Hey Girl.

Frances (the director of the Resettlement program) just walked up to my desk and taped this on the side of my computer. I think every girl in the office has a different one, and I am more or less cackling right now.



This is another one of my favorites…



So for a little background information, the US accepts around 70,000 refugees each year (and before anyone asks, they all have official documents and can apply for green cards a year after they arrive. They also receive loans from the US government for their plane tickets here, which they are expected to pay back over a couple of years.) The UNHCR has three durable solutions for refugees: repatriation to their native country, integration into the country they have fled to, and as a last resort, third country resettlement. Of the 10.5 million refugees worldwide, only about 1% are resettled each year. My agency, Catholic Charities, primarily resettles populations from Bhutan, Burma, Iran, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Cuba – and no, you don’t have to be Catholic to receive our services, or we wouldn’t have any clients!

Alright, so not a very deep entry, but I'm headed to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in a couple of minutes and I felt the need to share something before I left.

hello again!

Well, I hadn’t previously been using this blog for service-related things, but I decided maybe I should start. :) Not sure if I'll make it public or if I'll really write much at all. Old habits die hard I guess.

So, I really have my client "Maya" to thank for inspiring me to write this.

In October Catholic Charities resettled Maya, her mother, and two younger brothers. Maya is a 21 year old Bhutanese midwife. She is incredibly sweet and quiet, but speaks good English. Her mother too old to work in the fast-paced American environment, so responsibility for providing for the family falls on Maya’s shoulders. We were excited to be working with her, because her English skills could open a lot of doors for her, even though she could not return to work in the healthcare field immediately.

We did our best, but in a few weeks Maya will start working at a poultry processing facility. (While jobs there are by no means ideal, workers are paid a reasonable wage and receive health insurance and other benefits. For refugees that speak limited to no English, this is the best job they can hope for immediately after arriving in the US.) Maya speaks English, could have held out a little while longer looking for a better job—but didn’t.

This may not sound extraordinary, except the clear contrast with two sisters we resettled just before Maya nearly struck me in the face. They have about the same English skills at her, but outright refused to work in poultry, even when they were getting desperate and knew they needed to support their parents and siblings. It was very frustrating, but I couldn’t really blame them.

But Maya’s biggest concern isn’t that she’s working a job she's too good for, or that she will come home each day reeking of raw chicken. Her family comes first, and she needs to support them. Despite her skill set and education, at age 21 she is willing to make a huge sacrifice. Even as my heart breaks for her, I truly admire her for her courage. Would I have been able to make that decision? In face of the hardships and struggles refugees endure, both in refugee camps as well as in the United States, I am constantly reminded of just how sheltered and privileged I am.

But I have hope, that with her determination and love her future will be bright. Maya, my heart and prayers go out to you.