Chugging along

Sunday clinics have been SUPER BUSY the past few weeks!  Our typical hours are 2:30-6:30, but for two of the weeks in January we didn't get finished until 8:30.  The flu has hit folks pretty hard, but we've had lots of other random illnesses and complaints as well.  On the social work side of things, we've been handling lots of medical bills and hospital bills as usual, and helping to facilitate the process of applying for charity care.  One of the exciting things that we've been doing lately has been helping individuals apply for U.S. citizenship.  Refugees who have lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years and can speak, read, and write English well enough to take and pass the Citizenship exam are ready to become U.S. citizens.  This is an exciting process, and one that is wrapped up with a lot more joy than many of the other things we help people with at the clinic. Here are a few photos of some of our cutest visitors to the clinic this month!

 

And here's our sweet Ruby Nell sleeping away in the arms of a beautiful Karen mother.

 

 

Endings and Beginnings

One of the many things I'm grateful for in our work with refugees is that I've not become hardened to their plight.  I think that sometimes when you're faced with so much sadness and despair, it becomes easier to close yourself off to really understanding and empathizing with people who are struggling.  These past few weeks, we've seen a lot of despair.

Kyaw Tow (pronounced Jaw Tow), a fifty two year old Karen refugee (in the orange jacket, above), came to the clinic and told us, in broken English, that he "cannot do U.S. anymore."  He saved up his meager earnings and used them to buy two one-way tickets back to Thailand, where he and his wife will attempt to sneak and bribe their way back into the refugee camp and live out the rest of their lives there.  This picture was taken the day before he left for Thailand.

It hurts my heart when I consider how we as a nation and as a community have failed people like Kyaw Tow.  I cringe to think that Kyaw Tow, and others like him, have experienced so many struggles here in America that they would choose to return to camp, where food is rationed, armed guards prohibit free movement, and health care is in short supply.  Here, in America, we make promises to these refugees that we don't keep.

We, here in the "land of opportunity," place broken and desperate individuals in shoddy apartments, in neighborhoods riddled with crime.  These refugees, fleeing unspeakable violence and torture in their home countries, desperate for a safe haven, enter the US filled with hope stemming the promise of a country that will protect them.  And yet, here in America, in the slums of our cities, these same refugees are battered and beaten by bullies, armed with fists and sometimes with guns, who prey on these most vulnerable in our midst.

We tell them, "Get a job; learn to speak English; try harder;" yet, we provide them with less than six months of meager financial assistance to become self-sufficient.

Half of the refugees we know are line workers at a nationally-based food processing facility.  They work 10 hour shifts cutting up chickens and make $7.25 an hour.  Another good portion of the refugees we know work at a cell phone manufacturing company, where they also make $7.25 an hour and work 12 hour shifts.  The chicken plant is considered by most refugees to be a "dream job" when compared to the cell phone factory.  Why, you might ask?  Turns out that talking is forbidden on the cell phone assembly line, and if you happen to forget and are caught talking with another employee by a supervisor, you are immediately fired.

It's a hard life.  In a recent study we conducted with refugees living in Fort Worth, we found that  mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, all of which are experienced as a direct result of being a witness to unimaginable and horrific acts of violence--murders, rapes, and torture--actually got worse over time.  This breaks my heart.  

We need to do more.  We need to do better.

For Kyaw Tow and his wife, who've given up on America.

For Poh Naw, a 35 year old father of three young boys, whose wife died of congestive heart failure on their living room floor in August and who doesn't have money to pay for the funeral or this month's rent.

For Pah Day Day, who just finished his GED and wants to attend trade school, but needs help applying for financial aid.

For Sher Loo, who is struggling to learn English so that she can support her daughter's school work. 

 

For Golden Hei, and his family of five who arrived in the US just last week and are overwhelmed with the enormity of it all.  

For all of them, and for so many more to whom we've made promises but haven't kept.  Let's do better.  Let's work harder.  Together we can make America the land where opportunities and dreams are realized.

Flu Shot Craziness!

 The Karen community as a whole is very "pro" immunization, so we weren't surprised that when word got out that we received our shipment of flu vaccine this week we had more patients come to clinic than we'd ever had in one day.  It was pure craziness, but we didn't have to turn anyone away, and everyone left happy and prepared to face this winter's flu season.

We also had a diverse kiddo cuteness overload with Karen, Karenni, Kenyan, Marshallese, and Caucasian representation all around the creativity table, which was buoyed this week with a fresh supply of crayons, coloring books, and drawing paper (Thanks, Christine!).

Even the big kids got in on the action--here is a budding young artist displaying his drawing of a snake that he learned to draw using a donated "Learn to Draw" book.

And finally, last but not least, congratulations are in order.  Pah Day Day, Pla Shee's older brother, successfully completed his high school certification exam and received his diploma in a graduation ceremony on Sunday!  This is a big accomplishment, and he is excited about exploring the possibility of attending community college in the near future.

 

Many thanks to the volunteers and students who have given their time and expertise in recent months to improve the quality of life of these new Americans.  We are also grateful for recent donations of coats and outerwear, toys and books.  Specific thanks to Derrick, who just graduated as a Family Nurse Practitioner, Barbie, who will graduate this spring, Masters in Social Work students Christine and Jacyl, volunteer Registered Nurse Davaion, who administered 25 flu vaccines on her first day of volunteering at the clinic yesterday!

Sunday clinic volunteers

This is a short clip of Paw Wah, one of our favorite volunteers at Sunday clinic, talking about what it's like to be a Karen refugee in the United States.

And here is Pah Day Day, Pla Shee's older brother providing his two cents.

Karen wedding

One of the many blessings that comes from knowing the Karen community is that we are invited to many weddings and birthdays.  Most of the weddings that happen in Dallas take place at Gaston Oaks Baptist Church, involve the entire community as congregants, and are followed by a huge feast of traditional food (sometimes Karen and sometimes Thai).  Here are some pics of this weekend's event.

The wedding party:

Some of the many onlookers:

Aaron cuddling with one of our favorite little girls after the ceremony:

Presentation on Refugees in the DFW Metroplex

I gave a lecture on refugees and resettlement last week at UT Arlington that was sponsored by the Students for International Social Work student organization.  I've uploaded the slides, which are full of active hyperlinks to various national and local resources for refugee services, onto SlideShare.  If you're interested, you can access the slides here.

Pitching in

This is a precious Karen family we've known since they arrived here six years ago. Pi Pi (grandmother) has had a good bit of trouble learning English due to some cognitive declines, and we're in the process to attempting to apply for an exemption from the civics test and language assessment on the US citizenship exam. Pi Pi's daughter (right) and granddaughter (left) are wonderfully strong Karen women who are an excellent example of successful resettlement. 

Here's Pah Day Day grinning for the camera (and tolerating me and my never ending questions). 

We put the kids to work this week putting caps on empty medicine bottles. As you can see, they all got in on the action and had surprisingly good attitudes about the process. We start 'em young!