Panamanian journalist ponders area's diversity

Reprinted with permission from the West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minnesota, August 30, 2004

By Linda Vanderwerf, Staff Writer

WILLMAR — The presence of a substantial Latino population in rural Minnesota was a surprise for visiting Panamanian journalist Tilcia Delgado.

Delgado, 31, was in Willmar for several days last week as part of a World Press Institute initiative. The Institute offers four-month fellowships to 10 international journalists each year. It is affiliated with Macalester College in St. Paul.

The reason for her visit was to observe the workings of the West Central Tribune newsroom, but when she learned of the Latino population, she asked to meet some of the people.

Willmar teacher Noemia Gesch offered to play tour guide Friday afternoon so Delgado could visit Latino neighborhoods and talk with the residents. Gesch is a native of Brazil and teaches English Language Learner classes at Willmar Junior High.

Gesch introduced her to a variety of people — children, teenagers, young adults and a middle-aged couple. The visits took place in the front yards of people' s homes, mostly in Spanish, with some English, too.

Delgado said the tour was interesting but also upsetting.

"I didn't know that this part of the country had such an important Latin American presence," she said. While many of the people she met had been in the area for years, they told her they still don' t feel accepted by the community, Delgado said.

"They are not happy at all about being in this place," she said.

However, they told her they can earn more money here than in the places they came from, she said. Many of them also tend to work at Jennie-O Turkey Store and live in their mobile home neighborhoods because they are comfortable being together, she said.

Some like the climate, too. "We like it because it's fresh here," said Eliseo Ramos. "In Texas, it' s always hot."

Gesch talked about the lack of Latino role models in the community as she drove through Willmar. She is one of just two licensed Hispanic teachers in the Willmar School District. About a quarter of the district' s students are members of a minority group.

Delgado was particularly upset by a short conversation she had with a teenage girl, a former student of Gesch' s, who said she had dropped out of high school.

She said that she quit school because she felt the teachers had discriminated against her. She' s going to get a GED instead.

Later, Delgado brought up the girl again.

"They need to feel that something good could happen to them," she said. "The community can' t throw away these people; they have to live with them."

The area is "so beautiful, so quiet," Delgado said. "It seems good to raise a family, but we can' t forget" about people from other cultures.

"I think it' s important for people to understand other cultures, because we are not isolated," she said. "Everything is global."

Delgado is a business writer for La Prensa newspaper in Panama City. She attended college in Vermont, but had never visited the Midwest before this month. She said she didn' t know what to expect in rural Minnesota. She was impressed to find that family is so important in small towns, but a little surprised at the importance of religion in politics.

She was disappointed she had only three days to spend in Willmar and at the Tribune. She had also visited Ely and Minneota before coming to Willmar.

"Being at the West Central Tribune was a good experience, because we don' t have this kind of paper in Panama," she said. In Panama, newspapers have nationwide audiences.

The WPI journalists flew to New York City over the weekend and will attend the Republican National Convention. They will also spend time at the New York Times and other large newspapers around the country. The program will continue through November, so the journalists can observe the presidential election.

Delgado said she considered herself lucky to have the opportunities offered by the WPI, because so many journalists applied for it. She will be the first Panamanian journalist to ever attend a national political convention in this country.