Could you tell about yourself.

My name is Bruce Harley, I'm a professor at San Diego State University, I teach in the honors program there, and I'm also a librarian there. I volunteer for the International Rescue Committee, which I started doing in 2010, that's how I came to be familiar with the City Heights community and Crawford High School.

What kind of students do you work with in Crawford High?

At Crawford High, I work now only with seniors. And usually just one senior each year.

How has it been working like with different race of people in City, in Crawford?

I was exposed to different ethnic groups that I had never heard of before, especially the Karen. Other ethnic groups, especially from Burma and Thailand. I've worked also with different groups of people from Africa, but mostly Asian refugees, and some immigrants as well. It has opened my eyes to people from other cultures I had no idea about before I started volunteering.

How hard or how easy do you find helping students who barely speak English?

I don't find it that hard because the students I have worked with have been so eager to learn, hard-working, that it's a pleasure to help them with English.

As you come always to IRC and then Crawford High for volunteering, do you feel safe coming and going around the community?

When my wife and I first moved to San Diego twenty-five years ago, City Heights was known as a dangerous neighborhood and we never really came here for anything, but ever since I've been volunteering I've never been concerned about that. I've never felt that I was unsafe, ever. Certainly not during the volunteering I'm doing.

And what are the cultural events you heard from your students?

Most, because I've worked mostly with the Karen, most of the cultural events I've gone to are Karen events, especially Karen New Year, early in January, which I've been to three times.

How does specific ethnic group contribute to the Crawford High community? How would you describe that?

Crawford High, I have learned, did not know, is one of the most diverse high schools anywhere in the country, let alone San Diego, so for me, being at Crawford High is almost like traveling around the world, without actually doing the traveling, and learning about so many different people and it's great to see students from different cultures working together to learn English.

How would you describe City Heights and Crawford High, like the community to someone who had never been to here?

Again, going to City Heights and Crawford for me, I talk to my students at San Diego State about this, it's kind of like doing a student study abroad without actually leaving the United States by coming to City Heights. It's almost like traveling through different parts of the world, like Thailand, Vietnam, Somalia, for example.

Do you have any ideas where are the common place where you would hang around here, in City Heights?

The one place I am most familiar with is Colina Park, which is right next to the IRC Headquarters, and I've been there many, many times.

Do you wish to [muffled] refugee immigrants in the future or?

Yeah, I plan to continue to keep doing what I'm doing as long as I teach at San Diego State University, and even after I retire, so there are people who have basically changed my life and inspired me in many different ways, through their struggles, through their bravery, through their courage, their resilience. I would see, I can't see myself living without being around refugees as part of my life.

How active are they involved in the community things?

I think, as I said earlier, City Heights used to be known as a pretty dangerous kind of place to live. I think since so many refugees and immigrants have settled in this area, it is they who have made City Heights a better community to live in. I think more Americans need to be aware of that.

How about the political involvement or any other organizations they are involved in, how has that impact on their life?

When I first come here, of course, they're not politically active in this country because they have to be here for five years before they can become citizens and be able to vote. And I think now especially with the current presidential election, more of the City Heights residents who have become citizens and can vote are trying to figure out the American political system, so they can make the best informed decision.

What are the other community organizations that help the refugee, immigrants that you know of?

The main one I know of is the Karen Organization of San Diego which is located right next to the IRC. I also volunteer for them, and because they represent the ethnic group I work with the most I have come to know the people who work there quite well. They are, they aren't the only organization, the African Alliance here in City Heights, I believe there is a Somalian organization, I know there's a Vietnamese organization, and others. They try to get together and arrange things for World Refugee Day each year.

Apart from World Refugee Day events, what are the other things that specifically Karen Organization does for their people?

They are the main organizer of the Karen New Year, which I mentioned, they also do various fundraisers for their organization during the year, they contribute a lot to World Refugee Day, they even have, during the summer, their own Karen prom, which they did for the first time last year, it's not connected with the graduation. They do a lot of community service work, like canning or beach clean-ups, trips to places like Sea World, and they perform at various community events also.

What has been the difference that you see back in the past and now?

When you say the past?
 
The past like, year ago?

So, I've been volunteering. I'm beginning my seventh year. What I've seen over those years is the strengthening of community ties, in large part due to the work of refugees and immigrants here in City Heights. There's still of course a lot of room for improvement, and I think there's room for a lot more outreach, especially to the wider American public, so they can understand what City Heights is all about. I see a much stronger Karen community as a result of the Karen Organization's work, and the IRC also.

Thank you.

I didn't talk about my SDSU students volunteering.