Nauset Newsletter Shares Stories Of Multilingual Residents

BREWSTER – When Manuel Ainzuain relocated to the Lower Cape from San Francisco, he needed a place to go to figure out his next career move. He needed a coffee shop, a quiet place where he could sit and think, but he couldn’t find one to his liking.
 
So he started his own.
 
“We found this is the best location, so we built it according to what we liked,” said Ainzuain, who opened up Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters in Brewster with his wife, Shayna Ferullo, in 2015.
 
What began as a small company of three employees has grown to 45 employees across three locations, including one in Sandwich and a seasonal shop in Chatham. For Ainzuain, who is originally from Peru, Snowy Owl has been the vessel that has helped him and his family integrate into the Cape community. It’s also allowed him to meet people of different cultures from all walks of life.
 
“I love it, especially the connection to the community,” he said of running his business.
 
Paige Sullivan, who teaches English as a second language at Orleans Elementary School, thought Ainzuain’s story perfectly fit in with what she and the Nauset Multilingual Parent Advisory Council (MLPAC) envisioned for a newsletter highlighting the lives and work of multilingual residents in the Nauset community. Ainzuain has been one of several community members highlighted in Multilingual Nauset since the first newsletter went out last year.
 
Sullivan said the goal of the newsletter, which is inspired by a similar one that was created on Nantucket, is “to try to break down stereotypes and also highlight the benefits of multilingualism.”
 
“This is just shining a light not just on immigrant families…but on stereotypes about who a multilingual person is,” Sullivan said.

“I do believe that we all do have great stories, so why not share them?” said Paola Collazos, president of the Nauset MLPAC.

The newsletter grew out of other efforts by the MLPAC to promote multilingual culture in the Nauset community, namely a multilingual festival that the council staged last spring. Collazos said the festival will be held again this year in June.

But the council hopes that the newsletter, which is produced a few times a year, can expand its reach beyond the school community and into the community at large, Sullivan said. The council also shares the stories in the newsletter through its Instagram account, @nausetmlpac.
 
Many multilingual residents who don’t speak English as their first language seek comfort in their own specific cultural communities out of fear of being different, Sullivan said. But she said beneath that fear, there’s a desire to assimilate and belong.

“They just want to blend into the Cape Cod community, but the Cape Cod community is made up of many different people,” she said.

Collazos, a native of Colombia, understands the difficulties that can come with cultural assimilation. When she moved to Brewster almost 20 years ago, she received help from friends she made in the community, including a former school administrator in Wellfleet, to learn about the school system so she could better support her children.

“I was advocating for my kids to try and get the best out of the system to help them succeed with their goals and everything,” she said. “And that’s how my journey started, with them.”

By highlighting the successes of multilingual residents, the council hopes that the newsletter can redefine multilingualism for students and community members as something to embrace. Ainzuain talks to his children in his native Spanish at home, but he recalled how his oldest daughter initially felt uncomfortable with speaking the language at school.

“We tried to turn that feeling into an opportunity for her,” he said. “She’s going to see as she grows that a second language is important professionally.”

“It’s a 21st century skill, honestly, being multilingual,” Sullivan said, noting that elementary-age students in Orleans are already being introduced to other languages in the classroom. “It’s expected in a lot of jobs now, or at least preferred. I really think the United States is behind on it compared to other countries.”

Collazos, who has children attending school across the district, said she has noticed the impact that embracing their cultural identity from an early age has had on her oldest child, who attends Nauset Regional High School.

“I couldn’t tell when he was in kindergarten, but as a junior I can see now how that has had a very big impact on his growth,” she said.

Ainzuain said he sees the council’s efforts to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity as an extension of the values he tries to instill at Snowy Owl. Coffee shops, he said, are not just places of business, but also community gathering spaces. In that spirit, it’s not uncommon for him to allow the council and other local groups and organizations to use the Brewster shop for meetings after business hours.

“It’s been a few years where we’ve focused too much on what separates us,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for a cultural exchange of knowledge or experiences and how we can come together better for our communities.”

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com