Rachel Newton and Dr. Michael Bush, French and Italian Department

As the world becomes more and more international, residents of third-world countries are immigrating en masse to more developed countries, where they see a promise of a better life — a higher standard of living and acceptance into the world community, from which they feel excluded in their own countries. In France, a large majority of these immigrants are African; the French colonized twenty-one present countries on the African continent and taught the natives their language and many of their customs, so France seems the natural place for these former colonies to look to as their “land of opportunity.” This influx of Africans in France has become a concern for the French people, but also for the LDS Church there, because many of their convert baptisms are Africans. These immigrants accept the gospel, but their lives are unstable and unsure, and too many of them struggle to remain active in the Church. My research project proposed to investigate the obstacles these immigrant members face in establishing permanent living situations and employment. It is my hope that once these difficulties are more clearly understood, the solutions will be easier to see. I also hoped to find ways that BYU, and more specifically students participating in BYU Paris Study Abroad Programs can serve the African members there as a service learning component of the programs.

The Church Education System asked that Brendon and I both used a standard survey that they use to assess what education members looking for a job have had and what type of employment they are anticipating. The survey is in English, but we translated it into French. We also used a supplementary survey created by the institute director, Christian Euvrard. Fifty-seven Parisian Institute Students completed the survey, twenty-four of whom were immigrants from African countries. We passed out sign-up sheets and announcements in institute classes, and then the BYU Study Abroad students who wished to participate worked with which institute student during the actual survey administration sessions. We conducted the surveys in the institute building just prior to and after the weekly institute classes held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Often students who said they would help us forgot to come or just never found the time to do it.

Brendon Barton, who was doing a similar project concentrating on French members of the Church, spoke several times with the Paris Institute Director, Christian Euvrard. Mr. Euvrard felt that there were three areas in which the Institute students in Paris would benefit from help: (1) English skills, (2) computer literacy, and (3) job-search skills. I thought about how his concerns applied specifically to the African members in France, and after analyzing the results of our surveys, I feel that there are different concerns for these immigrants, because of that immigrant status. I had the opportunity to be in Senegal, West Africa last summer for two months, and the leaders there feel very strongly that they need those leaving to get education to come back. This poses questions for Africans who have joined the Church. 76% joined the Church as young adults, after they had immigrated to France. Their families are still in Africa and are not members of the Church. If the best solution to the problems of Africa and France is for these immigrants to go back to their countries after they have acquired education and job skills, they will be returning to families who have no knowledge of the church and to countries where there may very well be no units of the Church organized. It is understandable that they do not want to leave the associations they have found in France.

Besides using the surveys to discover the difficulties facing these African young adults, I was able to talk formally and informally with those who attended institute. These conversations helped me to see what solutions they could see to their problems, and what their hopes are for their futures. There were, of course, those who felt that the Church should simply give them a monthly stipend until they found a job. Some others, though, suggested a list of possible jobs or housing opportunities. 41% of the African institute students who completed the survey worked no significant hours during the complete month of April. When I asked them if they were going to stay in France or go home, many of them said that they planned to go home again after they had saved some money or finished their education. Others were very frank when they said that they had come with the intention to go back home, but that they liked the life in France and might choose to stay there indefinitely.

There are lots of considerations to help these new members of the Church. From my research and experience, I think that any closer contact between the institute students and the Study Abroad students would help both parties. The Africans need more permanent employment opportunities and a goal for a stable lifestyle whether in France or in Africa.