Archive for the ‘teenagers’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 17, 2012
A South Sudanese refugee who arrived in Rochester, NY at age 14 as an unaccompanied minor was murdered on Tuesday. Paul Chol Awuol was holding a friend’s son when a man just came up and shot him in the chest, according to the friend, Jessica Lane. He was in the process of becoming a certified nursing assistant, focused on helping others, when he went to Smith Street Tuesday to watch Lane’s child. In 2010 Sudanese refugees in Rochester reported finding a bullet hole in their apartment ceiling after three men were shot to death in the apartment above. A report at CBS Channel 8 gives details:
As Rochester police search for a suspect in Tuesday’s Smith Street homicide, friends of Paul Chol Awuol say the Sudanese refugee was shot in the chest while watching a close friend’s son.
Jerry DeLuccio wants people to remember Awuol as more than a crime statistic. “This was a young man that has made such a difference,” he said…
…Awuol was in the process of becoming a certified nursing assistant, focused more and more on helping others. That’s what led him to Smith Street Tuesday, to watch a friend’s child. “He was holding my son in his hand when this man came and just shot him in the chest,” said friend Jessica Lane through tears.
A small memorial has begun where the Sudanese refugee fell, the painful irony all too clear. The man who came to America as a boy to escape violence was ultimately killed by a gunman. “That’s what hurts me so much, is that he was ready to explode, in terms of how he would help others and we’re never going to have that chance,” said DeLuccio… Read more here
Posted in dangerous neighborhoods, men, Rochester, safety, South Sudanese, teenagers | Tagged: dangerous neighborhoods, Paul Chol Awuol, refugees, resettlement, rochester, shot to death, sudanese | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 4, 2012
A flashy car, sex, guns and a shooting take center stage in a newspaper article about a Galveston shelter that houses unaccompanied youth – The Children’s Center, Inc. Unfortunately the article seems to raise more questions than it answers. The reporter claims that the federal government “imported” unaccompanied alien minors into Galveston and then “dumped” them on an underfunded local social-services network, while complaining about a program (the federal HHS Transitional Living Program?) specifically intended to get youth on their feet and independent so that they won’t be dumped on the community. An allegation is also made that the shelter terminated a supposed whistle-blower employee after she contacted the organization’s board of directors.
Innuendo is also made about how one 18-year-old youth would have had the “money” to use a cell phone and be “driving a car” when its tires were shot out by an angry father who tried to entice the youth into coming to a park to have sexual relations with the man’s daughter. It seems as if no one realizes that youth tend to borrow cell phones, and even cars, from each other. I also wonder why the reporter didn’t just take the license plate number from the police report of the incident and check on the car’s ownership, and not speculating about the youth owning the vehicle. He also implies that the youth being robbed at gunpoint somehow brings into question why he was robbed, while not referring to any items that were actually stolen. Again, the police report would probably have indicated that.
Finally the reporter tries to create sensation around an incident in which he implies that the 18-year-old had consensual sexual relations at the shelter with a younger teenager. Although this kind of consensual sex is an age-old phenomena, in this case it would no doubt have been illegal. It’s not clear, however, that the shelter did anything improper surrounding the incident in which police were called. What any of that has to do with our society’s humanitarian attempt to care for and help unaccompanied alien minors and youth is not made clear in the Galveston Daily News article:
GALVESTON — If the first 25 days of January are any indication, illicit sex and gunfire are common themes in the young life of a Honduran immigrant who came to Galveston under the auspices of an obscure federal program.
The man, 18, was shot at on two occasions and hit once during that time. He was accused once and suspected once again of having sex with underaged girls — one 15 and one 12. The suspicion arose at an island homeless shelter; the accusation sparked gunfire at an island park.
His hosts at the Children’s Center Inc. called the man “George” in interviews. And although he is named in several police incident reports, he has not been charged with a crime. And so he’s called “George” in this article, too, in keeping with the newspaper’s policy of not naming people who have not been charged with crimes.
As far as the public record and the police are concerned, George has been a victim of crime more often than a suspect. All the same, the situations he encountered, whether through bad luck or bad action, raise many questions about how he and other young men like him came to be here, why they remain here, who’s paying for their stay and who’s responsible for monitoring their behavior.
Events during those 25 days in January also raise questions about oversight in a federal program that imports illegal immigrants into communities like Galveston, serves them for a time, and then, apparently, just dumps them onto an underfunded local social-services network… Read more here
Posted in Galveston, housing, ORR, teenagers | Tagged: alien youth, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, Transitional Living Program, whistleblower | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 3, 2012
A new Utah driver license law intended to help refugees get drivers licenses and become economically self-sufficient, is so narrow in its time focus that most refugees are still unable to use interpreters to get a license (a picture-based test was eliminated several years ago). The law only allows new refugees – those without green cards – to have an interpreter with them while taking the English-only test. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo plans to propose changes to help refugees who have their green cards and are no longer eligible to have translators assist them during the driving exam – one idea is to allow refugees to take the test with an interpreter for up to four years before having them reapply in English.
In the meantime refugees who desperately need jobs find that a car is often a necessity to get to work in areas not served by public transportation, or for shifts that are at night. This has tempted some of them to go to other states such as Colorado and Arizona where its easier to get a drivers license, bypassing Utah’s requirement of a week of safe driving classes.
The most recent tragedy likely resulting from the current requirements was an automobile accident this week that claimed the life of a refugee teenager from Myanmar, and which nearly killed he mother. An article in the Salt Lake Tribune explains:
Though Kyaw Wah lost his only daughter in a car accident near Heber this week…
Kyaw Wah’s wife and daughter were in Salt Lake City on Monday, working on paperwork for Medicaid and food stamps. They asked a friend, who is also a refugee, to drive them home to Heber.
Troopers say the car veered off Highway 40, crashed into a culvert and rolled. There are conflicting reports on which of the five people in the car were wearing seat belts. Mu La Er, 14, was apparently ejected from the car…
The Burmese community has offered auto-safety workshops for refugees, which include seat-belt demonstrations.
But for Ler Wah, a refugee from Burma who works as an employment counselor, the accident is a reminder of the hurdles faced by refugees seeking Utah driver licenses.
Since the elimination of a picture-based test several years ago, most refugees are required to take the test in English.
Only those who have arrived recently qualify to use [interpreters]. That leads hundreds of refugees to skirt residency requirements to get licenses in Arizona and Colorado, where translation is allowed, advocates say.
The driver in Monday’s accident had a license from Arizona, said Trooper Thomas Simpson with Utah Highway Patrol.
Ler Wah is concerned those drivers are sidestepping requirements and not getting adequate training.
“Those who go to Colorado or Arizona, they go there one day, they pay and they’re finished,” he said. “Here in Utah, it’s totally different — you’ll be in class for a week.”
…a car is often a necessity for adults trying to get to work in areas not served by public transportation or for shifts that are at night.
Ler Wah would like to see the driver license rules change. “We don’t want this to happen again,” he said… Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, driving instruction, safety, teenagers, Utah | Tagged: Burma, driver license, English only, Heber, Myamar, rollover, Utah | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 28, 2012
A 14-passenger 2002 Chevrolet Express van overloaded with 17 people, many of them not wearing seat belts, rolled over on I-96 in Michigan near Grand Rapids. An 18-year-old Burundian refugee named Ombeni Erasto died, and his sister reportedly lost part of her leg. Several other people in the van were injured. State police said the van’s rear tire blew, causing the 22-year-old driver to lose control. An article at the Lansing State Journal gives some details:
LOWELL TWP. — The Lansing teenager who died Sunday in an accident near Grand Rapids was on his way home from a church choir performance that he had been looking forward to for a while, said his younger brother.
Omberi Erasto, 18…was one of 17 people ranging in age from infant to adult in a 14-passenger 2002 Chevrolet Express van, which was traveling east on Interstate 96 in Lowell Township. State police said the van’s rear tire blew, causing the 22-year-old Lansing driver to lose control. The van struck another vehicle and slid sideways off the roadway.
The accident killed Erasto, a senior at Lansing Eastern High School. Several relatives, including three of his sisters, also were injured in the accident, said Erasto’s younger brother, Shukurani Nyabenda, 16. Nyabenda said other family members were also in the van…
…His family came to Michigan from Tanzania as refugees about five years ago, Nyabenda said. Erasto was born in Burundi… Read more here
…and this from WOOD-TV 8:
LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) – The 15-passenger van that overturned along I-96 Sunday carried 17 members of Lansing’s Burundi Choir who were returning home after a concert in Grand Rapids.
Ombeni Erasto died in the crash , and his sister reportedly lost part of her leg. Several other people were injured, and many were not wearing seat belts.
The group includes many Burundi refugees who fled their country during the civil war and ended up in Tanzanian refugee camps… Read more here
A report from the WILX media outlet says that out of the 17 on board, over half were under the age of 18, including three infants.
These vans are not safe when used for their intended purpose of carrying the maximum allowable number of passengers. The vans should never be overloaded, and must be underloaded. In addition, fuel tanks should be kept full to help lower the center of gravity, all passengers must wear seat belts, tires must be regularly inspected, and only people experienced with driving passenger vans should be at the wheel.
In December three refugees died in a passenger van rollover in Amarillo, Texas. Another van rolled in November near Rushmore, Minnesota. In early 2011 there were van rollover accidents involving refugees in central Georgia (and here) and northern Georgia. A passenger van rollover in Arizona in 2009 killed six refugees.
Posted in Burundian, churches, Michigan, teenagers, passenger van roll-over, Lansing | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, Burundi, Burundian, rollover, roll-over, Lansing, passenger van, Chevrolet Express, Grand Rapids, Ombeni Erasto | 5 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 20, 2012
Last May we read news reports in the Milwaukee media that Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan had placed Burmese refugees in an apartment building overflowing with code violations, roaches, leaking sewage, and owned and operated by a known felon involved in child-porn. A local reporter tried to get some answers from the State Department about their contractor, but answers were not forthcoming.
Now, based on a State Department monitoring report of USCRI’s International Institute of Wisconsin (IIW), it seems that agency was violating almost every State Department contract requirement. Monitors visited the usual small sample (too small?) of three refugee cases and found serious failure of the agency in providing minimal contract-requirements in all three cases. Problems ranged from lack of orientation or help of any type for a refugee family to refugees in substandard housing.
…[A] Burmese family of four lived in an apartment complex…The apartment visited had a smoke detector that did not work; the bathroom had missing ceiling tiles with pipes exposed, mold around the chalk in the bathtub, and evidence of water leakage; there were exposed wires in the hallway; paint was dirty with holes and nails on the wall…
They told monitors they did not receive any orientation from the agency. The caseworker told monitors that orientation was provided but that he had relied on the 17-year-old daughter for translation…This was not documented in the case file…
…[A] single Burmese Karen woman lived in a room in an apartment shared with a Burmese married couple…Her bedroom door did not have a doorknob or lock. She used a bookcase/dresser to block the door at night. The bathroom had a leaky ceiling. There were two broken windows in the living room and in the kitchen. She reported mice infestation in the apartment, and monitors observed mouse droppings in the kitchen pantry… Read more here
By the way, minors should never be used as interpreters.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, community/cultural orientation, Cuban, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, dangerous neighborhoods, home visits, housing, housing, substandard, International Institute of Wisconsin, language, late health screenings, Milwaukee, pocket-money, rats and roaches, State Department, teenagers | Tagged: Milwaukee, refugees, resettlement, substandard housing, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 7, 2011
It’s hard to imagine what its like for some refugee teenagers after we plop them down into our schools when they have little schooling, no English, and no knowledge of the local culture. Imagine not understanding how to get lunch or open a locker for weeks and no one notices. Or worse, being bullied or ignored by other students when adults make little effort to prevent that, or help students understand refugee teenagers’ plight. An article in The Salt Lake Tribune tells the story on young refugee that the refugee program and a school are trying for a better outcome with:
…For typical American teenagers, high school holds both excitement and liberal doses of adolescent angst. Now imagine being dropped into that social pressure cooker with little schooling, no English, and no knowledge of the local culture…
…Rising problems with drugs and gang violence, particularly among refugees in the 18-21 age group, has prompted the [Utah Refugee Services Office] to redouble its efforts with youth.
[Gerald Brown], the refugee services director, says he has attended four funerals for young refugee men in the past two years due to violence or drugs.
“We’re determined to do something about it,” Brown says. “There’s no single answer, but I think if we can put a lot of different things together, then we do have a real chance.”
Part of it is helping students succeed academically, he says. Too often, youths become frustrated when they cannot compete with their peers in school. They find other ways to stand out… Read more here
Posted in Karen, language, men, Salt Lake City, schools, teenagers, teens, Utah, young adults | Tagged: Burma, drugs, gangs, Karen, Myanmar, refugees, resettlement, teengers, Utah Refugee Services Office | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 14, 2011
On Saturday, two teens from Burma/Myanmar were hit by a car in south Indianapolis, according to an article at WISH TV. A person commenting on the article claims that it was in the vicinity of the Greentree apartment complex. A city councilman points out the problem of refugees coming from places with few automobiles, yet another person commenting claims that an elderly woman was killed near the same place two years ago while trying to cross the road.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – On Saturday, two teens were hit by a car just north of Stop 11 and Madison Avenue on the city’s south side.
The accident happened around 6:15 p.m. in an area with no lights and no cross walks.
Both teens are recovering, 17-year-old Ramilant Hang is at home, 18-year-old Van Bawi Sang is still at Wishard Hospital. Van was upgraded from critical to serious condition after surgery Saturday evening for head injuries.
The two teens and their families are Burmese refugees…
…City-County Councilman Jack Sandlin said the Department of Public Works should now look at this area as a high priority…
…”It sounds pretty basic to us, but when you come from an area that doesn’t really have a lot of automobiles, it’s a huge difference,” Sandlin said. Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities Indianapolis, Indianapolis, safety, teenagers | Tagged: Buma, Burmese, crossing road, crosswalks, hit by car, Indianapolis, Myanmar, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 9, 2011
An in-depth article on the events surrounding the December 2009 attack on dozens of Asian refugee children at a south Philadelphia school, that resulted in 13 refugee children taken to the emergency room, reveals the extent that teachers, the principle, security guards and other staff were present and unresponsive as the attacks occurred. Refugee students report that the principle disappeared while walking children home just before vicious beatings took place. Teachers and cafeteria staff called the students “Yo Dragonball” or “Yo Chinese” and even mocked their accents. The School District of Philadelphia also apparently has an ongoing pattern of unresponsiveness to reports of students bullying refugee students, despite an early 2011 settlement with the Justice Department.
The article also points to relatively large number of refugees from Burma/Myanmar that the State Department resettled in a relatively short period, which the school district was not ready to accommodate. These are some of the considerations the State Department needs to make when reading glowing annual resettlement proposals from their private resettlement contractors
We should not underestimate the catastrophic long-term damage to refugees resulting from these brutalities during their formative years. The article points out that bullying can lead to a lifetime of low self-worth, suicide attempt or depression, and that doesn’t even consider the trauma, tumult and deprivation that refugee have already endured before their resettlement. Hyphen Magazine magazine published this article:
On a cold December day in 2009, just weeks before Christmas, 15-year-old Trang Dang was walking home from school with her sister and eight friends, all recent Vietnamese immigrants. Also part of their group: the principal of their school.
Dang, who is 5’9” with a medium build and a dimpled, contagious smile, asked the principal to accompany them because she and the others were terrified by the intense bullying and violence against Asian students that had taken place earlier that day at their school, South Philadelphia High School. Midway through the walk, the principal, LaGreta Brown, disappeared, Dang said. “She walked to the corner with us and then we didn’t see her anymore,” Dang said. They debated whether to stay or continue walking. “Our friends said if we stand here, we’ll get in trouble,” Dang said. So they opted to try to make it home that day on their own.
They never did.
About half a block from school, a mob of at least two dozen students started chasing them. Dang was the first to be caught. She was punched in the face, shattering her glasses. “It was a quick hit and then they ran,” she said. “After I got hit, then my mind just went blank. I was crying. It wasn’t that painful, I think, but I don’t really remember. I think because I’ve tried to forget about that day.” The entire group was cornered, and all were hit. Dang still doesn’t know for sure why the principal seemingly left the group…
…The entire day, roving gangs of high schoolers searched for and attacked Asian teenagers in a nightmarish ordeal. Most of the attacks took place on the premises of this poor school in south Philadelphia while teachers, security guards and other staff were present.
In total, at least 26 Asian immigrant students were physically assaulted in a series of violent conflicts. Thirteen Asian students ended up in the emergency room for injuries ranging from a broken nose to black eyes. One had to have surgery because he could no longer breathe through his nose…
…Some speculate that the ethnic tensions at the school can be attributed to lack of adult intervention, adults modeling bad behavior such as racially charged name calling, stereotypes and an influx of Asian students in a relatively short time period without the school or district adequately addressing the changes…
…In the last five years, there were 534 documented assaults at the school, more than any other in the district…
…In some cases, bullying can lead to thoughts of suicide, according to Eliza Noh, an Asian American studies professor at California State University, Fullerton, who has studied suicide among Asian Americans. “Some Asian American women I interviewed reported being victims of racist bullying when they were young, contributing to their low self-worth, suicide attempt or depression later in life,” Noh said. Liu pointed out bullying victims are essentially trauma victims who experience post-traumatic stress disorder similar to war veterans. He warned that young people may experience psychosomatic symptoms like feeling ill, as well as hypervigilance, heightened startled responses, depression and social withdrawal… Read more here
Posted in abuse, Burma/Myanmar, capacity, children, dangerous neighborhoods, Dept. of Justice, FBI, mental health, Philadelphia, safety, schools, State Department, teenagers | Tagged: Asian, bullying, Burmese, children, Myanmar, Philadelphia, refugees, resettlement, South Philadelphia High School, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 6, 2011
A refugee student, now in college in Tucson, is excelling in school after making the honor roll and graduating from high school with a GPA above 3.5. Hussein Magale said that his refugee resettlement agency did not enroll him in school right away, so he had to enroll in school by himself. He took 10 courses, including advanced placement classes, in his first and only semester of high school in the US. An Arizona Daily Wildcat article tells his story:
…Hussein Magale, who fled Somalia with his family in 1992 because of the country’s civil war, lived in the city’s camp for most of his life. The biochemistry sophomore, who speaks three languages, began translating for Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian organization helping his camp, when he was a teenager…
…Magale said he always excelled in class and valued education because it was the only way out of the camp…
…To receive the Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education, or KCPE, Magale said he had to place in the top 100 out of more than 600 students in his group taking the high school entrance exam…He was number 23.
Magale said he continued to excel in high school until he arrived in Tucson in November 2009 through a United Nations resettlement program…
…Dualeh said the agency that brought him here did not enroll him in school right away. So Magale took the initiative, called around and filled out the paperwork. A few months after he left Kenya’s refugee camps, he was already taking classes at Catalina High School.
He took 10 courses, including advanced placement classes, in his first and only semester of high school in the U.S. He made the honor roll and graduated with
a GPA above 3.5…
…Magale’s GPA is still well above a 3.5, he’s part of the Arizona Assurance Scholars Club, captain of a soccer team… Read more here
Posted in Arizona, failure to enroll refugee children in school, school for refugee children, schools, Somali, teenagers, Tucson | Tagged: Catalina High School, Doctors Without Borders, refugees, resettlement, school | 1 Comment »
Posted by Melissa Sogard on September 2, 2011
An 18-year-old Chin refugee from Myanmar, and resettled to Washington state just two weeks ago, is the latest refugee to die from accidental drowning. An article about the tragic drowning is in the Whidbey News-Times:
An 18-year-old refugee from Burma drowned while swimming at a Deception Pass State Park lake Saturday afternoon, according to the Island County Coroner’s Office.
Sang Cung Hnin was at Cranberry Lake with a group of friends from a Kent church group when the tragedy occurred. Hnin and his family escaped from Burma, which is officially known as the military-dominated Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and had been living in Malaysia prior to moving to Kent just two weeks ago.
Island County Coroner Robert Bishop said he could find no explanation for the drowning. An autopsy revealed that Hnin was a completely healthy young man and his family members confirmed that he was a strong swimmer.
Bishop said he could only speculate that perhaps Hnin may have cramped while he was in the water… Read more here
Posted in World Relief, churches, Chin, teenagers, drowning, Kent | Tagged: refugee, World Relief, resettlement, Burma, Myanmar, Kent, drowning, Cin, Washinton, Cranberry Lake, Sang Cung Hnin, Deception Pass | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
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