features USA: U Start Again Syracuse, a top destination for refugees, plays an even larger role in re-settling due to the conflict in Syria By Jeongyoon Han It’s 6:30 on a fall evening when 10-yearold Alene picks up an unattended iPhone lying on the table at Hopeprint, an organization in Syracuse dedicated to refugee assistance. Children laugh at her jokes as they draw pictures of their families. Alene opens Safari and types into Google: “Kinyarwanda English Translator.” She finds one dictionary for her native Rwandan language, but it doesn’t work. Alene moves on to her next target: finding a Rwandan pop music video. Success: her favorite pop song starts to play on YouTube, and she sings along. Alene left Rwanda with her family as a refugee in 2014 and has joined Hopeprint’s support system, attending functions such as this Nightlife event, a gathering space for refugees and city students. But even after two years in the U.S., all that seems to be on her mind is life back in her home country. Her story here in Syracuse isn’t a unique narrative; according to syracuse.com, she is just one of more than 10,000 refugees who have come to Syracuse from 42 countries since 2000. Beth Broadway, President/CEO of InterFaith Works, an organization that creates community dialogue between people from different religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds, said that all of these refugees face a difficult transition period. “It’s a very challenging time,” Broadway said. “You know, it’s a time when people are having to face that they won’t be going home again, or if they do, they’re going to be going through something quite extraordinary to get there, so it’s very difficult for people to make that transition.” It’s a story that the American public has heard over and over again: refugees come to the country because they are persecuted because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Refugees are unable or unwilling to return home for fear of serious harm. And in Syracuse, these people can find a safe haven. Onondaga County has the highest refugee acceptance rate per capita in New York, and the third highest in all of America, according to syracuse.com. Syracuse’s strong refugee assistance system, which involves organizations such as Hopeprint, the Refugee Assistance Program (RAP) and InterFaith, is what makes Syracuse an optimal refugee resettlement location. But this isn’t to say that the transition to life in America is easy. Facing economic, cultural and emotional challenges, refugees arriving in Syracuse must undergo a complete transformation of their lives. And while Syracuse’s long history in welcoming refugees is undeniable, there still remains work to be done to make them feel completely at home, especially with the current refugee experience becoming increasingly complicated. Dr. Bruce W. Dayton, Director of the CONTACT Peacebuilding Program at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vt., considers it a major accomplishment that more than 12,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in more than 200 American cities since 2011. However, he argued, the confluence of past events — including Sept. 11, terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe within the past year, and the rise of ISIS and al-Qaeda — has fueled a false perception that Syrian refugees will somehow threaten our security. Further exacerbating the situation is the increasingly tense political climate in America, which has exaggerated our negative perceptions of refugees, specifically those from Syria. And many view President Donald Trump as one of the instigators of such hateful messages against immigrants and refugees alike. His message at a Rhode Island rally in April was quite clear: Refugees are not 22
Noor Chhablani wlecomes a refugee family to America by placing this card on a bedside table. Photo by Sam Goldman winter 2017 | 23