Celebrating the Courage of Refugees
By Kristina Hammell (Director of Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program)
Aline (left) and Kristina Hammell
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has proclaimed June 20th to be “World Refugee Day,” a day that the world commemorates the courage, strength, and resilience of refugees. The United States first answered the call “to welcome the stranger” and assist refugees during World War II when the U.S. Congress created the first legislation to assist 250,000 displaced Europeans. With the fall of Saigon in 1975, Congress again took on the great undertaking of assisting hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees. As a country we have a rich history of helping those that find themselves in incredibly difficult situations due to war, persecution, and oppression. One of those refugees is Aline.
Aline, like many refugees before her, came to the United States because of war. Aline was a young mother of 5 children. When war broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo her husband was one of the first to be killed. She stayed hoping that things would calm, and she was very hesitant to leave her home land.
Unfortunately, that hope ended late one night when Aline and her children were forced to flee from terrorists who started their house on fire. “We fled into the bush in the middle of the night and walked and walked until we reached Uganda.” Aline quickly realized there were many refugees already in Uganda and no future for them there, with limited resources and the constant fear that someone would recognize them and report their whereabouts to those seeking to harm them. “I knew we would not be safe until we left Africa,” Aline said. Unfortunately, the refugee process moves very slowly. Aline and her children lived in constant fear for 10 years until they were finally granted refugee legal status and were able to travel to the United States a year and a half ago.
Now her family has seen the start of a bright new future. Aline works and her children attend school, with her two oldest now working their way through college.
Aline and her children began their new lives in the U.S. under the auspices of the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program. Our mission is to meet the needs of newly arrived refugees by providing one on-one-case management to guide them on their new journey and empower them in their new life. Services include assistance in accessing stable and safe housing, food, clothing, employment services, and various other services that will lead to self-sufficiency and empowerment. If you want to learn more about the program and of ways to help refugees in your communities, please visit our website at www.ccwinona.org or contact the Rochester Office at 507-287-2047.
On June 20th 2016, we ask as you and your family, as you go about your lives, to pause a moment and think “What if I were a refugee?” In the words of the General Secretary of the UN Ban Ki-moon, “Refugees are people like anyone else, like you and me. They led ordinary lives before becoming displaced, and their biggest dream is to be able to live normally again. On this World Refugee Day, let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity and open our hearts to refugees everywhere.”