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US Refugee Program: Refugees in the News
The Cultural Orientation Resource Center gathers selected news items about refugees in the U.S. and posts the links on our Web site. Direct links to these articles may change as news organizations move articles to archives on their Web sites. Many of these Web sites retain archives that can be accessed by visitors, some free and some for a small fee. If you are interested in any of the articles posted on our site, please visit the appropriate news Web site for more details.
Lomong Chosen as US Flagbearer for Beijing Games: Lost no more, Lomong will find himself carrying the flag for US at opening ceremonies Eight years ago, Lopez Lomong didn't even have a country. Now he'll be carrying the flag for his adopted nation, leading the U.S. Olympic team at opening ceremonies Friday night. Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, won a vote of team captains Wednesday to earn the honor of leading America's contingent into the 90,000-seat Bird's Nest Stadium. The 1,500-meter track runner will be the flagbearer only 13 months after becoming a U.S. citizen.
Most of the immigrant students at the Newcomers School have stories to tell about farming in their home countries. Desire Ngabirano , 15, remembers walking for an hour each way to collect water for his family’s garden at a Tanzanian refugee camp. Mohammed Mohmud , 16, said he spent much of his workday in Somalia throwing rocks at plundering primates. “All the afternoon, the monkeys and the birds, they eat all the food,” said Mohmud, who immigrated to the United States eight months ago. “I come in the morning, and all the food is finished.” But in the “world peace gardens” at the Newcomers School, they and other students garden more for relaxation and hands-on learning than daily nourishment. Three staff members at the school started the garden this spring as a way to connect with uprooted families and help their children transition to American lifestyles. He can't go back. He joined a democracy group in neighboring India. If he returned to his home country, he'd be arrested, maybe tortured, possibly killed. He is a Chin, an ethnic minority group in Myanmar — also known as Burma — that is targeted by the military government for its ethnicity and political affiliations. But he's safe now in Austin. A Thang Yawm Nan and his family are part of a new and fast-growing community of Burmese refugees — the largest refugee group in Austin last year, according to local refugee agencies. Since October, about 200 Burmese refugees, the majority of whom are of the Karen ethnic group, have arrived here. With tens of thousands of Burmese having spent as many as 10 years in refugee camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border and the political situation in their country worsening, Burmese could not continue to stay in the camps indefinitely or go back to their country. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security approved their resettlement in the United States in 2006. Currently the Burmese make up the largest movement of refugees nationwide. "They're being given safety and a new life," said Sofia Casini, area director of Refugee Services of Texas Inc., which has helped Yawm Nan's family in Austin. "They're here for good." Read more. |
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