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Refugees – How Many Have You Met? We all have an opinion about accepting refugees but I wonder how many of us have ever met or gotten to know refugees? Here are a couple of quick profiles of 3 I was involved with during my career as a social worker. The names I use are ones we came up for them as none of us could pronounce their real names. All were from Iraq. Before the US involvement, before 9/11, and before the first gulf war there had been a Russian invasion and many people became refugees. Some came to the US and were granted refugee status that made them eligible for certain benefits. Some made their way into the employment and education program I was working with. “Meri” was a woman in her 50’s with no education, no English skills and no social skills outside of her home. She and her husband operated a small store of some sort. In a bombing the store was destroyed. Her husband died and she was left with permanent loss of use in her right arm. At the time I saw her she had about 5 still at home and a couple of adult ones. She was cooperative and even enthusiastic about taking part in activities offered. ESL enabled her to communicate verbally in rudimentary English but due to age, lack of literacy in any language, physical disability and cultural background there was little that could be done to make her employable. She would come to the office on a regular basis to “hang out” with us. We were a small outstation staffed by 4 women so she felt comfortable and safe. She would practice her English and socialize with us. Sadly this was all we could do for her. On the positive side her were all doing well in school and 2 were in college. Contrast her to “Bagi”. He was a 40 something man with a wife and 3 – 4 . He was hostile, rude and refused to take part in any of our activities. He refused to accept the fact that we women had any authority. He eventually lost his benefits for lack of cooperation. I have always wondered what became of the but that was beyond the scope of the program. “Ali” was a highly educated man, an engineer and college professor. He and been an officer in the Iraqi army and was taken prisoner of war. He spent 5 years suffering unimaginable hardships that left him with physical disabilities. He was enthusiastic about his new opportunities and learned English well enough to function on an appropriate level. While he was learning English he did a work experience placement in one of our offices. He was kind and gracious but more than once people refused to do business with him because of his ethnic background. He enthusiastically accepted the first job he was offered, a parking lot attendant and signed up as a volunteer and lectured at local colleges about his experiences. He was so grateful for the assistance he received. I enjoyed my time spent with him and learned so much about the positive side of his culture and religion. He granted me and another worker the status of family friend, meaning that anytime we were welcome in his home and if we needed assistance he and his family would provide any help they could. His ’s progress was mixed. The became involved in local gang activity and ended up with a life sentence in prison. One was in medical school and one in law school with family approval, support and encouragement to become educated professionals. Sadly his wife, who suffered from chronic leukemia, passed away but prior to her passing was able to receive medical treatment. Different people, different paths and different outcomes. It’s hard to look at a perceived enemy this way but eventually it will become a necessity as the world deals with the multitude of displaced persons. They are just people, including the good, the bad and everything in between. Unfortunately I do not see how they can be sorted our given the sheer numbers. A different situation calls for a different solution. None of us has the knowledge or skills to solve the problem but we can speculate on solutions. Al lof our opinions are shaped by our personal experiences. I agree with a blog that Fossil wrote a few days ago – that we need to make a safe place for them in their own countries or one nearby with similar social norms. Spiritwoman ^i^ |
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11/19/2015 9:15 am |
Hi Spirit: I believe every country should take in as many Syrian refugees as humanly possible, but that's just how I feel. That country will never recover, so 'temporary' assistance or donating money is not the kind of help they need. They need a home, but not a home where their neighbours hate them because of their dress or religion. Your blog made me realize why it is I feel so strongly about helping the Syrian refugees and why I'm shocked that so many don't seem to care what happens to them. I worked in Immigration Law for three years, but had to move to another area of Law as I was becoming very depressed. I was preparing the refugee claims of people who had escaped from Somalia, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Bosnia, etc. I would be crying almost every day at the fear and brutality these people had endured and how lucky they were to have the money to escape to Canada.
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11/20/2015 2:55 am |
Spirit, something scary happened to me yesterday. I was sitting in my car waiting for a store to open and parked next door to an elementary school. The mothers were walking their small children to school, and many of the mothers were wearing that Muslim black robe thingee with a black veil on their hair and and some had their faces covered too. This is a very common sight in Canada, but yesterday for the first time I started thinking that maybe one of the mothers could have a suicide device strapped on them.
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11/20/2015 10:58 am |
Spirit, something scary happened to me yesterday. I was sitting in my car waiting for a store to open and parked next door to an elementary school. The mothers were walking their small children to school, and many of the mothers were wearing that Muslim black robe thingee with a black veil on their hair and and some had their faces covered too. This is a very common sight in Canada, but yesterday for the first time I started thinking that maybe one of the mothers could have a suicide device strapped on them. The bottom line is that we never know about any person who crosses our path. We just become more comfortable with the "norm". Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 11:00 am |
Hi Spirit: I believe every country should take in as many Syrian refugees as humanly possible, but that's just how I feel. That country will never recover, so 'temporary' assistance or donating money is not the kind of help they need. They need a home, but not a home where their neighbours hate them because of their dress or religion. Your blog made me realize why it is I feel so strongly about helping the Syrian refugees and why I'm shocked that so many don't seem to care what happens to them. I worked in Immigration Law for three years, but had to move to another area of Law as I was becoming very depressed. I was preparing the refugee claims of people who had escaped from Somalia, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Bosnia, etc. I would be crying almost every day at the fear and brutality these people had endured and how lucky they were to have the money to escape to Canada. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 11:09 am |
I may be mistaken but I thought Germany was taking in a large number of refugees. If I were inclined to consider another countries position on the matter I would probably put German at the top of the list, largely becasue of their technological expertise, although I may be that I simply know more about Germany becasue of the time I spent in that country when my daughter lived there As for who our neighbors are my personal experience is that difference is always frightening but we do get used to diversity. I lived in a situation where I was the only blond for several blocks for a while. It was intimidating at first but once I got used to it I stopped noticing unless someone commented on it. . Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 11:15 am |
In my personal experience it is our American born that are most inclined to demand the freebies. As for the ethnic make up of who falls into this category I will burrow an explanation that I used with my staff "The portion of individuals who are "disadvantaged" in any community is directly related to the make up of the community. In other words if you are working with a predominantly black, Hispanic or Muslim group you will see greater numbers of those groups." In hind sight I would add "If we can rust the numbers the statisticians give us" Sounds like your daughter worked with a number of different ethnicities. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 11:17 am |
I have met perhaps a dozen, some good - some bad. Fossil God Save America !! Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 11:19 am |
I had similar experiences with my Pakistani neighbors when I lived in Redondo Beach. Like many things that is detailed and needs to be a second blog. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 12:07 pm |
Spirit, if the Syrian refugees were Christian I wonder if they would be welcome? I can't understand why the people who are against the U.S. taking in the Syrians don't understand that these Syrian refugees are the victims of ISIS terrorism, not supporters of it. Other than the Native Americans, every single one of our ancestors on this continent are immigrants.
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11/20/2015 12:53 pm |
Spirit, if the Syrian refugees were Christian I wonder if they would be welcome? I can't understand why the people who are against the U.S. taking in the Syrians don't understand that these Syrian refugees are the victims of ISIS terrorism, not supporters of it. Other than the Native Americans, every single one of our ancestors on this continent are immigrants. I do not think it will ever be a matter of if the US and other "christian" countries address the issue of refugees but how it will be done. The sheer numbers of those in true need and the potential for abuse render any methods used in the past irrelevant now. I see this as yet another of those situations where energy is misdirected to squabbling over the if rather than the how. Bus, as always all of our squawking and flapping will not make any difference - just give those of us who have no real say so either way something to argue about. If I were disposed to conspiracy theories I would theorize that allowing us to think we have any say so about the ifs is an intentional distraction. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/20/2015 4:42 pm |
What about me? Don't I count? I have the UNRRA papers to prove my refugee status.
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11/21/2015 8:44 am |
I have met perhaps a dozen, some good - some bad. Fossil God Save America !!
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11/21/2015 10:21 am |
What about me? Don't I count? I have the UNRRA papers to prove my refugee status. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/22/2015 9:45 am |
Oh, I think h you do count. Aren't some folks frightened by your uniqueness and the fact that it makes you different from them? There are many, however, mostly Real Americans, who don't like my view of some matters. And then there are others who simply think that holding a different opinion is a personal affront,
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