Project VoiceScape: We All Belong Here

“My parents traveled by boat and plane before finding a home in San Francisco.” Ifeanyi is one of several students in James Lick Middle School’s Peer Resources class who is a first generation immigrant. His parents traveled from Abuja, the capital of Nigeria to New York City by boat, lived in Queens, and then flew to San Francisco where they currently reside. Their story is one of success.

However, this is not the case for many immigrant families who struggle to live in the United States. We All Belong Here tells the amazing story of Ifeanyi’s family, but the film also glances at what it is like for most immigrants who move here. It is a struggle of economic hardship, abuse, and discrimination. Watch this video that examines the complexities of immigration on a personal level.

Check out the film which was produced by Ifeanyi Ebochie, Andrea Reyes, Jocelyne Umanzor, & Ariande Tziu who are students at James Lick Middle School.

This video was made in collaboration with KQED and San Francisco Peer Resources as part of Project VoiceScape, a partnership with Adobe Youth Voices, PBS, and POV that is aimed at encouraging middle and high school students nationwide to use digital media tools in creating compelling stories about issues and concerns important to them. At Lick Middle School, the students all picked different themes to explore like depression, immigration, graffiti, video game addiction, domestic violence, and race and discrimination. Students produced incredibly poignant films about social issues that personally affect them. Through this personal lens, these films aim to express issues subjectively and do not attempt to hold any sort of objective journalistic integrity. These films also do not represent the opinions of any of the partnering organizations.