The panel will consist of five Francophone Africans who, through a local French Club, meet twice weekly with local Franco-Americans to compare heritages.

The Franco-American Collection at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College will present a French-language panel discussion on “Challenges Facing New Immigrants to Local Areas” on Tuesday, February 14 from 4 to 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

The panel will consist of five Francophone Africans who, through a local French Club, meet twice weekly with local Franco-Americans to compare heritages. The panelists, Louis Kingoi of Burundi, Edo Mukendi of Congo, Injonge Blandine of Rwanda, King of Brazeville, and Mohamed of Djibouti, each from a French-speaking African country, will share their personal histories in establishing themselves and their families in the Twin Cities.

The event is part of a series of monthly programs scheduled at the Collection. The next event, marking La Semaine de la Francophonie, will be a talk by Mercedes Gastonguay on March 17. The Franco-American Collection is one of the largest repositories in the Northeast for the culture of French Canadian immigrants to the United States. For more information, call 753-6545, email janet.roberts@maine.edu, or see http://usm.maine.edu/franco.