Collection

Adjustments for Refugees

Sunitha Doraivelu

Marquette University

Student (NOT Journalism School)

Refugee resettlement in recent years has become a challenge because these refugees who are fleeing from their country of origin have been struggling to adjust to an area they are not used to. Each of these articles, however, go into detail how smaller towns are starting to help these refugees adjust to their new life. Each story has touched on different ways refugees and migrants have been integrated into their society. The first article talks a lot about how a small town of Gaziantep in Turkey began to embrace a huge amount of Syrian Refugees. “The IOM agrees with the mayor that integration is the best way to avoid conflict. They jointly run the Ensar community center in Narlitepe, a poor neighborhood where people from both communities are offered courses in computing, cooking, languages, mosaics and break dancing. All activities are bilingual, run in Turkish and Arabic.” (Burgun). This shows that the local government wants to help these Syrian Refugees not because it would reduce conflict, but it will help them progress and learn more about the Turkish culture. This town also does a great job of giving people job opportunities such as textiles and treating people as equals. The next article tells a story about how Concord, New Hampshire has become a place that provides the land of opportunity for refugees. The role of nonprofits have helped make refugee’s cost of living to be lower and have offered English classes and driving schools at a reasonable price. “Welcoming New Hampshire is another organization that promotes acceptance and integration of immigrants, holding cultural and educational events and working to advance civic engagement among newcomers to the country. "I want to change the perception of immigrants from being needy people, to being people who come here to contribute to society," says the group's director, Eva Costello, a Venezuela native.” (Milligan). This article goes through the steps that New Hampshire has made to help refugees be able to obtain a good education and more economic opportunity. One story that this article highlighted was a woman named Esther Elonga, a refugee from Congo and Uganda and is now on a four-year scholarship to Harvard. She also said that Concord helped her feel safe and welcome which helped her adjust. The last article was from the perspective of Refugee Response, and organization that has helped refugees in Congo adjust to living in Clevland, Ohio. “Refugee Response’s services include in-home tutoring, work on one of the largest urban farms in the country and a program for high school students such as Muhibzada. “We’re all about not just providing one-time aid, or a one-time donation or a gift, but seeing through on a path that is going to be transformative,” Kearns said.” (Holpuch) These three articles have addressed the positives of sides of adjusting to resettlement and thinking about the Context of Receptions, there are people from all different backgrounds being able to succeed through the help of local governments and nonprofit organizations.