Archive for the ‘housing, overcrowding’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 30, 2012
A reader sent me another article from earlier this month about that recent report by San Francisco State University, and the nonprofit Burma Family Refugee Network, about refugees from Burma living in extreme poverty in Oakland. It has details about a Karenni refugee woman in Oakland who had to give birth at home (because she couldn’t find a ride to the hospital). The director of the International Rescue Committee in Northern California says he would like to see services at resettlement agencies for a longer period than six months. (Bear in mind we are just now making our way out of this severe recession since 2009, and the IRC in Northern California still hasn’t extended services – in spite of the doubling of the US State Department per capita refugee grant 2 years ago — see analysis here.) The article is in the East Bay Express has added details about the problems:
Hae Htoo lives in a one-bedroom unit in East Oakland with five other family members [her husband, brother, and three children]. The twenty-year-old arrived in the US six months ago and hopes to learn English and find a job. But a recent report by San Francisco State University and nonprofit Burma Family Refugee Network shows that refugees from Burma who now live in Oakland, such as Hae Htoo, are facing dire circumstances…
…even…employed [refugees from Burma in Oakland] are living in poverty — 75 percent, according to the report — since jobs may be short-term, part-time, and low-wage. The study also found that some people eligible for welfare were not on it. Another paradox is that 90 percent said they had doctors, but healthcare was still one of their top problems, due to the language barrier. ”Even though they have doctors and insurance, they still don’t get healthcare,” said Jeung. “They didn’t understand how to get an appointment, or if they are given a prescription, how to take their drugs”…
…Hae Htoo gave birth to a newborn daughter just two months ago. That morning, she felt contractions but wasn’t sure if she was going into labor. By the time she was ready to give birth, she could not find a ride to the hospital. She gave birth in the bathroom; her husband caught the baby….Following [a] 911 operator’s instructions as translated by [a] neighbor, Hae’s husband tied one of his shoelaces around the umbilical cord and waited for an ambulance…
Mental health is also an issue; more than 70 percent [of the refugees surveyed in the study] reported stressors that impaired them. (The survey included culturally appropriate answers such as feeling “heaviness” or “head is hot,” mental states that prevent someone from focusing or being able to work). Jeung said mental health issues stem from both war trauma and the acculturative stress of having to adapt to a new land…
…[Ken Briggs, interim executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Northern California] hopes the [IRC] will be able to offer long-term case management in the future…”I would like to see services within the resettlement agencies that provides support for a longer period [than six months], particularly with job search and case management”…
…Hae Htoo…is worried. Her husband will be laid off from his bakery job in three months. “I am worried we won’t be able to pay rent and bills”…
Zar Ni Maung, co-founder of the Burma Family Refugee Network, said that even folks who have been here since 2007 still struggle. Some are exhausting their CalWorks lifetime benefits [The lifetime cap for welfare and CalWorks was recently cut from five to four years]. He fears some refugees will remain a permanent, poverty-stricken underclass.
“They’ve been here long-term now,” he said. “Who’s going to pay for their rent? Who is helping them find a job? A lot of people have been placed [in jobs], but they do not continue going to work or have been laid off. Nobody seems to be looking into why this is happening. They don’t have skills. The issues are here. How are we going to fix it?” Read more here
Posted in IRC, R&P, Burma/Myanmar, Karenni, funding, housing, overcrowding, employment/jobs for refugees, Oakland, housing, safety, economic self-sufficiency, Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Oakland) | Tagged: refugees, karenni, IRC, resettlement, Oakland, International Rescue Committee, interpretation, poverty, east bay, Catholic Charities of the East Bay | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 21, 2011
The US Department of State and the International Institute of Akron are resettling about 350 refugees annually in Akron. Secondary migration from other areas of the US is significant, with 350 more refugees arriving annually. Adult refugees here face the usual barriers to medical care, such as transportation issues, the language barrier, and cultural differences that hinder understanding and communication between medical staff and patients. Medical workers treat refugees for parasites, hepatitis, tuberculosis, dental problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other health issues. Although most refugee children are in good health when they arrive, some have medical concerns not typically seen in American-born children — e.g., hepatitis, latent tuberculosis, anemia, failure to thrive, parasites, chronic ear infections and certain oral health problems. An article in the Beacon Journal has more:
…Each year, about 350 refugees from Myanmar, Nepal, Iraq and other countries arrive in the Akron area with the help of the International Institute of Akron, according to Kate Sass, the institute’s director of refugee resettlement. Another 350 refugees who have been living in other cities throughout the United States also relocate to the region in a typical year…
...Cultural differencesAlong with the obvious language barrier, things such as transportation issues and cultural differences create challenges, Van Nostran said. Some patients also struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder from their past experiences.
The staff has learned, for example, that it is considered rude in some cultures to only use one hand instead of two to give patients their prescriptions or other paperwork.
In another case, Van Nostran said, hospital staff were concerned that a refugee couple were ignoring their newborn shortly after birth. The staff later learned this was the custom in the family’s native culture, which believes doting on a newborn will draw the attention of “evil spirits.”
“It has challenged us not to make assumptions but to ask specifically about cultures,” she said…
…When refugees arrive, they must have an initial health exam within 30 days for parasites, hepatitis, tuberculosis, dental problems and other health issues.
Some refugees have latent tuberculosis, which isn’t active or contagious but still must be treated with a nine-month course of antibiotics to avoid an active infection in the future, she said.
“You learn a lot,” Erme said. “Health-care providers who take care of refugee patients need to be open to learning and realize that what we were taught in our medical professional education may not always apply to this population.”…
…Caring for children
…Although the majority of children are in good health when they arrive, he said, refugees have some medical concerns that typically aren’t seen in American-born children — things such as oral health problems, latent tuberculosis, parasites, anemia, failure to thrive, chronic ear infections and hepatitis… Read more here
I think that the International Institute of Akron resettling refugees into crowded housing with rats and roaches also must not have been particularly healthful for refugees in Akron.
Posted in health, housing, substandard, housing, overcrowding, secondary migration, refugee, children, PTSD, cultural adjustment, language, RMA (Refugee Medical Assistance), Akron, International Institute of Akron | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, International Institute, PTSD, language barrier, Akron, hepatitis, latent tuberculosis, anemia, failure to thrive | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 30, 2011
It turns out that resettlement agencies in Lancaster, Pennsylvania have not been giving coats or good shoes to refugees as early as the winter of 2009 (even though resettlement agencies sign a contract with the US State Department promising that they will give refugees Appropriate seasonal clothing required for work, school, and everyday use as required for all members of the family, including proper footwear for each member of the family, here). A school district official also visited refugee families and found instances where two or more Bhutanese families sharing an apartment. The two local resettlement agencies, Church World Service Lancaster and Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern PA, apparently had not even informed the School District of Lancaster – or at least the School District’s point person for homeless students – about the arrival of the Bhutanese families. An article in the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era covers this resettlement site:
In late 2009, with winter setting in, the children of some Bhutanese families were coming to school without coats or good shoes.
Ken Marzinko, School District of Lancaster’s point person for homeless students, started visiting the parents, and in some cases, found two or more Bhutanese families sharing an apartment.
“I was caught off guard,” Marzinko said of hearing about the refugees and their needs.
Like most Americans, Marzinko wasn’t aware the United States had in 2008 begun taking in 60,000 of the more than 100,000 Bhutanese crowding camps in Nepal. More than 800 now live in Lancaster County, and many more are in the pipeline... Read more here
The most recent State Department inspections of the two local resettlement agencies, from 2006, show other problems. The report for Church World Service Lancaster shows that only 53% of refugee clients were employed after 90 days, even though jobs at that time were quite plentiful in Lancaster, with an unemployment rate of only 3.4% in 2006. Agency staff had also used white out throughout the case logs.
The Lutheran Children and Family Service inspection report also showed that refugees’ relatives who helped with their resettlement did not understand that the agency was ultimately responsible for all contract requirements. Apparently the agency had duped these relatives into believing that they were responsible for the requirements of the agency’s contract (a common occurence according to these State Department monitoring reports). In three of four refugee homes that monitors visited, batteries in smoke detectors were dead.
Although the two agencies, the Lutheran agency being a subcontractor of LIRS, were vested with the State Department contract requirement that each refugee receive a physical health screening within 30 days, refugees were not being screened within that time requirement. Case logs also did not make references to airport reception of refugees and employment referals – as supposedly equired – so that there was no documentation that these services were provided by the resettlement agencies.
Posted in children, clothes, Cooperative Agreement, CWS, employment services, faith-based, housing, housing, overcrowding, late health screenings, Lutheran, Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern PA, meeting refugees at the airport, Nepali Bhutanese, Operational Guidance, Pennsylvania, State Department | Tagged: bhutanese, Church World Service, Church World Service Lancaster, CWS, federal contractors, LIRS, Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania, Lutheran immigration and refugee services, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 29, 2011
The Nickel City Smiler documentary film will be showing next weekend in Buffalo. It gives refugees their own voice, describing their experiences in the resettlement process – something the refugee resettlement agencies regularly ignore, and even suppress.
Screenings are scheduled for:
Friday, Saturday & Sunday (November 4, 5 and 6) at 7pm at the Market Arcade, Film and Art Centre, located a 639 Main Street, Buffalo NY.
Hand-made bags by Karen refugee Ma Dee, who is featured in the film, and other Karen goods will be available for purchase at the screening.
The Nickel City Smiler documentary film is also available for purchase on DVD — here.
Posted in faith-based, housing, overcrowding, household items, missing or broken, Karen, dangerous neighborhoods, housing, safety, Buffalo, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, International Institute of Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, language, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, documentary, Buffalo, Nickel City Smiler, Smiler Greely, dangerous neighborhoods, population decline | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 11, 2011
A 24-year-old Eritrean refugee resettled by Catholic Charities in Sonoma County, California has found his new life so discouraging that he wants to return to Ethiopia to work and be with his wife and children. He reports that Catholic Charities Diocese of Santa Rosa gave him only clothes, and that he has no real place to live, so he shuffle’s between four houses around town because it’s too crowded in any one place for too long. An article in the Press Democrat describes his plight in Santa Rosa:
…Hadish Khassay sat on a yellow couch in his aunt’s Santa Rosa apartment on Northcoast Street with a blue, glass cross around his neck. Things are not as he’d hoped they would be.In July 2010, Khassay’s US Airways flight landed in Oakland, a night, a day and a dream away from the Shimelba refugee camp in barren northern Ethiopia.
He fled his homeland, Eritrea, when he was 15… He became one of Santa Rosa’s 160,000 residents, and one of 11 Eritrean refugees that the nonprofit social services agency Catholic Charities has resettled in Sonoma County since 2008…
…Now 24, he’s come to like America……But today he is struggling. And the two-time refugee wants to return to life as a refugee in Africa.
It’s hard here, he said. He can’t find work, mostly because he doesn’t speak English, though he is trying tol earn…
…“He thought everything was going to be OK. He would find a job and take care of his family, but it’s not working out,” Medhin said…
…“He can’t go back to Eritrea, he doesn’t want to go into the army,” Mehdin said. “He wants to go to Ethiopia. But if he had a job, he would stay.”
Khassay jiggled a key chain that had an image of Joseph on one side and of Mary on the other. He smiled, but he held his head in one hand, too.
He said he owns nothing but the clothes Catholic Charities gave him when he arrived here.
“He has his cross,” Medhin said. Khassay touched it with slender fingers.
Catholic Charities helped him get the government benefits that now have expired, leaving him broke. The agency has enrolled him in a job search and training program. It also helped him apply for a residency permit and a driver’s license, which he just obtained.
Sometimes he drives his sister’s old Toyota, though he can’t afford the gas. That, plus the fact that he doesn’t have money for buses, makes it tough to get to the English classes he signed up to take…
…He sleeps in four houses around town, sharing time with family, relatives and friends because it’s too crowded in any one place for too long.
The bicycle that he once rode around town was stole… Read more here
Posted in Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., employment/jobs for refugees, Eritrean, housing, housing, overcrowding, language | Tagged: catholic charities, Eritrean, language barrier, refugees, resettlement, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County | 6 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 14, 2011
Chance Encounter Productions (CEP), which produced the Nickel City Smiler documentary, was invited to show their film at the “Building a Movement: Nickel City Film Series” – a series of film screenings by the Heart of the City Community Development Corporation to encourage public discussion and involvement in issues hindering strong, sustainable communities in Buffalo. Nickel City Smiler was to have been the only locally produced film to be shown. It illustrates refugees’ plight with local slum lords, crime, as well as some frustrations with the resettlement agencies.
Having nothing of it, the local refugee resettlement agencies got to work to have the film removed from the film series. CEP reports that Heart of the City later contacted them to say that the film would not be shown. CEP says that Heart of the City admitted that they based the eleventh-hour rejection on the anger that the agencies and other groups of Heart of the City had about the film, and their wish that the public not see it.
Apparently, along with placing refugees with known slum lords, not providing refugees with essential household items, forcing two refugee families to share one small apartment, and not being available to help a refugee woman while her husband was dying, these groups also have no problem engaging in censorship.
Note: The Nickel City Smiler DVD is available for purchase
Posted in Buffalo, dangerous neighborhoods, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, overcrowding, housing, substandard, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, Karen, language interpretation/translation, lack of | Tagged: refugee, resettlement, Burma/Myanmar, Journey's End Refugee Services, Buffalo, Karen refugees, International Institute of Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Chance Encounter Productions, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Nickel City Film Series, CEP | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 1, 2011
The Nickle City Smiler refugee documentary film is getting more attention in the media. Part one of a three part series of articles came out today at the Buffalo Rising media website.
…[Scott Murchie] is a filmmaker and director who owns a film company in Clarence, Chance Encounter Productions. He came across Donna Pepero, an employee at Journey’s End Refugee services and head of the Refugee School Impact Program when his company was randomly selected to do a documentary on refugees in Buffalo. The crew, made up of directors Scott Murchie and Brett Williams, and then freelance camera operator Tim Gera, completed an 18 minute documentary, entitled “Refugees: Buffalo’s Next Generation.” But their interest didn’t stop there. They were only telling one side of the story of refugees in Buffalo. There was also another side of the story, the refugee’s side.
Scott says he and his colleagues began to see the true problems the refugees are facing assimilating into American culture when they began their short documentary. It is hard enough for many citizens of Buffalo already living there to get by, let alone someone who just came from another country.
Getting most of their information from resettlement agencies, their first film only showcased some positive points of bringing refugees into Buffalo. As well as many positive aspects to bringing refugees to Buffalo, there are many negative situations as well. In the spring of 2008, Chance Encounter Productions started filming another, much more in-depth documentary. This time as a way to reach out to the community for help. Scott believes that the resettlement agencies are not doing a good job for refugees, in fact he believes that they are
doing a very poor job.
Nickel City Smiler received some interesting feedback. According to Scott, the response was overwhelmingly positive around the community, with people wanting to know how they could offer aid to refugees. The response within the resettlement community was however more mixed. Shortly after my review of Nickel City Smiler was published in Buffalo Rising, I received an invitation from Journey’s End to come speak with them. Of course I accepted the invitation and met with the directors of three of the major resettlement agencies in the area…
The documentary portrays the situation of refugees who are living in poor conditions in the city. For example, there are two refugee families featured, which speak different languages, crammed into a small apartment. A woman, who did not know how to get help for her husband when he was having a heart attack, is suffering with the loss. The film explores why refugees may be having such problems, and what they find is that the resettlement agencies in Buffalo could be doing a better job, well, resettling the refugees in their care.
When I met with three directors from three of the four major resettlement agencies, I asked them about their response to the film. I was curious as to why they were not represented, and I wanted to give them a chance to speak.
They told me that the film was inaccurate, possibly cut and pasted, and misrepresents the agencies completely. When I asked Ann Brittain, director of the Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program of Catholic Charities, about the two families featured in the film who live crammed in one small apartment, she said that was a completely false situation.
“It’s not that they live like that,” Ann said, “they congregate.”
She explained that on any given day you might see a lot of refugees mingling at one house, since they enjoy being together. I met Tikee, one of the fathers living in that apartment, and I do believe that the film represents Tikee’s situation fairly. Is it the resettlement agencies fault entirely? Probably not, but something went amiss for this situation and others like it to have come into being.
Why are the filmmakers and the resettlement agencies bickering? Molly Short, Executive Director at Journey’s End Refugee Services, says there was poor communication between herself and the filmmakers. Scott says the agencies just don’t want to admit their mistakes, and just don’t have the resources to care for all the refugees they bring in… Read more here
Ann Brittain, director of the Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program of Catholic Charities” when asked why her agency placed two families together in one small inner-city apartment claims “they congregate”? Well, yes they do, but what does that have to do with housing two families together? This type of failure to truth tell does nothing to help resolve the problems. The real issue needs to be addressed, e.g. are Buffalo resettlement agencies at over-capacity? Did the resettlement agency have a shortage of housing units at that time, and why?
As far as Molly Short at Journey’s End responding that communication was poor, then what is her explanation for the filmmaker’s first documentary in which they relied mainly on the local resettlement agencies’ information? Was there any miscommunication at that time? As well, improved communication will not resolve many of the facts of resettlement in Buffalo. Refugees have died in senseless violence in the neighborhood. Is it valid to use refugees to repopulate areas of our country that are losing population, when refugees are a known vulnerable group?
Furthermore, resettlement agencies will not resolve their failure to give refugees the minimum-required services, that they freely agree to give via government contracts, until they openly and adequately address the issue. This is particularly true when we are only about one year out from the State Department’s doubling of per capita initial resettlement funding.
Posted in Buffalo, Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, children, dangerous neighborhoods, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, overcrowding, housing, substandard, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, Karen, neglect, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, safety | Tagged: Ann Brittain, Brett Williams, Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Chance Encounter Productions, dangerous neighborhoods, government contractors, human rights, Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Molly Short, Nickle City Smiler, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, Refugees: Buffalo's Next Generation, resettlement, Scott Murchie, Smiler Greely, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 24, 2011
We recently received a new batch of State Department refugee resettlement agency monitoring reports. According to a 2007 monitoring report monitors found that Catholic Community Services Seattle (CCS) was only in “partial compliance” with it’s resettlement contract. Problems included the following:
- A Burmese refugee family of five lived in a two-bedroom apartment with their 19-year-old niece. The sleeping space did not seem adequate for this family, and two children did not have beds (note: the Operational Guidance contract document requires that agencies make sure housing has an appropriate number of bedrooms/sleeping areas and beds for refugee families). The 19-year-old and two children slept in one room with a six-year-old sleeping on the floor. The husband, wife, and a three-year-old child slept in another room, with the three-year old on the floor. The family said that they would like beds for the children, but there was not enough floor space. None of the beds had bed frames, as required. The family told monitors that car seats were not used for the children when the agency picked them up at the airport.
- A single Burmese male refugee lived with four roommates in a two-bedroom apartment. He expressed concern that no one had talked to him about a job or about his finances. He walked one hour to class and back and said he was not shown how to take public transportation. He slept in a room with two others. He did not have a bed frame and he stored his clothing on his mattress and in a plastic basket on the floor.
- A Burundian refugee family of six was living with a grown daughter in a two-bedroom apartment. There did not seem to be an appropriate number of bedrooms for the family. In one bedroom, a 19-year-old daughter, a four-year-old granddaughter, a seven-year-old son, and another grown daughter slept in three beds that they pushed together forming one bed due to lack of floor space. The husband, wife, and 11-year-old child slept in the second bedroom. The family also said that they needed cold-weather clothing for the children.
- A Somali refugee mother with two minor children said that CCS did not give her much help, especially when she requested transportation help for health appointments for her children.
- Case notes were so poor that monitors could not determine whether CCS had given refugees required services and/or material items.
If any of these issues seems small or petty, they are not. The State Department only requires refugee resettlement agencies to give refugees certain minimum-required services and material items, which are quite minimal (check out Operational Guidance). To not even meet these minimum requirements is 1) contract fraud, and 2) unethical (especially for a so-called faith-based agency, and 3) just wrong to do to these refugee people who have suffered so much already and need a few basic items and services to try to start a new life in America. Secondly, the taxpayers should be getting what they’re paying for.
Posted in State Department, Operational Guidance, Burma/Myanmar, Somali, Burundian, faith-based, Catholic, beds, transportation, community/cultural orientation, housing, overcrowding, clothes, furnishings, lack of, children, Seattle, Catholic Community Services Seattle | Tagged: Burmese refugees, Burundian refugees, Catholic Community Services, refugee neglect, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, seattle, Somali refugees, State Department, us catholic conference of bishops, USCCB | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 3, 2011
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is celebrating its 130th anniversary, as outlined in a posting on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website. The article expounds on the agency’s virtues. But what do the State Department’s PRM monitoring reports from those once in 8-13 years pre-announced inspections show us about HIAS’ track record?
According to reports, government monitors found the HIAS affiliate Jewish Family Service of Seattle had not visited nearly half of their refugee clients at home, as is supposedly required. Government monitors found one refugee that had to sleep on the living-room floor, thus violating requirements that resettlement agencies give all refugees a bed to sleep on. The refugee also had a kidney stone and felt he was not receiving adequate medical care, as the agency had not always provided an interpreter and he was not able to understand whether he needed surgery.
At the HIAS affiliate in San Francisco government monitors found that management staff indicated in a questionnaire that each refugee received $275 from refugee funds upon arrival, when in fact each refugee had actually received only $250. In addition, the affiliate’s caseworkers were conducting home visits in only about 25% of cases. The monitors found a refugee family of five living in a cramped one-bedroom apartment.
The HIAS affiliate in Chicago only allowed Jewish refugees to enroll in a beneficial program that offeres early employment bonuses (Matching Grant). The affiliate’s resettlement coordinator was also unable to give early employment statistics for the non-Jewish refugee caseload, yet reported that Jewish refugee employment as 5% at 90 days, and 40% at 6 months — extremely poor rates. A refugee family’s aunt sponsored them and reported that she had to take a loan from the agency to pay for the services the family received, which was suddenly increased by $400 when the affiliate decided that costs were going to be higher than anticipated. Another refugee said his caseworker told him that the affiliate only assisted Jewish refugees with employment services.
The HIAS affiliate in New York City charged sponsoring refugee relatives $500 per refugee to aid with resettlement services. In addition, staff only conducted home visits to between 17-18% of refugees. One refugee couple said the affiliate had not offered them any furniture (basic items required by the contract), and another refugee family with 3 young children reported that their caseworker had never visited them at home. Although the family had arrived in the U.S. nearly eight months earlier the parents were still not working. A third refugee family reported that their caseworker had never visited them at home either, and that they had not received any furniture as well.
The HIAS affiliate in Rockville, Maryland has also charged sponsoring relatives inappropriately large charges for resettlement services provided to refugees — $2000 per “employable” refugee and $500 for each “unemployable” refugee.
Posted in beds, employment services, furnishings, lack of, HIAS, housing, overcrowding, Jewish, Jewish Family and Children's Services San Francisco, Jewish Family and Community Service Chicago, Jewish Family Service of Seattle, New York Association for New Americans (NYANA), over-charging refugee relative co-sponsors, UN (United Nations) | Tagged: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, UNHCR | 2 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 11, 2010
An article in the New York Times details the case of a Burmese refugee family resettled to the Bronx by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. Despite being sponsored by the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, Catholic Charities can’t see to find a few extra nickles to take the family to the Statue of Liberty, or even to Manhattan.
…Mr. Bae Reh and Ms. Moo Pro, both 27…are refugees from Myanmar whose parents fled to a camp in Thailand to escape a government that drafted citizens at random and forced them to commit atrocities against their own ethnic tribes…
In 2007, the American government began admitting some of the refugees. After a two-year investigation ensured that Mr. Bae Reh and Ms. Moo Pro had no health problems or messy political entanglements, they arrived in New York in March…
“They didn’t even know where to put stuff,” said Onita Misa , the family’s case manager at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, one of the seven beneficiaries of The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. “They put food in the cabinet with detergent,” she said. “I had to start with the A B C’s: ‘Here is the toothbrush, here is the toothpaste.’ ”
The organization was enlisted to help after being alerted to the family’s plight by the State Department’s Reception and Placement Program. Ms. Misa found an apartment for them in the West Farms section of the Bronx; it is below street level at the end of a dank outdoor hallway. The Neediest Cases Fund provided $900, which paid for their first month’s rent. Ms. Misa filled out the rental paperwork and bought the essentials.
“It was amazing for them, compared to the camps,” she said of the modest apartment, where the two children sleep in the only bedroom and their parents sleep on the couch. The couple’s wedding photo dominates a wall in the living room: In it, Mr. Bae Reh is wearing blue jeans and a sports jacket over an untucked shirt, and Ms. Moo Pro has a youthful smile.
The only clothes they wear now are donated or bought for them from thrift stores. They have never been to Manhattan.
Ms. Moo Pro said she wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. “But how can I go there?” she said through an interpreter. “I don’t even know how to get there.”
Until she learns English, she is essentially unemployable. Mr. Bae Reh travels only to his job in Brooklyn — he makes $7.25 an hour as a packer at the 4C Foods Corporation in East New York. Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, employment/jobs for refugees, faith-based, housing, housing, overcrowding, NYC | Tagged: bronx, Burmese refugees, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, Myanmar, New York City, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
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