Si Si Goneconto teaches “English as a Learning Language” with the Community Council of Needham and will speak at the public forum on Thursday, November 29^th entitled “Immigration: Why Should Our Community Care?” to be held 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm at the Broadmeadow School.  Co-sponsored by the Needham Area Immigration Justice Task Force and the League of Women Voters of Needham, it also includes speakers,  Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition; Sandy Robinson, Executive Director of the Needham Community Council; and students from the Student Immigrant Movement [SIM].

Ms. Goneconto is a global citizen in a practical sense: she was born in Burma, spent her early childhood in Vienna, and was raised primarily in the Philippines. She first came to the US to attend college. Thus, she has crossed national physical boundaries, and also the cultural boundaries. Partly as a result of her tutoring, she has thought a lot about what it means to be an American citizen as well as to volunteer in a program that requires being open to new ideas and other people’s experiences, which are so different from one’sown. “My immigration was not of necessity. Some people leave for political and economic reasons; their adjustment here is very difficult. It is easy for families to feel isolated because there is not a cultural base for them in the suburbs.”

The public forum is Thursday, Nov. 29, 7:30 pm, at the Broadmeadow School, 120 Broadmeadow Road, Needham, 7:30 pm. After the speakers, there will be a question-and-answer with the audience.