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Title: Thousands of Iraqi refugees headed to Florida
Source:
tampabay.com
URL Source: http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2009/01/iraqis-will-mak.html
Published: Jan 28, 2009
Author: Saundra Amrhein
Post Date: 2009-01-30 18:05:28 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 115
Comments: 2
MIAMI -- Iraqis displaced by the ongoing U.S-led war are among new groups of refugees who will increasingly be resettled in communities throughout Florida and the country, a United Nations official said Wednesday. The United Nations has referred more than 42,000 Iraqis to be resettled in the United States, and of those, 15,000 already have arrived -- many of them religious minorities or single mothers whose husbands were killed, said Larry Yungk, senior resettlement officer with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Yungk spoke before more than 200 case workers, educators and social service providers for refugees during a conference called "Adapting to a Changing World: Promising Practices in the Acculturation Process for Refugees." The one-day conference was being held at Florida International University. Iraqis are a growing group of refugees, he said, noting that just two years ago, only 300 Iraqis were resettled anywhere in the world. Now about 2-million Iraqis are considered displaced outside their country and an equal number inside. Many have sought refuge in neighboring countries like Jordan and Syria. The focus of the conference was to discuss ways to address refugees' trauma and mental health needs beyond a job and housing to ease their adaptation to new communities. Florida resettles between 25,000 to 28,000 refugees a year -- three times more than any other state. The majority are resettled in South Florida, while Tampa Bay is the second largest area for resettlement, state officials said. The conference was sponsored by the Florida Department of Children and Families Refugee Services and Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services. Gulf Coast is a Clearwater nonprofit agency with programs in 32 Florida counties, treating 50,000 clients a year, specializing in mental health, elder, employment and children's services, in addition to refugee resettlement. Gulf Coast partners with Harvard University to provided training to mental health experts in 20 states on recovery from torture. Resettled refugees in the Tampa Bay area come from a wide array of countries, including Cuba, Bosnia, Sudan, Somalia, Burma, Colombia, Venezuela and Liberia. Yungk warned the audience what to expect about the Iraqi refugees: surveys found that 1 in 5 have had a family member kidnapped and between 40 percent and 50 percent have seen someone killed. "There is a huge amount of trauma," Yungk said. They are more highly educated than other refugees resettled in the United States. "But that should not lessen the amount of help they are going to need, or the patience, upon their arrival.'' About 500,000 refugees around the world need to be resettled, but the United Nations has found space for only a little more than 100,000. They come from myriad circumstances -- some are professionals from urban areas, others languished in refugee camps for more than a decade. Some coming from the same country have different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Yungk said to expect more refugees from Burma and war-torn Congo, where an estimated 400,000 women have been raped the past few years as an act of war. Gulf Coast president Michael Bernstein said a downturn in the economy could make it harder for new arrivals to be accepted. "It's a tough time to accept New Americans," Bernstein said. "At the same time, we're also a nation that understands we're our brother's keeper." Organizers noted that resettlement has gone beyond driving refugees from the airport to an apartment. "It's not just about jobs or housing, which is very important, and food," Bernstein said. "It's also about resilience and recovery and healing from wounds that many, many thousands (experienced), have been through torture, genocide." Refugees are very resilient and many go on to become professionals, organizers said, including dozens of members of the audience.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest"It's a tough time to accept New
Americans Yorkers," Bernstein said
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