In Maine, A Common Language Connects French Canadians, African ImmigrantsIn Maine, A Common Language Connects French Canadians, African Immigrants- Download- TranscriptIn Lewiston, Maine, more people than ever are showing up at the Franco Center for La Rencontre, a monthly luncheon that encourages French conversation.In French club, Thornton and other Lewiston locals regularly swap stories with refugees and asylum seekers from Burundi, Rwanda and Congo.Many of the African immigrants are anxious about the climate for refugees in the U.S."We definitely do talk about the politics, and, you know, the Americans try to comfort us and tell us hopefully it's going to be OK," says Bright Lukusa, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Congo.But Mary Rice-DeFosse, a French professor at Bates College, says the new immigrants have made that skill useful."And so these Franco-Americans who can speak French suddenly can find a public function for their French language.""