“I was tired of being stereotyped,” said Bianca Ceralvo, an 11th grader at McNair Academic High School and a winner of one of the Immigrant Awards from the International Institute of New Jersey in Jersey City.
Ceralvo, one of five winners at ceremony held Wednesday night at the Jersey City Museum, joined Asian Unity, a club in several city high schools, in an effort to combat the cliché that all Oriental-Americans are culturally the same.
“People would think I was Chinese, when I’m Philippine,” explained Ceralvo, who was named Volunteer of the Year for her work with the International Institute.
Located on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City, the Institute provides a range of services designed to help newcomers and their families become self-sufficient contributing members of American society.
Through her work with Asian Unity, a group made up primarily of students from McNair and Ferris high schools, Ceralvo volunteered to input information on refugees the Institute was helping. Ceralvo worked on the project from noon to 5 p.m. five days a week during the summer, inputting coded information on the Institute’s clients.
“There is a system of numbers for putting information in the data bank,” said Ceralvo. “There were numbers for what kind of torture or persecution the person may have suffered before coming to America.”
Ceralvo said she still volunteers to input data on the refugees when she is not busy with school and other activities. Asian Unity, of which she is the treasurer for 2002, organizes Asian heritage festivals in Jersey City schools and has a choir that visits hospitals and senior centers throughout the tri-State area.
“Bianca is the youngest person to receive an award from the Institute,” said Scott Wasmuth, director of social services for the Institute. Wasmuth praised the 15-year-old Ceralvo for winning an award at such a young age.
“Most of the other people we recognize are older, in their 40s or 50s,” Wasmuth said. “This is very unusual and a real achievement for Bianca.”
“Recently, we visited a hospital for schizophrenics in Chinatown and we were told it helped the people there a lot,” Ceralvo stated.
Ceralvo’s interest in foreign languages got her started in next year’s project: a trip to Japan.
“I’m interested in Japanese culture and Japanese Anime,” said Ceralvo. Anime is a stylized form of cartooning, first developed in Japan in the early 1980s and has since become popular worldwide.
Entrepreneurs of the year
Making the American Dream of prosperity was always the goal of Jesus and Civica Perez. The West New York business owners, who came to the United States from Cuba in 1972, won the Institute’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. Since arriving in America with their two sons, the couple has built a furniture store and warehouse called Casa Manito in West New York. The couple started off very small, however.
“My husband always believed in free enterprise,” said Civica Perez. “There was never a time when he was not in business for himself.”
Seeing the greater opportunity for entrepreneurship in America than in Communist Cuba, the Perezes immigrated and started a street corner clothing business upon arriving in North Bergen.
“I was my own mannequin,” explained Jesus Perez. Perez would wear a different suit each day, while displaying his other merchandise to pedestrians, according to Civica Perez.
“Eventually, my parents were able to work their way to having the furniture business,” said the Perezes’ son Rick. “We are glad to be here,” said Civica Perez. “This is a great country and it will be greater in the future.”
In part to show their gratitude to their adopted homeland, the Perezes and other business people in West New York and North Bergen formed Casa Manito, an adult day-care center for seniors. The center, according to Rick Perez, is located at 324 55th St. in West New York.
“By state law, we are required to provide the seniors with lunch and a snack or dinner and a snack, depending on when they come in,” said Rick Perez. “Nurses come in to check if the seniors have been taking their medication.”
Rick Perez added that Casa Manito offers computer and English as a second language courses, along with arts and crafts classes. Anyone interested in finding more information on Casa Manito should call (201) 223-6800.
Out of Cameroon
Originally from Cameroon, Alix Nguefack has been in Jersey City for two years. Given this year’s Community Service award, Nguefack was cited for work as an organizer of a support group for African immigrants from French speaking nations.
“The Francophone Support group meets twice a month at the Institute,” Nguefack explained. “There a lot of French-speaking Africans spread over northern New Jersey, and language is the main problem they face.”
Nguefack added that her group, now with 20 members, helps immigrants adjust to life in America and helps them find social services in the Hudson County area. According to Nguefack, the events of Sept. 11 have caused a great deal of trouble for the French-speaking African community in the New York-New Jersey area.
“Many people from Africa lost their jobs after 9/11,’ said Nguefack, adding that many of the recently arrived Africans worked in the food service industry, which took a downturn along with the rest of the economy after the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.
“Many of those workers were undocumented residents,” Nguefack explained. “Since they are still undocumented, they cannot get new jobs.”
The Francophone Support Group has been concentrating helping these undocumented workers get legal residential status that will allow them to get work.
The phone number for the Francophone Support Group is (201) 653-3888, ext. 40.
Tibetan woodcarver
Tibetan woodcarver Tashi Dholak, who won the Community Arts award, operates a studio near Journal Square. Dholak, who has carved a number of ceremonial thrones for the Dalai Lama, is the former spiritual and secular ruler of Tibet. The present Dalai Lama is in exile after Communist China took over Tibet in 1950 and crushed a Tibetan rebellion nine years later. “What I like about being in America is that I have the opportunity to express myself freely,” said Dholak through a translator. “I am allowed to work toward my full capacity as a human being.” Dholak is keeping alive the 2,000 year-old tradition of Tibetan wood carving, which has been suppressed by the Chinese occupation of his native land. “This is a dying art,” Dholak said. “If I do not do this, the Tibetan art of wood carving will die.” A native of Nyamrim in Tibet, Dholak studied wood carving and architecture in India before coming to America. “I’m very happy to receive the award,’ said Dholak. “I would like to dedicate to my fellow Tibetan artists and carvers.”