Hasta La Gadget!

A program in Minnesota is offering American high school students the chance to live for a week with local immigrant families, to help counter misconceptions and create connections between U.S.-born and immigrant communities.

The nonprofit City Stay connects students from three private high schools in the Twin Cities with local Latino, Somali and Hmong host families ― representing the three largest immigrant communities in the state. 

“We live in bubbles, largely interacting with people who look the way we do, dress the way we do, and that leads to mistrust and misconceptions,” founder Julie Knopp told The Huffington Post. “At the end of the day, it’s just about getting to know your neighbors.”

As part of the elective program, for which students pay a fee, the teens participate in the family lives of their hosts over the weekend and after school ― everything from cooking meals to running errands to playing sports.

During the week, they join in school lessons and activities facilitated by City Stay, including learning about immigrant communities from members of those communities. They also share with each other what they’ve learned from their time staying with a host family.

“It was so much fun,” said Trace, 14, who stayed with a Somali family in March through City Stay. He told HuffPost he is white and U.S.-born.

“Saturday, [host mom] Bahjo drove me to the Somali mall, which I didn’t even know about. We went to the mosque,” he said. “When we got home, I played video games with [host dad] Siciid for a while. Our cultures are only different a little bit, but we’re pretty similar, I learned that night.”

The program is just five years old and still small: Only 60 students have done it, along with 20 host families, some of which have participated multiple times.

More than 85 percent of the students who’ve done the program are U.S.-born, and around 60 percent are white. The host families, meanwhile, represent a wide range of immigrant experiences. Some of the hosts are recent immigrants, while others were born and raised in the U.S. ― though most of the families have at least one person who was born outside the country, according to Knopp.

“It’s easy to just make assumptions and go into an experience like this with preconceived notions of the family ― or the person we’re hosting,” host Jewelly Lee told HuffPost. “But the learning that happens after, it makes it worth it.”

Lee has hosted students through the program for the past three years. She was born in the U.S. and has four generations living at home, including her parents, who came to the U.S. as refugees from Laos in the 1970s. 

“I walk away learning so much more about the student, and I hope the student walks away learning about our family and our community,” she said. “And for my parents, to not be intimidated to speak English, they get to practice.”

Since the election of President Donald Trump, Knopp says she has seen more interest in the program ― but also more misconceptions, particularly about Muslim and undocumented Latino families, with some parents expressing concerns about their kids staying in certain communities.

While Knopp has to abide by parent requests, she said even students who end up not staying in a community will still hear about their classmates’ experiences ― and then they’ll take that new understanding home with them.

The program has its flaws, Lee noted. Her main concern is that the schools it works with are private ― which means only kids from a certain economic stratum are able to participate.

Knopp, who is a public school teacher, says she hopes to expand the program to public schools eventually, but regulations make it hard to introduce outside initiatives like this. In the meantime, City Stay offers scholarships to 90 percent of students to cover the $545 cost, in an effort to make it more inclusive.

Another issue, Lee noted, is that the program is focused on learning opportunities for the U.S.-born students, but not for the immigrant host families. Students get to process and share their experiences in class, while the host families don’t have a forum where they can get together to compare notes and exchange ideas.

Lee also noted that City Stay markets itself as a “study abroad”-type program, which she said might inadvertently reinforce the idea of immigrants in the U.S. as “other.”

Lee provides this type of feedback to Knopp regularly, she says, and Knopp has improved the program accordingly over the years. But there is still room to grow.

“How can we make sure the program is on the right path of being an exchange, and not continuing to perpetuate stereotypes or harming communities of color, immigrant families or inner-city families?” Lee said. “And broaden the experience of students and host families?”

Knopp concedes there is a lot to improve, and notes that the effort is all volunteer-run. In order to implement significant changes, she said, the program would need more funding.

“I think it would be powerful to have this model adapted in other cities,” she said. “Students’ experiences have a ripple effect: They invite their family to their host family’s house, or talk about it with their church community. A lot of people here do see people in other communities as ‘other’ ― but when their kid gets to know another community, they become advocates for one another.”

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When we first heard about culinary art therapy, we immediately thought, “It’s about time.” It seemed so clear that cooking could be used as a form of therapy. The process of putting a meal together, or baking a treat for someone, is thoughtful. It requires attention and intention ― and it focuses your mind on a tangible task while hopefully muting out the noise of the busy world around us.

We had to learn more, so we reached out to Julie Ohana, a culinary arts therapist who wrote her 2004 master’s thesis on this idea and has since built a business on it. She filled us in on the practice that appears to be growing in popularity. Here’s what she had to say:

HuffPost: What exactly is culinary arts therapy?

Ohana: CAT, as I like to call it, is cooking as means of therapeutic expression. Traditional talk therapy has its place for many people ― I am a firm believer in therapy ― however, I think in this modern world of 2017, many people are looking for something a bit less traditional and conventional. CAT can be an outlet for those people. 

What kinds of skills, dishes or meals are learned and prepared during culinary arts therapy? 

When I do a session for an individual or a group, I work with them to tailor make the session to their needs and likes. I have made many different kinds of dishes ranging from breakfast dishes to main courses and, of course, desserts. It isn’t so much about the kind of dish, but the process in which it is prepared and then served and enjoyed.

How does culinary arts therapy work logistically?

I have an office space that has a kitchen. I also recently just started doing online sessions. It is really able to fit into the life of the client, meet their needs and make it easier for them. I have also done many group sessions for staff groups in offices. Lastly, going to a client’s home is always a possibility as well.

I do like to give “homework” too ― it helps the client to be more mindful and be able to translate kitchen lessons into “real world” take aways.

Do you combine traditional therapy with culinary arts therapy?

Great question ― it’s a hard one because it depends on the client. If someone is really aware and able to, then yes, we will make therapeutic connections in the kitchen. Sometimes they happen after the session when either me or the client makes an observation, does some journaling or in conversation afterwards. The idea is absolutely to connect the two, but it needs to be in the best way for the client. 

Who can benefit from culinary arts therapy?

I do believe it can help with depression, anxiety and grief. The ability to step outside of certain thoughts or actions, even if it is just for an hour or so can provide tremendous relief. That hour is a good building block to grow on. Then being able to manage one self, time, thoughts, energy hopefully is learned behavior that again starts in the kitchen and then grows to other areas of someone’s life. 

Grief, in particular, can be something CAT can help with because of that sensory experience that is tied to memory. Cooking can help someone process those memories in a positive way and be able to allow the ability to cope with the loss, process it and move forward in a positive way. 

Is culinary arts therapy different than arts therapy? How?

I am definitely not an expert in art therapy so I can’t really tell you about any specific details in art therapy, but I would venture to say any therapeutic technique is about the process ― and CAT is no exception. 

How is culinary arts therapy being accepted in the therapy world?

We have a ways to go until CAT is as well known and recognized as other creative therapeutic techniques such as music therapy and art therapy. But with such a growing interest, I have no doubt that we will get there one day. 

I think the world has changed and evolved in so many ways, especially in the last decade or so, and this is no exception. Twenty years ago, or even 10 years ago, who would have thought that so many people would try and accept therapy over Skype or other internet-based mediums ― and this will be one day, too.

What is the future of culinary arts therapy? 

I think more and more people are looking to gain more meaningful experiences out of the mundane, everyday task. I think the world of CAT is going to be really big one day and I hope to be a part of that growth!

 This interview has been edited down for clarity.

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In Armenia, a strong preference for raising boys has led some parents to abort female fetuses, which means many more boys than girls are being born. But new legislation and campaigns promoting the value of having girls are helping counter this illegal practice.

IN ARMENIA, A high value is placed on having sons. Susanna Mkrtchyan, a training and development officer for Save the Children, says she often hears people tell parents of girls things like: “‘You don’t have a son? Poor you. Keep going; you will have a son next time.’”

This preference for a boy, together with advances in ultrasound technology, has created a high demand for sex-selective abortions, and Armenia now has the third highest rate of female fetus abortions in the world, behind China and Azerbaijan. In recent years, this has translated to far more boys being born than girls.

In 2013, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) sounded the alarm, reporting that 114 boys were being born for every 100 girls, compared to the natural ratio of 104-106 boys for every 100 girls. “Our estimates showed that, if nothing changed, we would have 93,000 missing women by 2060,” says Garik Hayrapetyan, head of UNFPA’s Armenia branch.

Although work was already going on in Armenia to combat sex selection, the UNFPA report galvanized government and civil society. In 2016, new legislation made sex-selective abortions illegal. Under this new law, women seeking abortions must attend a counseling session with their doctor and then wait for a three-day “period of reflection” before having the procedure, regardless of the sex of the fetus.

This attempt to address the boy-girl gap has been controversial. While abortion is still legal up to 12 weeks in Armenia, women’s rights organizations have warned that any restrictions on access to abortion could lead to women dying from “backstreet” terminations. Ani Jilozian from the Women’s Support Center believes that poor, marginalized women are most at risk, since they might not be able to wait three days or make multiple visits to the clinic. “Rural women, single mothers – they are the ones who may not be able to make the second trip,” Jilozian says.

She also worries that these rules won’t reduce the number of female fetuses being aborted because, in Armenia, boys are expected to pass down the family name and provide for elderly parents. “If you aren’t changing these harmful gender stereotypes that are the root of the problem, nothing you do in terms of legal change is going to impact the situation,” says Jilozian.

For the past two years, an E.U.-funded project called Combating Gender-Based Sex Selection in Armenia has been tackling these very stereotypes through multiple avenues, including town hall meetings, public awareness campaigns and T.V. discussions across Armenia. The project is being implemented by an independent think-tank and various NGOs, including Save the Children, which brought about 300 medical professionals on board. The organization says that gynecologists, in particular, have played a vital role in stopping sex-selective abortions.

Save the Children’s approach is to ask families to focus on the similarities between girls and boys. Usually, says Mkrtchyan, parents come to the conclusion that they aren’t all that different. “They are really surprised – they see that women are very engaged in all aspects of life, and can support their parents as well as their sons,” she says.

The project is scheduled to end in late April, and according to the International Center for Human Development (ICHD), which oversees the program, it has been an unequivocal success. “We decided that in two years, we would reduce sex-selective abortions by 10 percent,” says Vahan Asatryan, a gender specialist with ICHD. “We already have three times better results than we intended.” The latest statistics bear this out: In 2016, the birth ratio of boys to girls dropped to 112 boys per 100 girls.

But advocates say much is left to be done before sex-selective abortions are eradicated.

“We need more work in overcoming the inequality between the values [placed on] girl and boy children. This would be key to defeating this bitter practice,” says Hayrapetyan of UNFPA. “We still have a long way to go, but we are definitely on the right track.”

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