Instructional DVDs for Refugees
Belmont University’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team has put together a training video which can be used to show newly arrived refugees how to use a bank to work with their money. The video is published in several languages to that you can, ideally, show the video in the language of the refugees. (There is an English language version as well so you can watch the lessons.)
The video progresses through Opening an Account at the bank, to Making a Deposit, Writing a Check to pay bills and for cash, Using the ATM to make a withdrawal, Using an ATM Card to pay for groceries, and Keeping a Ledger to keep the balance straight.
The video is concise and yet provides the basics for each lesson.
I find it amusing that the “recently arrived refugee” in the video is named John Doe, having no ethnicity to it whatsoever. However, that also keeps it completely neutral so as to not offend any particular ethnic group that may be watching.
The other thing I enjoyed was after John Doe made his first deposit at the bank, the narrator said, “He once again is a content man.” It was funny, and yet it matched the posture and stride of John as he was leaving the bank. Just a little comment to make banking, what could otherwise be quite dry, into a fun session.
Besides the Money and Banking DVD, others in the works include Healthcare, Transportation, Public Safety, Education, and Employment. Languages currently include Kirundi, Swahili, and Somali. I hope the number of languages are expanded upon in the future.
For contact information see:
http://www.belmont.edu/business/Organizations/sife.html
