Archive for the ‘men’ 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 December 12, 2011
A story from our friends Down Under about the healing power of justice involving a Somali refugee gives us a hint of the world we could create if justice was an actual priority. An article in The Age tells the story:
…It was Valentine’s Day 2007 when Dini was hit in the mouth during an incident between police and some African youths. As well as damage to three teeth, Dini copped a cluster of police charges that included affray, assault and recklessly causing injury.
What irony – he had avoided the violence that plagued his six years in a Kenyan refugee camp only to be hurt in the family’s safe haven...
…Initially I was really angry – why would the police charge me? I was so stressed, I knew I had done nothing wrong but a lot of friends told me the court system would not work. So there was a tear in my eye when the judge said I was not guilty. I sat back in my chair. It was the biggest relief in my life.”
A dentist could fix that broken tooth, of course, and Dini had intended to have it done but now he sees it almost as a badge of honour. “This makes me Ahmed Dini now,” he says, “the man with the gap in his teeth. The thing that fixed my heart, that fixed me as a person, was the court decision, and that’s why I love this country more than any in the world. When I say that, some of my Somali friends ask: ‘are you serious?’ But for me to spend 10 days in court and to hear the judge say: I believe Ahmed Dini’s version of the story, well …”…
…Dini completed secondary education in Melbourne and did two years of university before deciding to help young Africans. “There was a lot of trouble in the community, no role models,” he says, “so I decided as a young person I would become the public voice.
”I went to any meeting involving Africans – council, police meetings. African elders were going but not young people. Slowly, but slowly I saw change. Then I got a role coaching the under 13s at the Flemington Eagles, a refugee-based soccer club.”
Last year, Dini formed the Australian Somali Football Association. It held a tournament, which drew 4500 spectators, where eight teams played over six days. The 2011 tournament is at the end of this month and 12 teams will play.
At 24, Ahmed Dini makes an impressive advocate… Read more here
Posted in Australian refugee resettlement prgm, court, democracy, men, mental health, police, Somali | Tagged: Australia, justice, police, refugee, refugees, resettlement, Somali | 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 December 7, 2010
There is an interesting article in the Alternet about the Sudanese community in Nebraska. This is the single largest group of former Sudanese refugees in the US. Many of the Sudanese youth are fighting and joining gangs. Reasons for this disturbing trend include their families’ migration from a homeland in conflict, a difficult to adapt to (completely different from their own) US culture, parents who no longer discipline their children due to US laws against beating children, to youth dropping out of school after schools place them in grades way above their education level. In addition this second generation of immigrants has learned English much more rapidly than their parents and are able to manipulate their parents’ interaction with other members of the community, such as school officials and the police.
..early 8,000 miles away from the violence in Darfur [and southern Sudan], Sudanese residents of Omaha are experiencing their own share of turbulence in this unassuming Midwestern city. And they’re fed up with it…
…Bruce Ferrell, a retired Omaha police officer, is the chairman of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association estimates that there are three Sudanese gangs in Omaha right now (More claims there are fourteen.) Ferrell said the first gangs in Omaha began in 2004–MJ, a Nuer acronym for “Dog Pussy,” and Afrikan Pride. Others followed, like MOB, GBLOCK, 402 (the area code for eastern Nebraska), South Sudan Soldiers, and TripSet. Gang members are mostly Nuer and Dinka, and, predictably, live in low-income neighborhoods. They are the children of refugees or are refugees themselves, coming from camps in Ethiopia, Egypt, and beyond, but ending up adrift in the middle of America…
…”They’re doing graffiti, they’re wearing colors, they’re identifying by specific group names, they’re participating in crimes that are against rival Sudanese gangs. We’re seeing that more [in the past year].”… Read more here
I think what is good about South Sudanese is that they have a strong identity and pride in their culture. Sometimes pride can also be a downfall – for us all – as in the old proverb “pride does often go before the fall”, but I think what’s happening here is a generation who doesn’t yet know who they are. Are they South Sudanese or America? Trapped between? Its a hard road to travel.
Posted in alienation-isolation, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, men, mental health, Nebraska, Omaha, police, school for refugee children, South Sudanese, suicide, teenagers, teens, young adults | Tagged: Dinka, gangs, juvenile delinquency, Nebraska, Nuer, Omaha, refugees, resettlement, sudanese, youth violence | Leave a Comment »
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