#ShareTheJourney – Durable Solutions

2015 March 15

by Diocesan Staff

Children of young women who are in the program at Heshima Kenya and below a woman in the program spends time on the grounds of the non-profit’s main house in Nairobi. Photos by Frank Logue.

Taking part in Episcopal Migration Ministries‘ Pilgrimage to Kenya and Rwanda has opened my heart as well as my mind to the plight of refugees. Yet, gentle reader, as I have traveled with one of only nine groups approved by the State Department to work in resettling refugees, you might get the impression from my writings that most refugees are assisted in settling in another country. The prime goal is to assist refugees in returning home. Only 1% of persons recognized as refugees are resettled to a third country, such as the United States.

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees seeks to find a “durable solution” for those who flee their country to avoid persecution. The three options are:

Resettle in their home country.
Resettle in the second country where they currently have asylum.
Resettle in a third country.

Number three is the durable solution for just 1 in 100 refugees.

Who is a Refugee?
148 nations all work from the same UN framework first approved in 1951 which defines a refugee as someone who:
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“owing to 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 or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”

There are further rules which, understandably, do not apply this definition to those who have committed serious crimes, including war crimes. And there is also a desire to keep families together so that the UNHCR states “If the head of a family meets the criteria of the definition, his dependants are normally granted refugee status according to the principle of family unity.”

Assisting those who can never go home
So the people identified for resettlement to the U.S. with the assistance of EMM and the other of the nine agencies are those who can not return home and can not stay in the country where they are now living as a refugee. They are clearly the marginalized, the lost and the left out who we as Christians are called to serve as if serving Christ.

By the time a person identified as a refugee is approved to move to our country, she or he has been through extensive interviews which are cross checked by the Department of Homeland Security and other relevant agencies. They have been through numerous evaluations at several levels to confirm all of the information provided. Speaking at length with people involved in this work demonstrated to me the rigorousness of that work.

How You Can Help
At the end of this usually multi-year process, a refugee family finds themselves in an airport in an unfamiliar country, facing a new future with determination, but a great deal of uncertainty. This is where you and your church can come in. EMM works through 30 affiliates around the US to resettle more than 5,000 persons each year (Map shows states with EMM Affiliates.). These affiliates need congregations to partner with the for the first six months of that resettlement. These EMM affiliates do not need you to fund this process or to handle the details of resettlement. But they do love to partner with congregations. Co-sponsoring congregations agree to help refugees become self-reliant, emotionally secure, and culturally adjusted as they put down roots in this country. Co-sponsors offer refugees hospitality and friendship along with basic resettlement services like orientation to a new environment and culture, help in building language skills and seeking employment, assistance with initial housing, food and clothing, and many other critical forms of support. For more information, visit episcopalmigrationministries.org

To get a better feel for the work EMM does, you will also find extremely helpful, the series of short videos they created. I have embedded one below, the others are found online here: EMM Media Page