Lives Behind the Label

1. Lives Behind the Label Recognizing the cultural particularities of the refugees we resettle

2. “Refugees come from a fire into a fire. Like all who live in crucibles, their experiences are defining ones for them and for all who witness their lives. We all are interested in what happens to people in extreme conditions…After we see or read a story of trauma we ask, “What would I do in this situation?” Mary Piper, The Middle of Everywhere: The World’s Refugees Come to Our Town

3. Kabagambe (Congolese) Kabagambe grew up in a small town in Congo with his parents and ten siblings. As a young adult, he started a small business in his village. Soon, he was the wholesale provider for all of the stores in his area. After getting married and fathering eight children, Kabagambe was forced to flee his country because of widespread violence. He waited with his family in a refugee camp for six years until they were resettled in the United States. Kabagambe has been in the United States for a-year-and-a-half and he is still without a job because he has been tending to his sick wife for the past year. Although he came to the United States with minimal English language, he is now fluent in English and studying to get his GED.

4. Sarab (Iraqi) Sarab grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, although her parents were originally from India. When she was arranged to be married, he father made her future-husband promise that he would let her finish college. After she finished college, she had three sons and one daughter. Soon after the birth of her youngest son, her husband was killed and she was left to raise her three children by herself. She got a job as a scientists in an oil company and later taught high school biology. She fled her country after the violence that took place after the US invasion of Iraq and came to the United States six months ago with two of her sons. She is volunteering at the Institute and her two sons have just recently started working in a hotel and clothing factory.

5. Aung (Burmese) Aung only spent five years in his home country of Burma. After that, he and his family fled to Western Thailand where they stayed in a refugee camp in Mai Sot. During the day, Aung’s father worked on surrounding farms and at night he took Aung into the nearby village to fight Thai village children to get money for his family. After being moved to Malaysia, Aung’s family was finally resettled in the United States two years ago. Since then, Aung has excelled in the American school system and is enrolled in all Honors and AP classes, in addition to translating for Burmese clients at the International Institute. He has dreams of college and becoming a lawyer.

6. These three people are all refugees… …and even though the UN High Commissioner for Refugees classifies a refugee as “a person who…owing to fear of persecution…had fled their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return…” …there is much more to these people than the classification “refugee”

7. Unfortunately… …people who migrate to the United States are met with standardized policies and procedures at every stage of refugee resettlement.

8. My Research Questions are… • “How is culture reflected in different aspects of refugee resettlement? • “What are the cultural particularities of the people who are currently being resettled in Lowell, Massachusetts? • “How can an understanding of these different cultures contribute to a more effective refugee resettlement program?

9. The International Institute of Lowell, MA • Most of my research was conducted during an internship with a Case Manager at this organization. • The Case Manager at Massachusetts refugee resettlement organizations is supposed to guide clients through their first three months in the United States. • During my four month internship there, I was tasked with everything from… …setting up apartments… …to applying for benefits for our refugee clients… …to making home visits to clients’ apartments.

10. During this internship… • I also had the opportunity to interact with refugees on a daily basis. • While taking them to appointments or spending time with them in the office, I would ask them about their home country and how they were dealing with life in the United States. • I asked them what they missed most and what was most challenging about adjusting to life in Lowell.

11. At the International Institute of Lowell… • The primary groups of refugees being resettled are… • Cambodians* • Burmese • Iraqis • * the Cambodians are being resettled with anchors --- family members who were resettled between 1980 and 1985 --- and often don’t require the services of the International Institute.

12. Communities for Comparison… • My research focuses on the cultural particularities of the Burmese and Iraqi refugee communities in Lowell • These two largest new refugee communities emerging in Lowell lend themselves well to my study --- they come from very different social, economic, and professional backgrounds • Neither community is fit for the current refugee resettlement system in Lowell (for different reasons!), further exemplifying the need for recognition of cultural particularities in the work of refugee resettlement

13. They are given the same apartments… • …with similar furnishings. • They are talked to the same way… • …and are expected to reach self-sufficiency within three months. • They are given different food… • …but culture is more than what you eat.

14. But the cultures they bring with them are very different… The Burmese were/are… The Iraqis were/are… • Farmers in Burma/Thailand • Only educated through primary school, if they received any education at all • Polite, quiet, and reserved • Lead simple lives, oriented around family and the home • Doctors, professors, and scientists in Iraq • Usually educated through secondary school, even most of the women • Loud, argumentative, and quick to voice concerns/problems • Come to the United States with designer jeans and laptop computers

15. All refugees struggle… …to find community. …to pay their rent. …to learn English. …to get a job. …to find food that is familiar. …to pass their home culture on to their children. …to understand our medical, political, and social systems. …to make a new life for themselves in the United States.

16. But they don’t all have the same struggles… • The Burmese are hesitant to express concerns and issues they are having because they intentionally value respect for authority; the Iraqis are confident in expressing themselves. • The Iraqis have memories of an upper-middle class life that they yearn to regain in the United States; the Burmese are used to being at the bottom of the economic ladder and have no experience otherwise. • The Burmese will gladly accept jobs in factories; the Iraqis expect to use the skills that the learned in their previous professions as: doctors, professors, and scientists in Iraq.

17. The refugee resettlement system, including the one used by the International Institute, was designed with the expectation that refugees could create a new life for themselves in three months or less. Few people, if any, could come to a new country and get a job, learn the language and cultural/social systems in just 90 days…

18. With a few simple changes, …social and political histories of refugees’ countries… …cultural awareness fact sheets… …apartment set-up guides… …cross-cultural communication seminars… …skill-based classes… …actively using refugee leaders as liaisons… The Institute could greatly improve the resettlement experiences of their clients.

19. There is much room for improvement in the entire United States refugee resettlement system. • Change would require: • Lengthened case management services for refugees • Enhanced contact between refugees and the local American community (i.e. Refugee Ministries) • Empowerment workshops to show refugees how they can make their communities self-sufficient of resettlement organizations

20. Thank you for your interest! To find out more, ask to read my recommendation guide for refugee resettlement agencies interested in how to incorporate the cultural backgrounds of their clientele into their work.

21. Presentation by Bethany Lowe Senior at Global College