About two weeks before I started working for Refugee Resettlement, a young man filed an application to bring wife and baby daughter to the United States. He is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and arrived in the US this spring. For the last few years he’s lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania which is where he met his wife (though she's also from the Congo). This isn't his name, but I'll call him Ibrahim because it's less confusing to use a name.
A month ago Ibrahim received a letter telling him that his application was denied. He speaks English fairly well, but only reads a little English so he came in to have Marsha explain the denial letter to him. The reason Ibrahim's petition was denied was that when he went for his immigration interview to come to the United States, he told the officers he didn’t have a wife and daughter.
He explained to us that he was afraid to tell the officers about his family because when Ibrahim's brother was interviewed he told them about his wife and daughters, and then they were harassed and beaten in the refugee camp by the officers. When they asked Ibrahim the same question, he lied to protect his family. He didn’t know that this lie would make it difficult to bring them to the United States later on.
Ibrahim said that he misses his family and is afraid for their safety. He also said that they don’t get enough food in the refugee camps and he is worried about his daughter’s health. The refugee camps are not safe anymore. Recently refugees who are enemies of this man’s people in the Congo have been put into the same refugee camps. Now, there are fights in the camps between the two groups and rape is used as a weapon of war, just as it is in the Congo.
He showed us his wrist that had a big lump on it and pointed out the scar on his face. Before he left the Congo for Tanzania, militants came to his hut to kill his father. They beat Ibrahim with the back of a gun (which is what broke his wrist and it was never properly set, so it healed on its own) and cut his face with a machete. Then, they killed his father and uncle in front of him. The same group of people who did this to him are the people who are now in the refugee camp with his family.
He told us that he is so scared for his family that he cries every night. He said he doesn’t care what country he’s in as long as he’s with his family and they’re safe. He said he has no life without his wife and daughter, and then he started to cry.
Marsha told him to write a letter explaining why he lied to the officers when he was interviewed to come to the United States. This is not the first time Marsha has encountered this issue when family members—particularly husbands and fathers—apply for their family. Sometimes the letter works, and sometimes it doesn’t (Marsha thinks it depends on who is handling the case).
On Monday, the Ibrahim came in with a letter from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. I read it and it was simply informing him that they got the change of address form he filed a few weeks ago, but I decided to check the status of his case while he was in the office. I entered his case number into the USCIS website the status was “post-decision.” I didn’t know what that meant since I hadn’t seen it before. “Post-decision” can be either good news or bad news.
In this case, “post-decision” was good news: the petition Ibrahim filed along with the additional letter explaining why he said he didn't have a wife and child in his immigration interview were accepted. The USCIS website said a letter was sent to inform him of the decision on November 18th. Since it was the 22nd when he came in, he will probably receive the official letter very soon.
He asked me to print off the web page so he could have a copy and send another copy to his wife to let her know. I think he was shocked because he kept asking me to read that his petition was accepted over and over again. He thanked God and he said to me, “now every night I do not have to cry in my bed.”
His wife still needs to be interviewed at the US Embassy in Tanzania and then it will be a few more months before she comes, but his wife and daughter will be coming to the United States.
Obviously, Ibrahim was very emotion, and I felt very emotional too. I could hardly believe it when I read that his petition was accepted because I usually see denial after denial. I know I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for this man in the past seven or eight months he’s been away from his family when they’ve been in danger, but even just thinking about it and trying to imagine it is hard.
When he came in with the letter saying his claim was denied, I felt very sad and angry for him and I wondered if he’d be able to bring his family to America. I planned on writing about him and his story, but I’m glad I waited for today because now it is a happy story that comes at the perfect time for Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Refugee Story One
I’ve worked at Refugee Resettlement for almost three months, and in that time I’ve heard a lot of stories. The stories have been heartbreaking, inspiring, and infuriating. I've decided to share some of the stories I've heard at Refugee Resettlement throughout the year.
Typically, the stories that stand out the most to me are the heartbreaking and infuriating ones. I think there are more sad stories than any other kind, but I would like to start off with a story that is happy.
A Sudanese woman in her late fifties/early sixties came in to file an I-130, which is a form that's used to bring family members to the United States. She has been in America for fifteen years and is now a citizen. She told me that seventeen years ago, when the youngest of her nine children was a baby, she had to flee from her village during the middle of the day. When she left, she didn't know where her husband was.
Fortunately, she made it to a refugee camp with all of her children. The woman tried to find her husband through family members and friends, but could not. After a few months at the refugee camp, she came to believe her husband was dead.
After two years in the refugee camp, she was able to come to the United States with her family. In America, she has worked hard and has almost always had two jobs. All of her children have gone through school and all but her youngest, who is seventeen and still in high school, have gone to college. She has twelve grandchildren and one of her daughters is in medical school.
A few weeks before the woman came in to Catholic Charities, she got a call from her sister-in-law (who is still in Africa) that her husband is alive. She didn’t believe it, but the next day she spoke to her husband on the phone. She said his voice was the most wonderful sound she ever heard.
Her husband is now elderly and sick (he's about ten years older than her). She said his mind is confused, but he knows who she is and wants to be with his family. Her children are all asking her to bring their father to America and she said they talk about him all the time now.
She’s filed the paperwork she needs in order to bring her husband to the United States, her husband will be interviewed, he will have a medical exam, and he will more than likely be in Buffalo in six months to a year.
The woman said she’s always believed in miracles, but she didn’t believe that there could be one this big. She hopes that when her husband is here in the United States and is surrounded by the love of his family, he’ll get some of his health back.
Typically, the stories that stand out the most to me are the heartbreaking and infuriating ones. I think there are more sad stories than any other kind, but I would like to start off with a story that is happy.
A Sudanese woman in her late fifties/early sixties came in to file an I-130, which is a form that's used to bring family members to the United States. She has been in America for fifteen years and is now a citizen. She told me that seventeen years ago, when the youngest of her nine children was a baby, she had to flee from her village during the middle of the day. When she left, she didn't know where her husband was.
Fortunately, she made it to a refugee camp with all of her children. The woman tried to find her husband through family members and friends, but could not. After a few months at the refugee camp, she came to believe her husband was dead.
After two years in the refugee camp, she was able to come to the United States with her family. In America, she has worked hard and has almost always had two jobs. All of her children have gone through school and all but her youngest, who is seventeen and still in high school, have gone to college. She has twelve grandchildren and one of her daughters is in medical school.
A few weeks before the woman came in to Catholic Charities, she got a call from her sister-in-law (who is still in Africa) that her husband is alive. She didn’t believe it, but the next day she spoke to her husband on the phone. She said his voice was the most wonderful sound she ever heard.
Her husband is now elderly and sick (he's about ten years older than her). She said his mind is confused, but he knows who she is and wants to be with his family. Her children are all asking her to bring their father to America and she said they talk about him all the time now.
She’s filed the paperwork she needs in order to bring her husband to the United States, her husband will be interviewed, he will have a medical exam, and he will more than likely be in Buffalo in six months to a year.
The woman said she’s always believed in miracles, but she didn’t believe that there could be one this big. She hopes that when her husband is here in the United States and is surrounded by the love of his family, he’ll get some of his health back.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Technology and poverty
I hope this is the last time I write about computers and internet access. I've done some reflecting about how computers connect to simplicity and poverty.
Technology has the ability to both simplify and complicate our lives. Lately, I've seen how complicated life can be without a computer and internet access and how complicated it can potentially be to attain these things. Aside from how frustrating it's been to actually attain a working computer, it's hard to live in a new city and not have internet access to do simple things like find directions and what times the metro runs.
What if I didn't have parents who could and were willing to buy me a new computer as a graduation gift? Would I be able to apply to graduate schools with a 17 minute time limit at the library? No. What if I'd never had a computer? I'm sure I could have gotten through college using the library computers that don't have a time limit, but it certainly would have been more complicated.
Yesterday I had a one-on-one meeting with one of the support people for CCSC and we talked about how someone not having a computer can contribute to keeping them in the cycle of poverty. In most schools there are computer labs for students to use, but they probably have limited hours that may be at the same time a student wants to socialize with their friends, so if they don't have a computer at home doing their homework can be a challenge. Then, we talked about how many job applications are online. Some people might not be able to get to the library use the internet to apply, and then there is the issue of the time limit (though I'm sure many libraries are more generous with their time limits than the library that is the closest to my house). If someone already had a job, but maybe it was a minimum wage job and their work schedule prevented them from going to the library to use the internet, they would have that significant barrier to finding a better job.
There are so many obstacles to education and employment that I've thought about before (previous education, child care, transportation, etc.), but this is really the first time I've thought about technology, or rather the lack of technology, being a barrier. I guess I've always been privileged enough that I've never had to worry about what it would be like not to have a computer before.
I find it interesting how the simple lack of a computer is tied into three of the four CCSC pillars. The obvious one are simplicity, but there is also social justice and community (I relied on my community members to borrow their computers while I didn't have one). Really, it's tied to spirituality too: I wasn't able to research for the spirituality night I organized for my community and it was kind of a flop.
Technology has the ability to both simplify and complicate our lives. Lately, I've seen how complicated life can be without a computer and internet access and how complicated it can potentially be to attain these things. Aside from how frustrating it's been to actually attain a working computer, it's hard to live in a new city and not have internet access to do simple things like find directions and what times the metro runs.
What if I didn't have parents who could and were willing to buy me a new computer as a graduation gift? Would I be able to apply to graduate schools with a 17 minute time limit at the library? No. What if I'd never had a computer? I'm sure I could have gotten through college using the library computers that don't have a time limit, but it certainly would have been more complicated.
Yesterday I had a one-on-one meeting with one of the support people for CCSC and we talked about how someone not having a computer can contribute to keeping them in the cycle of poverty. In most schools there are computer labs for students to use, but they probably have limited hours that may be at the same time a student wants to socialize with their friends, so if they don't have a computer at home doing their homework can be a challenge. Then, we talked about how many job applications are online. Some people might not be able to get to the library use the internet to apply, and then there is the issue of the time limit (though I'm sure many libraries are more generous with their time limits than the library that is the closest to my house). If someone already had a job, but maybe it was a minimum wage job and their work schedule prevented them from going to the library to use the internet, they would have that significant barrier to finding a better job.
There are so many obstacles to education and employment that I've thought about before (previous education, child care, transportation, etc.), but this is really the first time I've thought about technology, or rather the lack of technology, being a barrier. I guess I've always been privileged enough that I've never had to worry about what it would be like not to have a computer before.
I find it interesting how the simple lack of a computer is tied into three of the four CCSC pillars. The obvious one are simplicity, but there is also social justice and community (I relied on my community members to borrow their computers while I didn't have one). Really, it's tied to spirituality too: I wasn't able to research for the spirituality night I organized for my community and it was kind of a flop.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Good news
I'm very happy to write that I now have a computer that both works and goes on the internet. I'm also happy to say that I've spent the last hour working on graduate school applications (well, probably more like fifty minutes because of a Facebook check and a search for images of the hair cut I want to get).
Now, I need to go home and go to bed, but I hope to be back to the world wide web soon.
Now, I need to go home and go to bed, but I hope to be back to the world wide web soon.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A Sad Technology Tale... or maybe it's just frustrating
What I lack in drama with my community, I more than make up for in computer drama.
My computer was officially pronounced dead about a month ago. Fortunately, my parents were waiting for me to need something to buy me a college graduation gift, so they bought me a new computer. However, the computer arrived and would not go on the Internet, thereby rendering it useless since I didn't have any kind of word processing until I could go online and download one. After trying several different wireless networks, I called tech support. An hour conversation later and after changing some settings and doing a system restore on my computer with the guidance of the tech support guy (even though hadn't changed anything since getting the computer), my computer still would not go online.
Now, I am at the Buffalo library and am finally able to go online. I'm relieved to be online and I'm currently downloading a word processor, but I'm not sure why my computer will ONLY go online at the library. I have a feeling my computer drama isn't over, but at this point all I can do is wait until I have a chance to try every wireless network in town.
My computer was officially pronounced dead about a month ago. Fortunately, my parents were waiting for me to need something to buy me a college graduation gift, so they bought me a new computer. However, the computer arrived and would not go on the Internet, thereby rendering it useless since I didn't have any kind of word processing until I could go online and download one. After trying several different wireless networks, I called tech support. An hour conversation later and after changing some settings and doing a system restore on my computer with the guidance of the tech support guy (even though hadn't changed anything since getting the computer), my computer still would not go online.
Now, I am at the Buffalo library and am finally able to go online. I'm relieved to be online and I'm currently downloading a word processor, but I'm not sure why my computer will ONLY go online at the library. I have a feeling my computer drama isn't over, but at this point all I can do is wait until I have a chance to try every wireless network in town.
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