crossthreaded

The International Rescue Committee is calling for a close examination and overhaul of the U.S. refugee resettlement program, especially as it pertains to Iraqi refugees.

 The program is underfunded, especially in this economic climate. Jobs are hard to find, and families are struggling to make ends meet when their short-term assistance resettlement assistance ends. 

Iraqis are a special set of refugees, and many families are headed by a war widow with little to no work experience. The men in their families often were killed assisting the U.S. military. Many Iraqis are very highly educated and skilled, but jobs in their field, much less entry level jobs in another arena, are difficult to find.

Check this report summary out for more information:

http://www.theirc.org/news/irc-iraqi-refugees-us-refugee-admissions0616.html

Someone asked what suggestions I would have for the situation in Mtabila/Tanzania.

I don’t have any.

My main goal was to inform myself a little about the situation, so I wrote about it, too. I am not a policy maker, and I have not been on the ground in the country at all. Ever. I am definitely not the person to make any sort of suggestions. I don’t know the complications, the culture, or anything else that would impact the repatriation to Burundi.

The only side of it I’ve seen is the resettlement in a third country, not the side where it all began.

To the volunteer in Tanzania, God bless you and your efforts. I know your life will impact others around you. I’d definitely be interested in what you have to say concerning what you’re seeing and your thoughts on the matter, if you’re inclined to share.

I saw this Volkswagen Bug the other day that I can’t stop thinking about. It was one of the new ones, all silvery grey. This little car has adopted the best of the Honda racing world and that of muscle cars, or at least it tried.

I‘ve seen Civics with shopping cart handles and huge tailpipes that make them sound like mutant bumblebees. I’ve seen Chevelles and Camaros with dual exhaust and way bigger engines that, to me, just sound awesome. And then there was this little Bug with a big tailpipe. That is funny in and of itself. This isn’t some race Beetle from the ’70’s. This is a modern-day, bumblebee Bug.

The best part was the accompanying bumper sticker. All it said was Flowmasters. Perfect.

The 30 June deadline for the repatriation of Burundians living in the Mtabila refugee camp in Tanzania is coming up soon. Sanitation, markets, schools and more are being shut down in the transition of the camp from housing refugees to the Tanzanian army.

Processing of refugees is slow, so it is unclear if the 30 June date will hold fast. The camp is the last of its kind in Tanzania, several others having closed in the last few years. Many of the refugees in Mtabila were from the 1993/1994 group that fled during those years’ violence.

It is reported that some fear returning to Burundi for fear of reprisal killings that would result from supposed support of the opposition groups operating in Tanzania. The country has been declared safe to return to and live in since 2002.

A horrific outbreak of violence in 1972 has resulted in a lot of refugees today that were born outside Burundi and raised in refugee camps. They wonder what they have to return to in a country to which they’ve never been. Potential property disputes are another concern to individuals and families that left Burundi.

UNHCR and other international organizations are offering aid and some help to those being returned. Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.theirc.org/where/african_great_lakes_tanzania_programs.html

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/echo/12451530803.htm

I haven’t been able to find too much information regarding Burundians applying for Tanzanian citizenship. I’ve read that some have applied and are being considered, and also that most are not being allowed to apply, but are being made to repatriate to Burundi.

Here are another few sites related to the Mtabila closure and life in the camp.

http://web.unfpa.org/focus/tanzania/rape.htm

http://allafrica.com/stories/200905220170.html

(credit: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/echo/12451530803.htm)

Mtabila, a refugee camp in Tanzania that mainly houses 35,000 Burundians, may be on its way to closing on 30 June. Lavinia Limón, President of the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigration, sent out a newsletter last week describing the threatened forced repatriation of Burundian refugees in this camp back to Burundi, a small nearby country. Burundians have been the victims of horrible ethnic persecution, and I have worked with several of them personally who have been resettled in the United States.

According to Limón, the camp will be handed over to the Tanzanian government, and it will no longer be under UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) control. Camp conditions are supposedly being made worse and worse to further encourage Burundian residents to return to Burundi. 

Limón states that “Tanzania is a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and forced repatriation is a clear violation of both.” (her emphasis)

Here is a link to USCRI and it’s letter-writing campaign to stop this action:

https://secure2.convio.net/uscri/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=239&JServSessionIdr011=kpapprz0l1.app13a

I’m sure there’s more to this story. I’ll see what I can dig up and report back.

The Cultural Orientation Resource Center is full of great tools for domestic resettlement staff and volunteers who work with refugees. From explaining how to get health care to how to get a job in the United States, case managers, ESL teachers, volunteer cultural mentors, etc. can all benefit from this great resource of ideas and materials.

The Cultural Orientation Resource Center is also a great place to find translated documents and information for refugees. Karen and Kirundi are just two of the languages into which you will find publications with vital information for refugees being resettled in the United States translated. 

 Check them out at www.cal.org!

When an individual is declared a refugee and is selected for resettlement, who of his or her family is able to be resettled in the new country as well?

Usually, only unmarried children under 21 years of age and spouses may accompany the main refugee being resettled. It is possible that other family members can be resettled as well, if they meet the requirements of being a refugee themselves.

When a refugee is resettled in the United States, he or she can apply to have family members join him or her.  The process to apply to have family members join is long and tedious, but it is all worthwhile when a family can be reunited at the airport or new apartment after a long and arduous separation.

There’s an organization in St. Louis, Missouri working to help immigrant and refugee women learn English and practical living skills for surviving in the U.S.  The women this organization serve are often isolated in their homes for fear of venturing out and not being able to communicate in English.

About half of the women IRWP serves have received either no or very little formal education. Volunteers go to the students’ homes and teach them English and living/job skills through a set curriculum from IRWP. Field trips to area attractions make their learning more practical and gives them an opportunity to practice skills they are learning.

Between 2007 and 2008, eighty-seven women received English and living skills instruction from 71 volunteers. Those volunteers clocked 2,776 hours of instruction and drove 39,187 miles to serve their students. Thirty-two percent of the students were employed at least part-time, and 93% of students have children under 12 years of age.

Check out IRWP’s website at www.irwp.net to learn more about this fantastic program serving an often under-served section of the immigrant and refugee population.

Matching Grant (MG) is a program funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and it is meant to help refugees achieve self-sufficiency within four to six months of arrival in the U.S. Refugee resettlement agencies in 43 states receive money from ORR to run a Matching Grant program in their communities.

Community assistance is vital for the successful implementation of the MG program. Volunteers that help with job readiness coaching, in-kind donations of household goods, food, etc. are all examples of ways that resettlement offices can raise money to match the grant from ORR. Every volunteer hour right now is valued at about $19.50 or so an hour (Check out Independent Sector’s website for more information.), so even a couple of hours of volunteer help makes a big difference. The more volunteer hours a resettlement office can present to ORR, the more refugees can be resettled in that office the next year. Volunteers show ORR that the community is not only willing to accept refugees, but to actively support them in their new homes and lives as well.

 ORR states that “For Calendar Year 2007, the program achieved 80% self sufficiency for the 28,137 participants. In CY 2008, ORR funded $60 million to the Match Grant Program With a per capita of $2,200; the MG program will serve 27,272 clients through 230 local affiliates of the Voluntary Agencies.” MG is not the only program available as an alternative to the public assistance program for refugees. There are eligibility requirements to meet before a refugee is placed in MG, as another program may be more suitable for his or her needs. Each resettlement office is assigned a certain number of refugees it can place in that program each year.

MG provides access to job readiness coaching, job training, English language lessons, and monetary assistance to families who have arrived in the country within the last 4-6 months. Employment specialists and coordinators help refugees in MG to navigate their job searches, and help them find and maintain suitable employment.

For more information, check out:

http://www.refugees.org/article.aspx?id=1199

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/match_grant_prg.htm

I learned a new phrase this week after reading “Man Sacked for Being Black Wins…” a whole lot of money after he lost his job at an immigration center in Britain written up in the U.K’s “Daily Mail”; he was made redundant.

An employment tribunal was set up to investigate Emmanuel Obikwu’s redundancy, as well as that of his Tanzanian co-worker, Zaina Ukwaju. A refugee himself from Nigeria, Obikwu worked with immigrants and refugees around Cambridge. Obikwu’s immigration office was set to close, and all of his white co-workers were reassigned to other posts, while he was dismissed permanently. The tribunal ruled that there was some sort of “subconscious” discrimination involved in the case. No apology has been made, and the British Refugee Council said it had investigated equality employment practices within its ranks. Ukwaju’s case was heard earlier this year, and some money in damages was awarded.

The article mentions nothing about any previous work-related misdeeds Obikwu performed, or any negative past work history. It also doesn’t mention any outright discrimination, only “subconscious” discrimination. It definitely seems like there is more to this story than was reported. It’s usually a Godsend to have a refugee on your staff when working with refugees, and this one has two law degrees. I wonder what happened?

Read for yourself at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190321/Man-sacked-black-wins-65-000-refugee-charity.html   and let me know what you think.