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Helen\ndescribed the process by which one becomes a refugee, starting in the person\u2019s\nhome country. She noted that in the\nSyracuse area, we have different groups of immigrants from different nations, but\nnot all of them are refugees. Many Cubans, for example, have come to the\nSyracuse area but not often through the United Nations refugee program; rather,\nthey immigrate after being granted a Cuban\/Haitian resettlement designation by the\nDepartment of Homeland Security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations High\nCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has established several different classifications\nby which a person can earn a refugee designation: A person can be stateless, or\na victim of war, or a victim of persecution because of his or her religion or\nethnic group. For example, many of the Bhutanese people in Syracuse were victims\nof genocide and lived in refugee camps for up to 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another type of designation is growing\u2014and growing rapidly: ARW, or At Risk Women. In the Bosnian War, for example, military organizations use the rape of women as a tool of war to suppress another population. In the world in general, violence against women (not limited to domestic violence) has increased. As war has \u201cmatured,\u201d it has become more juvenile, ugly, and cruel. One of the most-tortured groups is the Iraqis, which may be surprising in that these women are relatively more westernized and educated; yet many arrive here with symptoms of irritability, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Syracuse is ranked among the 10 cities in the US that have received the most ARWs; indeed, our rank may be as high as #3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Africans leave their\nhome country and are on the run for many years before they even get to a place\nwhere they can apply for and be granted a UNHCR refugee designation. Last year,\nSyracuse was supposed to get a lot of refugees from Darfur in the Sudan, but in\nactuality we received only a few. (Interesting note: Fur <\/em>is the name of the place, and dar <\/em>means \u201cfrom,\u201d so the word Darfur\n<\/em>means \u201cfrom Fur.\u201d) The refugees were supposed to come through Chad, but Chad\nbecame so unsafe that before they could be given refugee designations, the refugee-processing\noperations had to be shut down and moved elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Syria used to process\nrefugees. But now, with the fighting going on there, many people from Syria are\nthemselves becoming refugees and escaping to Turkey and Jordan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many millions of\nrefugees in the world, and only a very small portion of them\u2014about 100,000\u2014are resettled\neach year. The US receives about 70,000, making us the largest resettlement\ncountry by far. Ranked next after the US are Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and\nGermany, all of which are westernized countries that have a humanitarian\ncommitment. The US has been committed to helping refugees since the Second\nWorld War\u2014and this commitment has been a bipartisan one. Voluntary\norganizations, both faith based and others, also play a very big part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When people receive a\nrefugee designation, they are given a code that reflects the country they are\nin at the time, not the country from which they fled. So identifying the actual\norigin of refugees can be very confusing. Syracuse has gotten many refugees\nwith the designation SY, which stands for Syria<\/em>,\nbut these people may have been originally from Iraq or Afghanistan and fled to\nSyria where they applied for refugee status. It may be 10 years or so before we\nsee Syrian refugees coming to this country, if at all. They may eventually be\nable to return home, which is what most refugees would hope for. Some refugees\nwho fled to Syria years ago from Iraq, and who now find themselves amidst the fighting\nin Syria, are crossing back into Iraq, a safer (though not safe) place by comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This brings up yet another\ndesignation: SIV, or Special Immigrant Visa. This refers to Iraqis or Afghanis\nwho worked very closely with the US government in their home countries and who now\nfind that their lives are in danger. The US works to expedite their visas;\nthere is very little delay because these people are so vulnerable\u2014and have\nbecome vulnerable precisely because they helped our government in the course of\nthe war. Sometimes people with SIVs buy their own tickets and travel here on\ntheir own; with their SIV classification, Helen is able to get them into her\nprogram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Middle East is a frightening\nplace right now, with a great amount of upheaval going on. Iraqis in Damascus,\nSyria, for example, are being told to get to a safe place and are being assured\nthat they will not lose their refugee status as long as they can get to an\nAmerican embassy as soon as they arrive in the new country. If they go to\nJordan, where there is no refugee camp, they face great expense just for\nday-to-day living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About 90% of refugees coming\ninto New York State are resettled along the east-west Thruway corridor,\nprimarily in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. Relatively few are resettled in\nNew York City because of the expense of living there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A question was asked about ARWs\nand the extent of collaboration among local service groups so that service\nproviders are aware of these women\u2019s refugee designation and can provide\nappropriate help. Helen responded that although there is a way to find out a\nwoman\u2019s designation, doing so requires some research. She mentioned that women\nrefugees who are deaf present a special dilemma: Depending on their culture,\nmany were kept at home, hidden away and ignored; have no sign-language\ncapabilities or other way of communicating; and are completely at the mercy of their\nhusband or children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Theresa Pagano explained\nthat the Westside Learning Center serves 250 adults a day, teaching them English-language\nskills in small-group settings; day-to-day language skills; and vocational skills,\nsuch as office technology, day care, dietary services, housekeeping, and\nmedical. Each adult is interviewed to assess his or her language skills and is\nthen placed in an appropriate class ranging from pre-literacy to low-advanced\nliteracy. Sharing goes on all the time: while the teachers teach, they also\nlearn about the home cultures of the refugee adults. Teaching is as\nindividualized as possible, despite the classes being large and a waiting list of\npeople seeking placement. English-language learning is incorporated into\neverything, making it as meaningful as possible to the students. The center becomes\na support network for the adults as well as their children. The learners\nthemselves connect with and help each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The center has a\ndual-language, early childhood education program called Manos. Course content\nis in Spanish in the morning and English in the afternoon. The Manos staff is\nrepresentative of the children in the class, which at the present time comprises\nchildren from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba as well as two children\nfrom Somalia who are learning both Spanish and English. Parents are required to\nbe at the school at least two hours a week<\/p>\n\n\n\n One Manos project that is\ngoing on right now is \u201cGlobal Parent Stories \u2013 Creating a Story Book.\u201d The parent\ntells a story, which is translated to English, and the children illustrate the\nstory. This combines early-childhood learning and adult learning. The parents\ncan express the strength of their culture, and they are share themselves with\ntheir children at the same time as they learn English. Thus, the Manos program is\nalso a tool for adult education, with adults learning as they play and sing\nwith the children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A question was asked about\nwhat exactly a refugee family receives upon arrival here. Helen answered that Department\nof State refugees receive an apartment, with a bed, chair, set of sheets, and set\nof towels for each person, and a table, lamp, mop or broom, and waste basket. Also\nawaiting them are one hot (ethnic) meal, food in the refrigerator, and warm\nclothes if it is winter. During the first week, they receive food stamps,\nMedicaid, and public assistance. For the first 90 days, each person in the\nhousehold receives a monetary grant, and the family is given orientation and is\nseen by case workers. The US government supports the refugees for the first 8\nmonths, by providing basics but not trying to push American culture on them.\nAfter six months, the refugees are expected to begin paying back the cost of any\nairline tickets that were bought for them by the International Office of Migration;\nin this way, the office can continue buying airline tickets for future refugees.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the discussion\nfollowing the presentations, we learned: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Immigrants who come here on\ntheir own are not eligible for the grant program that provides cash assistance\nand support. However, people who arrive in the US and then apply for asylum are\neligible to enter the grant program on the date asylum is granted. Examples of people\nwho have been granted asylum are Cuban or Haitian immigrants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Office of Refugee\nResettlement (ORR) budget is currently in jeopardy of being put on the chopping\nblock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Humanitarian partnership was\nthe original American model. Faith-based\norganizations would sponsor, and now these types of sponsorships are very low.<\/strong> In many instances, when a church does\nsponsor a refugee, it ends up being a sponsor for life, because the\nparishioners and the refugee develop a personal connection. Any nonprofit\norganization can be a sponsor. Sponsors need not be faith-based; for example, a\nclass at Syracuse University\u2019s Maxwell School sponsored a refugee. Individuals\nmay not be sponsors but can serve as volunteers. Money is not necessary for\nsponsorship; the relationship is what is important. A wonderful example of\nindividuals volunteering through a nonprofit organization is the women who\nteach in WTB\u2019s Sew What program at the Center for New Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Case managers are cultural\nnavigators. They are representatives from the same culture as a refugee, and they\nhave been through the same types of experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nancy Shepard explained about the Onondaga Citizens League, which, for its topic this year, is studying refugee issues in Syracuse. The OCL will create a report at the end of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeds of Peace International\nCamp, in Maine, is attended by selected youngsters from areas of conflict. This\npast summer, two sessions were held. Young people from different cultures, and from\ndifferent groups within a culture, are brought together to learn ways to interact,\ndialogue, problem solve, and work together toward common goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A documentary film is being made\nthat highlights five of our local refugees telling their stories. Lisa Warnecke\nnominated WTB\u2019s Dil Dahal to be one of them. Dil spoke about how glad she is to\nlive in Syracuse; to be taking part in Sew What, first as a student in the class,\nand now as a teacher; and to be teaching yoga at the White Branch Library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer also mentioned\nanother member of the Sew What class, Goma, who now gives back by making\ncurtains for incoming refugees\u2019 apartments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer introduced everyone who has been helping with Sew What (WTB’s ongoing series of sewing classes for new Americans) and the associated cottage-industry project helping them develop products they can sell. Helen also mentioned Eve Tamela, a WTB member who not only helps Thursdays with Sew What, but also coordinates (with two additional helpers, one of whom plays guitar and sings) a Monday Early Childhood Literacy program via Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library Grant at the Center for New Americans. This program helps parents read to young children using \u201cJump-up Story Circles.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n [At this meeting we unanimously approved a motion to add the word cultures <\/em>to the description of WTB in our Constitution and Bylaws: \u201cWomen Transcending Boundaries, Inc. (WTB) is an egalitarian community of women coming together to respect and learn more about each others’ various beliefs, cultures,<\/em> and common concerns. It is our intent to share our experiences with the wider community, to educate, and to serve.\u201d]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Staff of two agencies described the routes through which refugees arrive in Syracuse and the ways that agencies help them. WTB’s programs helping new Americans were showcased.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23,46],"class_list":["post-7201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-advocacy","tag-new-americans-2",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7201"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10134,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7201\/revisions\/10134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wtb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_4971-1024x768.jpg\")
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