Technology allows resettled refugee to connect with family after 20 years apart

Dawit Dabulo landed in Boston on January 21 eager to find a new life for himself and his two daughters after 20 years spent in a Kenyan refugee camp. At that point, his native country of Ethiopia was only a memory, a place that Dabulo hadn’t seen in decades and which his daughters had never visited.

In the years since he fled, he’d been unable to contact any loved ones in Ethiopia, and he didn’t know the fate of the parents, siblings and two children he’d been forced to leave behind at the outbreak of Ethiopia’s civil war in 1991.

“Communication was very bad. The communication systems were not there,” Dabulo said of his life after leaving Ethiopia. “I just disappeared. I was lost.”

And while coming to the United States got his family out of the dire situation of the refugee camp, it also took Dabulo further from his home country and family. But in the span of a few weeks after he arrived, several amazing events took place that actually brought Dabulo closer to home.

Upon landing at the airport, Dabulo and his daughters were greeted by a caseworker from Refugee Immigration Ministry , EMM’s affiliate agency in the Boston suburb of Malden, Massachusetts. Among the people who came to visit him in the days that followed was Jim Corbett, president of the RIM’s board of directors.

After hearing Dabulo’s story, Corbett typed the name of his home city of Soddo into Google and found an interesting search result: a blog run by an American doctor working at a clinic there. Corbett used the blog to correspond with the doctor -- an obstetrician named Stephanie Hail -- and in a matter of days Dabulo’s family had been located.

On February 11, three weeks after landing in the United States, Dabulo found himself looking at his father, two brothers and one of his sons through a webcam; they spent two hours speaking through the videoconferencing program Skype.

“I was not expecting to find my father alive. And my mother, she is alive!” Dabulo said. “In fact it was a shock when I saw my father. Physically he changed and became old, but he is still the same man. My father is 87 and my mom is about 68, but they are still strong.”

In the span of a two-hour conversation, Dabulo learned that his siblings who were children when he left are now working as teachers and nurses in Soddo, and that his son is attending university.

As the blank spaces in his mind were filled in, and as Dabulo learned that his family was in fact alive and well, the predictable emotional response started to kick in.

“I was crying and my family also was crying. We were all crying,” he said. “It was happiness that they found me and I found them.”

Corbett, who stood by through much of the conversation, was moved despite the fact it was taking place in a language he couldn’t understand.

“It was cordial at first, but after about 10 minutes he broke down because he was so overwhelmed. It was just a great thing to witness,” he said. “It was a wonderful reunion; you could tell the bond was still there.”

Among the highlights for Dabulo was the opportunity to introduce his daughters, age 6 and age 11, to an extended family they had long asked about but never met.

In the country for less than a month, he’s presented with the challenge of finding a job and adjusting to life in the United States. But Dabulo is confident that will be an easier task to face now that he’s found the family he’d thought was lost to him forever.

“It is wonderful: 20 years passed!” he said. “For a long time I started losing hope that I will find my family. It is a miracle from God.”

The work of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, EMM's Tucson affiliate, is highlighted in this program about Tucson's refugee population from Arizona Public Television.

Ywa Hay and Aye Kay Htoo are Burmese Karen refugees who have found a new home in Wilmington, North Carolina, after living through 30 years of war and displacement. Their experience and the help they received from Interfaith Refugee Ministry , EMM's North Carolina affiliate, are featured in this story.

Students at Syracuse University learned about the trials and experiences of the area's Bhutanese refugee population during a recent event. Hear from refugees, students and staff at EMM affiliate Interfaith Works of Central New York by following this link.

Fatemah Abobaker and her husband Suleiman Zain came to Chattanooga, Tennessee, as refugees from Somalia and resettled with assistance from Bridge Refugee Services . Now, they're moving into their own -- energy efficient! -- home. Read about their journey here.

As of January 31, 2011, EMM affiliates have assisted 1, 319 refugees since the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2010. This work is carried out with the support of parishes and community volunteers across many dioceses of our church. Those refugees have come from the following regions:

Africa -- 127

East Asia -- 360

Latin America/Caribbean -- 65

Near-East and South Asia -- 761

Europe -- 6

This newsletter is produced with support of the United States Department of State. Opinions expressed here may not reflect the positions of the Department of State or the Episcopal Church of the USA.

Ana White is the Immigration and Refugee Policy Analyst in the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C., working closely with EMM to lead the Church’s efforts to advocate for government policies that support an effective and welcoming refugee resettlement program. Ana was kind enough to share with EMM her thoughts on the priorities for refugee advocates as a new Congress gets underway in 2011.

EMM: What are the primary goals of refugee advocates in Washington this year?

AW: Number one is continuing to educate the Church and policymakers about refugee issues. Without education about who refugees are, what resettlement is, what role the U.S. has in protecting refugees overseas, and the role EMM and our partners in resettlement play, it’s kind of difficult to move policy forward.

The second priority is advocacy to maintain funding for refugee assistance. It’s a really tough year. Congress is looking to make a lot of cuts in the budget, which could place certain gains we made in the last few years at risk. There is a lot of work ahead for us.

The third priority is to advance reforms for protecting refugees both here and overseas.

EMM: Does the new leadership in Congress affect advocates’ approach?

AW: We’ll continue to talk in the same way about our commitment to refugees. We know that advancing these issues is going to be more difficult when the emphasis is on reducing spending, and we are trying to make the case that providing adequate funding for refugees is a good investment.

Refugees do create jobs because they start businesses and they contribute to our economy. And we can’t forget that we are part of a humanitarian program.

EMM: What should people do if they want to speak in support of refugees in the U.S.?

AW: If there is resettlement happening in your community, you should call your members of Congress and tell them about your experiences with the program. Encourage them to engage with refugees and to learn more about the commitment that people in your community have to refugees.

Tell them about the positive impact refugees have on your community and about the difficulties they would face if funding gets cut. And remind them that the Church and others locally are also bringing resources to the table.

If you want to learn more about how you can advocate for refugees in your community, contact Ana White at awhite@episcopalchurch.org .

As Bhutanese resettlement in U.S. reaches milestone, two EMM clients signal community’s progress.

When Kamal Bista arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, in January 2009, he was among the first refugees from Bhutan to resettle in the United States. In the midst of a severe recession and in a new country with few fellow Bhutanese, he was facing a daunting scenario.

But in just over two years, Bista has found a job and then a better job; he’s led Louisville’s Bhutanese to become a more cohesive, organized community; and he’s found a position to help other newcomers adjust to their new country. In many ways Kamal’s accomplishments have paralleled the progress of the Bhutanese in Louisville in general.

“The Bhutanese, I think we are lucky to be one of the refugee [groups] to be resettled in the United States,” Bista said. “We are enjoying the life here now. The people are now working; they are enjoying the jobs.”

Many ethnic Nepalese like Bista were exiled from Bhutan or fled organized persecution there in the early 1990s, with more than 100,000 occupying crowded refugee camps in Nepal by 2008. Despite their Nepalese ethnicity, the government of Nepal would not admit them as permanent residents.

But today that number is significantly smaller thanks to a resettlement program carried out by the U.S. government and international partners aimed at reducing the ranks of Bhutanese living in limbo.

Nearly 35,000 Bhutanese have left Nepal for the United States, and many, like Bista, have found hopeful opportunities once they’ve gotten their feet planted in their new country.

Bista is currently working as a housing caseworker with Kentucky Refugee Ministries, EMM’s affiliate office in Kentucky and the agency that assisted Bista when he arrived.

He has also served as the president of Louisville’s first Bhutanese community organization which organizes Hindu observances around holidays and cultural celebrations for events like Nepalese New Year, in addition to providing help with essential services.

“In the beginning it was really difficult to bring the people together because they did not know anything about the new place, the new culture, the new system,” Bista said. “We discussed how our cooperation and unity helps the people move forward.”

Bhima Adhikari was resettled more recently in the United States. She arrived last February in Boise, Idaho, where she has been assisted by Agency for New Americans, EMM’s local partner in Boise.

Like Bista, Adhikari said she’s become connected to a supportive community of fellow Bhutanese in her new hometown. Adhikari recently gave birth to her first child. As soon as she is able, she plans to begin her studies to become a nurse.

She’s excited about the future, and about the possibilities open to her and to her son, possibilities that were a distant dream in the refugee camp.

“In Nepal, we don’t have any freedom to do anything,” she said. “Here we can go to college, and it’s not too difficult. We are happy.”