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With schools overloaded Catholic Family Service in Amarillo to limit resettlement to “family reunification cases”

Posted by Christopher Coen on April 11, 2012

Catholic Family Service in Amarillo has decided to reduce new refugee resettlement numbers by half due to concerns of overload from the local school district, according to an article in the Amarillo Globe-News. Resettlement will now be limited to “family reunification cases” – refugees who are resettling to be reunified with local family members. (The article also gives various confusing numbers for the amount of money the State Department gives for initial resettlement needs (intended as seed money). As of last year the amount was $1800 per refugee, with $700 available for resettlement agency overhead, $900 minimum to each refugee, and $200 that resettlement agencies may redirect to the neediest refugees at the agency. The $1800 was supposedly increased this year, but no numbers yet available.)

Catholic Family Service has lowered the number of new refugees it helps settle in Amarillo to help school officials better handle unique needs posed by refugee children and help the organization meet budget cuts.

Roughly 800 to 900 of the 1,100 refugee students enrolled in Amarillo schools had little to no formal schooling when they arrived in the U.S., and that has created a major learning block, said Kevin Phillips, executive director of student performance for the Palo Duro High School cluster…

…Catholic Family Service, a nonprofit organization, is one of two groups that receives federal funds to help newly arrived refugees settle in Amarillo. Executive Director Nancy Koons said the organization has decided to take in no more than 200 arrivals per year, down from 400 in previous years. Koons said the arrivals will be limited to “family reunification cases.”…

…Koons said [Amarillo Independent School District] principals and school nurses have expressed concerns about the challenges posed by refugee children.

“It seems like we were creating needs by bringing in too many refugees,” she said… Read more here

Posted in Amarillo, Catholic, Catholic Family Service, Amarillo, children, funding, R&P, schools, Somali Bantu | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

NYPD Apparently Targeting Buffalo-Area Citizens and Refugee Population Based On Ethnicity and Religion, Not Criminal Activity

Posted by Christopher Coen on March 18, 2012

It seems that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has focused on Buffalo-area Muslims and Somalis (including people and citizens resettled as refugees), not based upon on known criminal activity, but instead based upon these people’s ethnicity and religion. Although the NYPD, unlike the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department need not predicate domestic surveillance on information that their target is engaged or about to engage in criminal activity, the NYPD did not fully consult with local police and other federal security agencies about its activities in Buffalo. There is no sign that the Strategic Intelligence Unit announced its activities to the Buffalo area’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a cooperative effort that includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. There is also the concern that actions by the NYPD could be jeopardizing the good relationship that local law enforcement authorities have with the local Somali and Muslim populations, including US citizens. An article at the Buffalo News explains:

The New York City Police Department’s focus on Buffalo-area Muslims continues to this day. Further, an internal document indicates the surveillance began even before NYPD detectives met with the Erie County undersheriff in December 2008 to describe their “Somalia Project.”…

…At the same time, there is no sign that the Strategic Intelligence Unit announced its activities to the Buffalo area’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a cooperative effort that includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The Associated Press in recent months revealed the NYPD’s covert efforts to examine Muslim businesses, infiltrate mosques and keep an eye on Muslim students on college campuses, not just in New York City but in locations around the Northeast. The Muslim Student Association website at the University of Buffalo was among those monitored, a separate NYPD document shows.

The NYPD calls its surveillance and intelligence-gathering legal and necessary and does not apologize for the program. The department after 9/11 determined it “could not rely solely on the federal government” for its defense. Says Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly: “Our primary mission, our primary goal, is to keep this city safe.”

Yet ethnicity and religion, not criminal activity, seem to have sparked the NYPD’s interest around the Northeast, including Buffalo…

…Unlike the NYPD, the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department must predicate domestic surveillance on information that their target is engaged or about to engage in criminal activity.

“I can tell you that we don’t predicate any investigation based on somebody’s race, or color, or national origin, or on the exercise of their First Amendment rights,” said William J. Hochul, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York. “In terms of the bigger picture, why was the NYPD doing what it was? I don’t have all the details.”…

…If the NYPD did not provide a heads-up on its activities to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, it should have, said a former agent-in-charge here for the FBI.

“If I had still been up there that would have bothered me a lot,” said Peter J. Ahearn, who headed the FBI office in Buffalo from 2001 to 2006 and now works as a consultant helping businesses deal with government. “With the reputation the NYPD does have, and I know this factually, they will do different things in cities around the country and not even let law enforcement know they are there.

“There are reasons to be concerned,” he said. “If you are not talking to law enforcement, and the local police department rolls up on you, it creates an officer-safety issue. Also it can prove detrimental to the efforts that the local law enforcement community is making in the Muslim community. We had some very good community outreach up there.”

Dr. Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, agrees.

“This is all related to the security of the homeland, I don’t have any doubt about that,” he said of the NYPD’s foray into Buffalo. “The only question in my mind is, when we are working very cooperatively, and in a very proactive fashion for the security of the homeland, whether these types of actions are counterproductive.

“And I guess the issue always will be, where do we stop so we don’t compromise the civil rights and civil liberties of innocent Americans?”…

…Yahye Y. Omar, chairman of the Imams Council of Western New York, also is active on the West Side, especially as executive director of HEAL — Help Everyone Achieve Livelihood — a nonprofit that helps immigrants and refugees.

He is engaged in a long-standing effort to make the Islamic way of life less mysterious to outsiders, and to encourage Somali youth to consider how they can enrich their community.

In 2010, he helped establish a law enforcement education program for Somali high school and college students. It brought in representatives from the FBI, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and the State Police to speak about the role of law enforcement, and careers. On a wall of his office, Omar has proudly placed a photo of a local Somali now with the Baltimore Police Department…

…Omar expressed [his] sentiments about the NYPD surveillance…why does the New York police force need contacts in the Somali and Muslim community here after its members have cooperated so much with local authorities?… Read more here

Posted in Buffalo, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept. of Justice, FBI, Islamic, NYC, security/terrorism, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Parts Of Tennessee’s Refugee Act and State Dept’s Visit To State Stop Making Sense

Posted by Christopher Coen on February 12, 2012

David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration apparently spent some time discussing the new refugee law implemented in Tennessee last year – the Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act. State Sen. Jim Tracy, who sponsored the Act, alleges that the State Department thinks the new bill [actually a law now], which allows for local refugee moratoriums and codifies the federal regulation requiring quarterly meetings between resettlement agencies and local officials, is “just fine”. (???) An article in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette gives a view of the meeting from Tracy’s perspective:

A top representative of the U.S. State Department was in Tennessee this week to discuss a law dealing with the state’s refugee resettlement program.

The Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, which originated from the desk of State Sen. Jim Tracy, became law last July. It’s the first bill of its kind.

It requires the state’s refugee program agency, Catholic Charities, to meet four times a year with local governments to plan and coordinate “the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival …”

The law also allows local communities to apply for a “moratorium” on refugee resettlement if those agencies overload local resources, and so far, Tennessee is the only state that has passed this type of legislation…

A number of refugees from a variety of countries, such as Somalia, Burma and Egypt, have moved to Shelbyville in recent years to be closer to jobs at the Tyson Foods facility.

Tyson Foods needs workers who will willingly accept relatively low pay for the repetitive motion, cold environment jobs, and new refugee immigrants need jobs to support their families. (Alternatively, Americans could pay higher meat prices and the government could require companies like Tyson Foods to pay a more livable wage.)

…On Wednesday, David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, met with Tracy and other parties to discuss the law passed last year, the state senator told the T-G.

“That was the whole purpose of the visit, and they thought the bill was fine,” Tracy said, but he added that even though provisions in the new state refugee law passed last year was already codified in federal law, it had not been enforced…

Perhaps the State Department refugee office isn’t bothered by the new law’s quarterly meetings requirement, since it’s already an ORR regulation, but why would they think that the new law is just fine? Are moratoriums compatible with the constitutional provision that allows people freedom of movement? The government may not single out specific groups of people to restrict their freedom of movement (individuals get to decide for themselves where they want to live in this country).

…”If you are going to bring refugees into a community, you need to meet with community leaders, mayor, councilmen, commissioners, school superintendents, hospitals, anyone that an influx of a refugee group would affect,” Tracy said, explaining the reasons for the law being passed last year.

…Tracy said he “thought it was interesting that we had to codify something in state law to get [the State Department's] attention.”…

Yes that is interesting. Also interesting is why other government refugee program-related regulations and contract requirements are also regularly ignored. World Relief feels free to worship on the public’s nickel, even though its prohibited by a federal regulation, and their ORR partner has ignored our complaint about that practice. Also, the quite minimal “minimum requirements” that the resettlement agencies agree to meet in the refugee program are regularly flouted, and the State Department refugee office does not enforce those requirements or penalize the resettlement contractors. In practice this does not seem to have been working well for decades — the resettlement contractors just continue to violate regulations and contract requirements year after year. (What does that say about the public/private partnership philosophy in which contractors are put on pedestals and government oversight agencies don’t exercise much authority?)

…Tracy explained he also had questions for Robinson, talking about the local unemployment rate and about refugees getting on state assisted benefits, while the State Department discussed “sustainability” of the refugees. Supposedly, the refugees have 90 days to become sustainable in this country, Tracy said.

“The question we had for them was ‘what’s the definition of sustainability,’” Tracy said. “We had a good discussion about it.”…

Gee, wouldn’t it be nice if they shared that discussion with the public? After all, this is a publicly run and funded humanitarian program. The State Department refugee office apparently gave advance notice to all so-called “stakeholders”, except for the last minute notice to the public and press.

…”It was a pretty high level meeting,” Tracy said. “They were very concerned who was going to be in the meeting, it was very interesting.”

Tracy said that the State Department wanted to clarify that they had no control over secondary migration, when refugees leave the city they were initially settled in and go elsewhere.

The senator said that’s why the law is “so important, because we’re bringing refugees into Tennessee, the majority of them settle in Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga,” but they eventually migrate to smaller towns…

So, what the state senator doesn’t seem to understand is that, under the Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, Shelbyville and other localities will not be able to request any local moratoriums on refugee resettlement since no one is resettling refugees to those places. Refugees are moving to Shelbyville on their own for meatpacking industry jobs, in what is known as “secondary migration”.

…”It was interesting that they (the State Department) would travel to Tennessee to talk about the legislation that we passed last year and I really take it as a compliment,” Tracy said Friday. “I think they were already supposed to be doing that, and in Tennessee, they have to be doing that now.” Read more here

I guess I’d like to hear the State Department’s version of what was said at this “pretty high level meeting”, but since they treat refugee resettlement as a secret program, which seems only to guard against accountability, I won’t hold my breath.

***UPDATE*** — While the public had to sit outside the meeting one of the so-called “stakeholders” invited to the meeting was the lobbyist Jennifer Murphy of the Catholic Public Policy Commission of Tennessee.

Posted in Assistant Secretary of the PRM, capacity, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Cooperative Agreement, Joint Quarterly Placement Planning Meeting, Joint Quarterly Placement Planning Meeting, legislation, local officials, failure to notify, meatpacking industry, Murfreesboro/Shelbyville, openess and transparency in government, ORR, public/private partnership, secondary migration, refugee, Somali, State Department, Tennessee, World Relief | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Post Resettlement Years For Refugees in the Twin Cities

Posted by Christopher Coen on January 22, 2012

Slumlords in the Twin Cities continue their wicked ways, with refugees and other immigrants making an easy target. A landlord in St. Paul allegedly used threats in an attempt to silence tenants — who now fear imminent eviction. An article in the Pioneer Press explains what’s happening:

For years, residents of Westminster Court in St. Paul have complained about rodents, bugs and dilapidated conditions at their apartment complex.

During a recent inspection, city officials recorded some 600 code violations at the 1205 and 1225 Westminster St., near Maryland Avenue and Interstate 35E.

Now, residents are walking a tightrope as they beg city officials for help. They just want their homes fixed, tenants say. But if problems persist, they fear the [apartments] could be ordered vacated.

“If they closed [them] down, that would make us homeless,” said tenant Joe Parker.

[It has] become something of a Catch-22 for the St. Paul City Council and other city officials, who are eager to clamp down on the problem properties without unduly punishing the tenants, most of whom are low-income immigrants or ethnic minorities with children.

Tenants say they’ve been paying market rent to put up with failing heating systems, bedbugs, rodents, damaged walls, doors with no locks, piling garbage, mold, poor sanitation and illegally overcrowded apartments.

A Nov. 21 city fire inspection on a handful of units found 48 code violations, ranging from missing floor tiles to extension cords used in lieu of permanent electrical wiring. Those items later were found to be the tip of the iceberg…

…Several apartments were “condemned as unfit for human habitation,” mostly as a result of bedbug infestations

Both are in foreclosure, and city officials say the listed owners – Randall T. Chun and Peggy J. Chun of St. Paul, Mark and Lisa Marie Thomas of Woodbury, and Pelimar Properties of Grand Avenue in St. Paul – have been uncooperative and unresponsive…

…Several tenants said they were notified through an intermediary, a handyman they know only as Roberto, that if they spoke to the city, they would be removed from the [apartments] or referred to immigration authorities.

Resident Halima Eidl, who recalled such threats, said she and other tenants also received a letter from Peggy Chun telling them they would be fined $50 late fees if they stopped paying rent, as several have in reaction to the conditions.

“This money, I don’t want to give it to her. These are human beings,” said Eidl, who said most of her neighbors are Mexican or Somali immigrants. “She’s taking advantage of the people….Last weekend, when I was cooking with my kids, my oven blew up.”… Read more here

Posted in bed bugs, housing, Somali, Twin Cities | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Refugee Medical Professionals Need Not Work Forever As Taxi Drivers and Parking-Lot Attendants

Posted by Christopher Coen on January 19, 2012

A pair of enterprising immigrant medical professionals in Minnesota are showing that with a bit of help refugee medical professionals can get back into their professions. An article in the Minnesota Post details the story:

…They have treated patients in some of the world’s toughest places: Pakistan’s earthquake-stricken mountains, Burma’s embattled neighborhoods and crowded camps where Bhutanese families sought refuge.

What hundreds of these doctors and nurses haven’t been able to do is treat anyone in Minnesota where barriers to foreign-trained medical workers are formidable.

Now, they are surmounting those barriers — and, in the process, filling serious gaps in Minnesota’s health care delivery — thanks to Dr. Wilhelmina Holder and Stephen Nguyagwa.

From scratch, Holder and Nguyagwa built a ground-breaking system for supporting foreign-trained doctors and nurses in their struggle to win the credentials they need to practice in Minnesota…

Their leadership rose from deeply disappointing personal experience…

…Holder, 64, was a medical doctor whose career was shattered by civil war in her homeland, Liberia, where her father had been the president. Like millions of other refugees, she found herself absorbed for years in the distractions of settling in a new land and caring for the needs of a displaced family. By the time she was free to resume her practice, doors had closed to her in Minnesota, even though she had updated her skills.

“To my amazement, I realized I never would get into residency,” Holder said.

Instead, she channeled her energy into helping others overcome the same obstacles. She knew doctors who were working as taxi drivers and parking-lot attendants even while their communities cried for their professional services…

…Of some 250 medical professionals who have participated in the association’s program, only about 20 doctors have stepped up to residency programs so far, Nguyagwa said. About 20 nurses have gone all of the way to nursing jobs, he said. A few dentists, pharmacists and professionals in other medical specialties also have gone through the program and landed jobs…

…All three Somali doctors who went through the program last year won residency slots. So prospects are bright for this year’s class… Read more here

Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Cuban, economic self-sufficiency, health, Minnesota, Nepali Bhutanese, professionals, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Sub-Saharan African Refugees Must be Screened for Hepatitis C

Posted by Christopher Coen on January 3, 2012

New studies released by the Mayo Clinic identify hepatitis C as a cause of liver cancer. One study found that, among Somali refugees in Olmsted County in Minnesota, 80 percent of liver cancer was due to hepatitis C. Currently, refugees coming to the US aren’t even regularly screened for hepatitis C. Yet, people who have hepatitis should get blood drawn every year, as well as get ultrasound of the liver every six months. An article at MPRnews addresses the issue:

St. Paul, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic released a study today that identifies hepatitis C as a cause of rising liver cancer rates. Researchers say with that information, more people can be screened for hepatitis C and prevent cancer.

The finding may have a particular impact on the Somali community. That’s because a second study published by Mayo today says hepatitis C rates among Somalis are much higher than previously suspected.

The first study from the Mayo Clinic confirms that scarring from hepatitis C can develop over decades into liver cancer…

The study, while in progress, caught the attention of Mayo researcher Abdirashid Shire, who visits most of the Somali patients at Mayo and is Somali himself. He’s seen many friends die of advanced liver cancer. So Shire led a second study by digging into the Mayo database, picking out the Somali names, and looking for patterns.

“When we looked at those who develop liver cancer, during the timeframe we looked at between 1996 and 2001, we found 30 people who developed liver cancer,” said Shire. “And can you imagine — almost 80 percent, the liver cancer was due to hepatitis C.”

Until now, Shire says the medical community only knew of one strain of the hepatitis virus prevalent among sub-Saharan Africans — hepatitis B. Currently, Somali refugees coming to the US aren’t even regularly screened for hepatitis C. Shire says if they were, doctors could catch liver problems before they progress past the point of treatment.

There are few early signs of hepatitis C. The virus is transferred through sex or blood transfusions — and it can run rampant in places like Somalia or African refugee camps, where physicians may not always sterilize needles thoroughly between patients.

Shire says people often don’t know they have hepatitis C until decades after the initial infection. By that time, it can be too late…

…Ayan Hassan, who’s a nurse, says her brother got hepatitis C through a blood transfusion in Somalia.

“It really upset me when I find out his doctor was not doing ultrasound, because people who have hepatitis should get blood drawn every year and they should be getting ultrasound every six months,” she said… Read more here

Posted in health, medical care, Minnesota, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Van Rollover Kills Three Refugees From Amarillo On Way to Cargill Jobs

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 31, 2011

A Chevrolet passenger van carrying 15 Somali refugees from Amarillo in the Texas panhandle to their jobs at Cargill in Plainview rolled over today, killing three people. There are seven others in critical condition. The van, supposedly owned by one of the workers, struck debris on the road, swerved, overcorrected and rolled as many as five times. According to authorities neither those killed nor those critically hurt were wearing seat belts. An article in the Plainview Daily Herald reports on this tragic incident, the fourth van rollover this year in which refugees died or endured serious injuries:

Twelve of the 15 people in a van headed from Amarillo to Plainview to work at Cargill on Friday afternoon were ejected in a one-vehicle rollover two miles south of Canyon on Interstate 27.

Three of them died.

Department of Public Safety officials said Amar Ashur, Omar Abdi Qadir and Abdirizak Addulle Mohamed, 24, all of Amarillo, were killed in the accident that occurred when the Chevrolet van in which they were riding hit debris on the road, swerved, overcorrected and rolled as many as five times. The van, driven by 28-year-old Ibrahim M. Iden of Amarillo, came to rest on its roof…

…Neither those killed nor those critically hurt were wearing seat belts, authorities said…

…The van was carrying 15 Somali workers from their homes in and around Amarillo to work the second shift at Cargill…

…Catholic Family Service estimated about 1,000 Somalis lived in Amarillo in 2008 and expected about 400 refugees to come to the city this year, many of them fleeing military conflict.

The van apparently belonged to one of the occupants… Read more here

There was another van rollover on November 19 near Rushmore, Minnesota. Earlier this year there were van rollover accidents involving refugees in central Georgia (and here) and northern Georgia. A passenger van rollover in 2009 in Arizona killed six.

These vans are not safe when used for the intended purpose of carrying 15 passengers, due to instability caused by the raised center of gravity. Even 12-passenger vans are suspect.

***UPDATE*** January 3, 2012 — 3 still in critical condition, passanger van was a 2003 Chevrolet Express.

Posted in Amarillo, Catholic Family Service, Amarillo, meatpacking industry, passenger van roll-over, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Possible hate crime being investigated in Fort Morgan

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 19, 2011

Vandals did damage to a row of cars and to several of the windows of an apartment building in Fort Morgan, Colo. where Somali immigrants reside. Fort Morgan is a site of secondary migration with refugees arriving in search of meatpacking jobs. A blurb at KUSA-TV 9News explains the story:

FORT MORGAN – Leaders in a local Somali immigrant community say they’re fearing for their safety after the windows of about eight of their cars were shot out Saturday night.

Police in Fort Morgan say vandals used a BB gun to attack the cars at an apartment complex which is primarily home to Somali refugees…

…The vandals caused about $3,000 in damage to an entire row of cars and to several of the windows of the apartment building where most of the immigrants live…

…Police are still trying to identify any suspects. At this point, they say they need to gather more information about the incident before they can call it a hate crime…

…Fort Morgan police say another car was vandalized in a similar manner Saturday night in a different part of town. They are trying to determine if the two incidents are related… Read more here

Posted in Fort Morgan, meatpacking industry, safety, secondary migration, refugee, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Lewiston Mayor-elect Demagogued Somali Refugees, Claims He Was “Tired and Overly Emotional”

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 16, 2011

Lewiston, Maine Mayor-elect Bob Macdonald ended the election campaign with comments on election night that included a claim that he wanted to make changes so that the city is less attractive to layabouts and deadbeats, many of whom didn’t speak English. Lewiston has been a secondary migration site for Somali refugees for ten years. After demagoguing the immigrants MacDonald said that people need to “work together, instead of sniping”. He said that he had been “tired and overly emotional”, but not to worry because now, “This is Bob Macdonald, happy face.” An article in the Bangor Daily News has the story:

LEWISTON, Maine — Mayor-elect Bob Macdonald apologized to the city Thursday for his election-night comments — but his apology wasn’t enough for some members of the city’s immigrant community.

Abdifatah Ahmed, a local landlord and pharmacist, said Macdonald ought to apologize for his tone throughout the mayoral campaign, not just his election-night comments.

During his campaign, Macdonald said he wanted to make the city less attractive to layabouts and deadbeats, many of whom didn’t speak English…

…Somali immigrants, refugees from the civil war in Somalia, began arriving in Lewiston 10 years ago.

Macdonald called Thursday’s news conference to announce a surprise for his opponents after he was elected mayor on Tuesday…

…[He made] a full apology for his election-night comments. Macdonald said he had spent the entire day Tuesday at the polls and was tired and overly emotional.

“This is Bob Macdonald, happy face,” he said Thursday. “And from now on, until I end my time in office, it will be Bob Macdonald, happy face, the face of Lewiston.”…

…“Let’s work together, instead of sniping,” he said. “That doesn’t do any good. We can go back and forth, but that doesn’t help the people of Lewiston.”… Read more here

Posted in Lewiston, secondary migration, refugee, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Mechanicsburg in Central Pennsylvania site of Secondary Migration

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 15, 2011

Mechanicsburg in Central Pennsylvania is another site of “secondary migration” – refugees moving away from their primary resettlement area, looking for better opportunities or wanting to join family or friends. Catholic Charities Immigration and Refugee Services in nearby Harrisburg also resettles refugees directly to the area. The area’s factory jobs are a good fit for those with limited English. The Somali Association of Central Pennsylvania works to help refugees become independent. An article in The Patriot-News explains:

To most, learning to write down a telephone or Social Security number wasn’t a big deal.

But to 67-year-old Abdiyo Osman, who doesn’t know English, the task is a milestone.

Displaced from Somalia three years ago because of a tribal war that’s been brewing there for 20 years, Osman has been in Mechanicsburg ever since.

Some might wonder why the refugee came to the midstate, a place the polar opposite of her native land. She came here for the Somali Association of Central Pennsylvania.

Established in 2008 in Hampden Twp., word of mouth spread spread quickly that Somalis had gathered there to start new lives in the United States. Once they arrive, the association helps them adjust to life much different than back home…

…Osman spent a short time in Kenya before coming to the states, but she never got an education — until she came here.

Three times a week, Osman meets with several other refugees and takes classes in a tiny room in a small building in the West Shore office park off the Carlisle Pike. It is there Osman has learns how to write and adapt to American Culture.

One week it’s a lesson about the U.S. medical system and health care. The next week it’s budgeting money and opening a bank account. “It’s important to be able to do those basic things,” Osman said.

The Somali Association of Central Pennsylvania also works with various hiring agencies to help find refugees work in factories. Since most can’t speak English yet, it’s work that’s easiest to find.

With a job and basic life skills, refugees take steps toward the association’s idea of success — independent living.

It’s a life defined by opportunity as much as challenge… Read more here

Posted in cultural adjustment, economic self-sufficiency, employment/jobs for refugees, ESL & ELL, Harrisburg-Mechanicsburg, language, secondary migration, refugee, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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