Refugees

By now, you’ve probably read or heard us talking about how refugees live just down the street from us in Vickery Meadow. But what exactly is a refugee, and how is being a refugee different from being an immigrant?

A refugee is a person who comes to a new country (not always the U.S.) to escape persecution, war, or other extreme hardship. Refugees are granted asylum in their new country, which is different from simply immigrating, either legally or illegally. They are given aid from their new government, and helped in getting to their country of asylum. The end goal of asylum is to return refugees to their country of origin when it is safe for them to return, but this isn’t always a realizable goal.

Even though refugees receive aid from the government, their lives are still extremely difficult. Most of them have spent around ten years living in a refugee camp, a place of temporary resettlement where refugees live in hopes that they can return soon to their home country, or because there is no third country available for them to go. Many of the refugee children were born in these camps, and never knew their home country or life outside of a camp before coming to the U.S.The U.S. is also a completely different place from the countries refugees arrive from. Imagine moving to a new home where a different language is spoken, where using things that you’ve never seen before are considered second nature, like indoor plumbing, washing machines, stoves and ovens. If you had a rough time adjusting to college, or were ever homesick for some reason, this is just the very tip of what refugees experience when trying to assimilate.

How can we help, then? By befriending our refugee neighbors and being compassionate towards their difficulties in coming to a new country. By trying to understand, but knowing that unless we experience what they have gone through, we never fully will. And by praying for peace throughout the world, especially in places like Sudan and the Middle East, so that “refugee” will no longer  be a term needed for anyone.

The Social Justice Spot is written by Laura Arellano-Weddleton ‘10, Student minister of Social Justice