Evening English classes begin for a cluster of refugees — Somalis, Sudanese, Kenyans, Eritreans and Burmese — in an apartment in the Vickery Meadow neighborhood of northeast Dallas.
“Have you heard about Ebola?” asks the volunteer teacher, Mizra Baig.
Some look puzzled. But Abdala Mahmoud, a reed-thin Sudanese man, knows precisely where “Patient Zero” was staying and that a hospital let him go after an initial visit. “The clinic, they no report to the government,” he says.
The patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, returned to the hospital days later with the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States. His release from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital after his initial visit endangered some residents within a community known for welcoming a global mix of people.
Vickery Meadow is a landing place for refugees and immigrants, and the foreign-born population has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Now the stunning news must be translated into more than two dozen languages: Ebola has struck the U.S., in their neighborhood, and five schoolchildren living just blocks away have been exposed.
In this little class of about 15 people, students speak six different languages. “People have come from war-ravaged countries, and they have a higher tolerance for bad news,” Baig says. But he admits, “It’s scary.”
A Muslim-focused nonprofit called the Islamic Community Center of North Texas offers English classes at this aging apartment building. Cindy Weber-Taha, the program head, said it isn’t especially surprising Ebola struck in Vickery Meadow, given all the international travel among the residents.
“These are nice families and well-chosen from the refugee camps to make it in America,” Weber-Taha said.
But she worries about the extra hours ahead for her translators.
“A lot of people still don’t understand this,” Weber-Taha said. “No one has translated it for them.”
Dallas ISD translated letters to parents about the Ebola virus into English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Nepali, Karen, Burmese and Swahili. District spokesman Jon Dahlander said officials were also working to get letters in Tibetan, Amharic, Hindi and Thai.
“The next step is to take the letter out of the children’s backpack and read it,” Weber-Taha said.
In the Islamic center’s program, homework assistance and Quran lessons roll out after each school day. Two apartments are used as Muslim prayer rooms, for women and girls in rainbow-hued hijabs and for men and boys in flowing tunics or simple work clothes.
Refugee assistance programs settled the foreign-born in Vickery Meadow because of the supply of cheap apartments. Other immigrants, without refugee status, came, too, starting businesses that pitch homeland favorites — Injera bread for Ethiopians, noodles and black bean paste for Burmese and sweet cream with strawberries for Mexicans.
Half the residents in the area’s four central census tracts are foreign-born, according to 2012 Census Bureau data. In 1990, about one-eighth of the population was foreign-born.
“When people come from Africa, this is the first place they land,” said Habte Retta, 52, the Ethiopian-born manager of Maru Grocery. “This is a good place with different languages.”
Retta runs the grocery and co-owns a bakery that distributes Injera bread throughout the region. Over the years, the store has become a place for newcomers, who can find a job or make social connections, Retta said. A green, yellow and red Ethiopian flag dominates the store. Cards for African-owned businesses are within easy reach.
Guatemalan-born Henry Hernandez works there as a butcher and lives nearby. Hernandez and Retta have taught each other a bit of their native languages, Spanish and Amharic.
Ebola doesn’t worry Hernandez, though the Liberian-born Ebola patient lies gravely ill. “They are treating him and it is under control,” Hernandez, 27, said in Spanish.
Thawng Kung, 24, came to Dallas as a refugee from Mynanmar, the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma. The Burmese are one of the three largest refugee groups settling in Texas, which now leads the nation in overall refugee resettlement.
“I didn’t think the disease could be affecting us. This is from Africa,” Kung said as he worked at a store catering to the Burmese.
Vickery Meadow was once known simply as Vickery. In the 1940s, it was annexed by Dallas, and eventually it became a trendy apartment zone.
Over time, it lost its luster but became known for affordable rents for those struggling to make their way in America.
The neighborhood lies just east of Central Expressway, and its heart is near Park Lane and Greenville Avenue. To the south, retail revitalization percolates along Northwest Highway, with REI preparing a grand opening for a new store.
To the north, a riding stable signals the class gulf. Rocking M Stables’ patrons can learn the art of classical dressage, a sport some call “horse ballet.” Horse-boarding can cost about the same as the monthly $600 rent for a Vickery Meadow apartment.
To the west, the Dallas elite shop at high-end stores in NorthPark Center.
But in Vickery Meadow, the median household income is about $26,000 in the area around Park Lane, according to census data.
For the last few years, nonprofits in Vickery Meadow have increased social services, starting more English classes and after-school programs. Aging apartments have gotten some repair, including new fencing and gates to cut down burglaries. Vickery Meadow is also one of Dallas’ top crime hot spots, with some immigrants targeted as victims.
Darryl Ratcliff, an artist, moved into the neighborhood about a year and half ago when an art project called “Trans.Lation: Vickery Meadow” began as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the Nasher Sculpture Center. The project aims to use “social sculpture” to inspire change.
As he stood outside Trans.Lation’s offices, Ratcliff contemplated the threat of Ebola.
“The challenge,” he said, “is to make sure a single incident doesn’t end up defining a community.”
Follow Dianne Solís on Twitter at @disolis.