Welcoming refugees through birding
By Laura Cremin
Lake Merritt, the heart of Oakland, has long beckoned people to peel away from the pulses of the city and just watch the birds. Golden Gate Bird Alliance was fortunate to spend the morning at the lake recently with some remarkable people who are new arrivals to the Bay Area.
We connected with them through 1951 Coffee Company, a local non-profit that provides job training and employment at coffee shops to refugees, asylum seekers, and special immigrant visa holders. The purpose goes beyond jobs, though—to building a community where refugees can be supported, cherished, and welcomed.
Audubon leaders with 1951 Coffee students / Photo by Cynthia Zhou
A new Bay Area resident who is also a new birder / Photo by Cynthia Zhou
For Audubon members who dream about birds all day, an intuitive form of welcoming is to share the unique places and wildlife that make the Bay Area feel like home. How could GGBA share a relevant experience? I contacted 1951 to ask, and connected with Cynthia Zhou, a staff member who coincidentally had thought a lot about nature and the refugee community. She agreed that birds make good ambassadors.
We teamed up and went on a bird walk on a Saturday morning in late September. 1951’s training cafe is a few blocks south of Lake Merritt, making the lake a natural destination to explore.
Birding with 1951 Coffee students / Photo by Dan Roth
From Audubon I was joined by Clay Anderson (naturalist and GGBA Eco-Education staff) and Dan Roth (fellow board member). From 1951 side, we were joined by Cynthia Zhou and Hannah Carter (both in AmeriCorps positions).
And of course, the participants in the trainee program! There were a dozen current and former 1951 students. They had sought refuge from Eritrea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia. The range of time that the students had lived in the U.S. varied: Some had been here for a few years and were familiar with the Bay Area, while one student had just arrived a month ago.
They were all interested in Lake Merritt; only two of them had been around the entire lake before.
Within our two-hour adventure, we encircled both sides of Lake Merritt, ate chocolate croissants in front of a fitness boot-camp, and even went birding with a bird!
Cynthia Zhou and her pigeon greet the 1951 birders / Photo by Dan Roth
Clay orients the participants / Photo by Dan Roth
We met at the Amphitheater at the south end of the lake.…
