the histories of some of Minnesota’s newest neighbors—18 men and women from nine different countries. Those that were once strangers now have names, voices, and personalities that will beckon readers into even deeper understanding of people who now call Minnesota home.
- GenresNonfictionBiography
186 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2011
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 29, 2020
The stories were (are) powerful. They remind us that the world is not enough.
October 6, 2019
This was a great book to hear the stories of refugees who have come to Minnesota. I highly recommend learning the stories of new Americans.
June 21, 2012
I bought this book spontaneously after seeing how beautifully the cover art portrayed a family in front of an apartment building in Minneapolis. It is a local landmark of the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, home to many of our new immigrants in Minnesota. Little did I know how strongly the stories in this book would affect me. They will open your eyes, change your views, move you to tears, and show you immense suffering around the world. They are matter of fact, told in each person's own voice. They are not easy to hear, but ultimately, these stories will lead you to believe in the good of humanity. This book added both a historical context and a personal connection to the work I do with immigrants - it is only a sampling of the refugee and asylee experience, but it speaks volumes. I saw my clients in these stories, and I saw my friends. Through learning about our neighbors, we learn how to better our community and change ourselves. I want my Minnesota to be a place of safety, of welcome, and of peace where people can make their home. I highly recommend this book.
August 3, 2011
I helped MCC Refugee Services put this book together. The stories are woven in next to my heart. I feel like I know the storytellers! Indeed, I have met several of them personally. I would recommend this book to any one interested in international issues, humanitarian crises, refugee and immigrants, Minnesota, and story telling. The book's blog has a wealth of information for the book browser: www.mnchurches.org/refugeestories.
I hope you will read this book and share it with your friends!
I hope you will read this book and share it with your friends!
Want to read
June 13, 2011Just ordered this book from the publisher, looking forward to reading it.
Read
July 2, 2020This Much I Can Tell You is a collection of eighteen stories from the seventy-thousand asylees and refugees in Minnesota. The book was put together by the Minnesota Council of Churches Refugee Services, even including staff members themselves in the collection. The emotions in each story are powerful, from the love of family and home to the despair many people feel at the loss of both. The refugees and asylees featured came to the U.S. from a range of countries including Liberia, Burma, Zimbabwe, and Bhutan. This diverse collection taught me more about the political history in countries I have not previously learned about. While different countries have very different situations, I also learned how across the world refugee camps are similar in many ways: the lack of adequate housing, food, or freedom of movement. I had not known that 14 million people are living in refugee camps, and that only one half of one percent are resettled to a third country. Just as it was just one part of their journey from their home country, storytellers did not focus completely on their transition to the U.S. I was inspired by stories of people who worked tirelessly to improve their situations in the refugee camps, such as organizing HIV/AIDS awareness or creating a camp newspaper. This passion for positive change did not end when people came to America. People endlessly supported each other, taking in fellow country-men and working together to organize gardens and services. While some mention their relief and happiness to come to the U.S., others their frustration with the system, confusion in a new country, and wistfulness for the country they left behind. This collection is not just interesting for those who work with refugee or asylee populations, but those looking to understand a little more about the range of experiences many of our neighbors still are grappling with. This Much I Can Tell You inspired reflection upon the idea of the nonprofit as a storyteller - an intermediary with the ability to tell and disseminate stories that may not otherwise find a voice. While this is important work, but I feel that going a step further is doing what some of us do, teaching people how to tell their stories themselves.
For the October book Club I read This Much I Can Tell You, which is a compilation of different refugees stories reflecting on their past in their home country, as well as their experiences in Minnesota as refugees. Focusing on two or three individual stories from countries such as Somalia, Burma, Liberia, and Iraq, the book offers a wide range of experiences, trials, tragedy, and hope from individual stories, never once creating a dominating narrative or "place" to put refugees in, but always allowing each individual to tell their personal story.
Each chapter opens with a small introduction of the country's history, cultural background, and primary reason for their refugee situation. It then springboards into the individual's stories. What was most jarring to me was how often one or both of the refugee's parent died (usually the Dad). Josiah, a Burmese refugee, fled military occupation because his Dad was a freedom fighter against the oppressive regime. He had to live in a refugee camp for over a decade, only meeting his father long after he became an adult. Kaw Lah, also a refugee from Burma, lost her father when she was a small girl, and lived in a refugee camp for seventeen years before coming to America. Sharmake, a Somalian refugee, lost his father at a young age and traveled across the country with his brother and mother to get to a refugee camp before coming to America. Many of these stories involve not only loss of land, or shelter, but family and lives. There is also no easy path for a refugee once they flee danger: refugee camps are overcrowded, dirty, and isolating. But to hear these individuals tell their stories, and speak about playing games with other kids or making makeshift soccer balls in the refugee camps, I was astounded at the resilience they showed amid total uprooting and loss. Never do these stories fall into despair.
What struck me most about stories once in America was their struggle to keep and find a place for their culture. They come here from very horrifying situations, and amid uprooting and leaving their home, they are thrown into a very large and dominating culture in the US. Many people find ways to maintain a level of their past (Sharmake speaks of the large Somali population in Minneapolis and how that allows things like language and food to continue), while many others attempt quickly to pick up American culture as quickly as possible (Malaba from Zimbabwe speaks about how much he likes Western dress, and quickly assimilated to suits, action movies, and coca cola). Many of the refugees find work here in aid based jobs in the book and desire to settle and allow their family to grow in America, while many others speak of hopes to return to their home country and re connect with the culture and country that they came from.
This book was an insightful look into many situations that surround me every day in the Twin Cities area. It becomes easy to forget the painful past of many refugee groups in the cities, and how important it is for them to construct a present and a future in America. It is an incredible collection covering a multiplicity of perspectives, reminding me of how different all of the seats are at the American table, and how much each story adds to the cacophonic harmonies created by our cultural multiplicity.
For the October book Club I read This Much I Can Tell You, which is a compilation of different refugees stories reflecting on their past in their home country, as well as their experiences in Minnesota as refugees. Focusing on two or three individual stories from countries such as Somalia, Burma, Liberia, and Iraq, the book offers a wide range of experiences, trials, tragedy, and hope from individual stories, never once creating a dominating narrative or "place" to put refugees in, but always allowing each individual to tell their personal story.
Each chapter opens with a small introduction of the country's history, cultural background, and primary reason for their refugee situation. It then springboards into the individual's stories. What was most jarring to me was how often one or both of the refugee's parent died (usually the Dad). Josiah, a Burmese refugee, fled military occupation because his Dad was a freedom fighter against the oppressive regime. He had to live in a refugee camp for over a decade, only meeting his father long after he became an adult. Kaw Lah, also a refugee from Burma, lost her father when she was a small girl, and lived in a refugee camp for seventeen years before coming to America. Sharmake, a Somalian refugee, lost his father at a young age and traveled across the country with his brother and mother to get to a refugee camp before coming to America. Many of these stories involve not only loss of land, or shelter, but family and lives. There is also no easy path for a refugee once they flee danger: refugee camps are overcrowded, dirty, and isolating. But to hear these individuals tell their stories, and speak about playing games with other kids or making makeshift soccer balls in the refugee camps, I was astounded at the resilience they showed amid total uprooting and loss. Never do these stories fall into despair.
What struck me most about stories once in America was their struggle to keep and find a place for their culture. They come here from very horrifying situations, and amid uprooting and leaving their home, they are thrown into a very large and dominating culture in the US. Many people find ways to maintain a level of their past (Sharmake speaks of the large Somali population in Minneapolis and how that allows things like language and food to continue), while many others attempt quickly to pick up American culture as quickly as possible (Malaba from Zimbabwe speaks about how much he likes Western dress, and quickly assimilated to suits, action movies, and coca cola). Many of the refugees find work here in aid based jobs in the book and desire to settle and allow their family to grow in America, while many others speak of hopes to return to their home country and re connect with the culture and country that they came from.
This book was an insightful look into many situations that surround me every day in the Twin Cities area. It becomes easy to forget the painful past of many refugee groups in the cities, and how important it is for them to construct a present and a future in America. It is an incredible collection covering a multiplicity of perspectives, reminding me of how different all of the seats are at the American table, and how much each story adds to the cacophonic harmonies created by our cultural multiplicity.
July 31, 2018
Even though this book was published in 2011, the stories about refugees is relevant to the political environment today.
February 14, 2017
Powerful.
August 18, 2016
fantastic; a must read!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews