The Cooler Canvas

Resettling UN Refugees in Indianapolis with Community Help

Posted: September 22nd, 2011 | Author: Audrey | Filed under: Community Involvement | No Comments »

In 2010 73,000 UN refugees departed for 28 counties for resettlement.  Since 1975, Catholic Charities’ UN refugee program in Indianapolis has resettled over 18,500 people in our area.

In May I posted a blog about the design community joining together to help set up apartments for UN refugees in our community.  Since then ASID has continued on with additional projects to assist with the refugee resettlement.  Earlier this summer ASID Indiana volunteers joined Catholic Charities and volunteers from the United Way, the Lilly Endowment, and refugees to set up the community center at the apartment complex where the 10 apartments we set up this past spring are located.  We hope to do more work on the community center in the near future.

We have also been reaching out to more people in the design community for help with the project.  The design community is very caring and we know there are others who would love to help any way they can.  When we contacted Host Hotels and Resorts they searched through their portfolio of projects looking for upcoming renovations in the Indianapolis area.  They found that the Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites was converting one of their two towers to apartments.  Host and the management team at the Sheraton sprang into action and secured 10 suites of furniture for the UN refugees.  The refugee program was THRILLED to get not only furniture, but lamps, artwork, TVs, and trashcans – all necessities in creating inviting homes, but not always available from the donations they receive.

Everyone involved felt so good about helping out, they wanted to do more!  Host knew that with the impending 2012 Superbowl event being held in Indianapolis, there was bound to be another renovation project in our area.  As it turns out, the lobby of the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis was slated for a renovation, and the existing furniture and accessories are the latest donation to the project.

 We think there is a lot more potential for this project and are working to do more.  In June, Amy Doherty, from Host Hotels and Resorts corporate offices in Maryland came to Indianapolis to meet with Gabrielle Campo, Refugee Program Director for Catholic Charities and me to discuss the project ways to reach more people and expand the program.

The design community has been helping out setting up homes and community spaces for the refugees, but that is just a part of what goes into resettling refugees.  When I talk to people about helping out with the refugee project, they always have lots of questions. Who are the refugees?  Where are they from?  How have they been selected to come to the US?  What the process is once they arrive in the US?  So, I thought I’d share with you what I have learned.

UN Refugees, like those being resettled in Indianapolis are selected for resettlement by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).  Of the 43 million people uprooted worldwide today, 10.4 million are considered refugees by the UNHCR.  They define a refugee as a person “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Each year the UNHRS submits refugees for resettlement.  In 2010, 108,000 refugees were submitted for resettlement, and of those, 73,000 were resettled in 28 countries worldwide.  .   Last year, the largest number of refugees resettled worldwide with UNHCR’s assistance departed from Nepal (14,800), followed by Thailand (11,400) and Malaysia (8,000). Since 1975, the U.S. has resettled approximately 2.6 million refugees, with nearly 77% being either Indochinese or citizens of the former Soviet Union.  The main ethnicities of the people currently coming to Indianapolis are Burmese, Bhutanese, Cuban, Somali, Iraqi, Ethiopian, Sudanese, Congolese and Eritrean.

When they arrive here, the refugees are met at the airport by people from the agency overseeing their resettlement.  Catholic Charities is the group coordinating the resettlement process in Indianapolis.  Meeting the refugees at the airport and settling them into their new apartments, is the first step in integrating the refugees to their new lives.  After being settled, they learn how to assimilate into their new surroundings, find a job, enroll their children in school, and, if they don’t already know how, learn to speak English.   The new community center will serve as a classroom for their training.  Learning all of the obstacles the newly arrived refugees must overcome; it feels good to be able to help out in a small way to make their lives better.

I got a much better idea of what the resettlement program is all about when I attended the World Refugee Day dinner hosted by Catholic Charities this summer.  That night, many of the refugees were present at the dinner.  The celebration included Karenni dancing, Iraqi dancing and Chin singing.   John Dau, the evening’s keynote speaker, was one of the “lost boys of Sudan” and his journey to and resettlement in the US is chronicled in the movie, God Grew Tired of Us.  The movie gives tremendous insight into the people being served by this project.  Since arriving in the US, John has become a human rights activist for the people of South Sudan.  John has received many awards including National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers Award.  He spoke about the opportunities available in the United States for those who are willing to work hard, and he encouraged the refugees attending the dinner to make the most of that opportunity.

It’s amazing to see how some of the small things we take for granted on a daily basis can make a huge difference in someone else’s life.  Helping out those with so little except the determination to make a better life for themselves and their families is truly humbling.  You won’t find a better way to appreciate the life you have.

 

For more information:

http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646cbc.html

http://www.archindy.org/cc/indianapolis/RefugeeServices.html

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