Iraqi refugees find home in Baltimore
Refugees struggle to acclimate to life in Baltimore
The adjustments
Thus far, Detroit, which has a well-established Iraqi community, has been the destination for the majority of recent Iraqi refugees. Older, more established Iraqi residents are able to assist public and private organizations in resettling refugees with a deep network of support, which can help furnish housing and jobs.
This situation is similar to that in Baltimore in the 1980s and 1990s when the older Jewish community offered a great deal of support to recently arrived Soviet Jews.
Like the Soviet Jews, the majority of Iraqi refugees are well-educated and were professionals in their home country, which better-equipped them to integrate into American life as opposed to other groups of refugees who have spent decades or the remainder of their lives in refugee camps with scant opportunities for education or employment.
However, unlike those in Detroit or the Soviet Jews of Baltimore, the newly arrived Iraqis in Baltimore do not have an extensive network of support to take up the slack left by resettlement agencies such as the International Rescue Committee.
One recently arrived Iraqi asylee said that there are only four Iraqi families who have been in the Baltimore area for a longer period of time.
One Iraqi asylee, who asked to remain anonymous because he has many relatives still living in Iraq, estimated that he had already spent one year and several thousand dollars studying for recertification as a physician here. He held a high position in the government after the American invasion and supervised 10 Ph.D. candidates in their dissertation research. He estimated that he would not be properly certified to find a job in his field here until 2010. Until then he has found a part-time job as a translator.
Many recently arrived Iraqis have not been so lucky. This asylee recounted that prior to leaving Iraq many refugees did not realize that they would not be able to apply the same skills and knowledge in their new location. He said that a resettlement agency tried to place another refugee who had been a doctor in Iraq in a low skill job.
Thus far, Detroit, which has a well-established Iraqi community, has been the destination for the majority of recent Iraqi refugees. Older, more established Iraqi residents are able to assist public and private organizations in resettling refugees with a deep network of support, which can help furnish housing and jobs.
This situation is similar to that in Baltimore in the 1980s and 1990s when the older Jewish community offered a great deal of support to recently arrived Soviet Jews.
Like the Soviet Jews, the majority of Iraqi refugees are well-educated and were professionals in their home country, which better-equipped them to integrate into American life as opposed to other groups of refugees who have spent decades or the remainder of their lives in refugee camps with scant opportunities for education or employment.
However, unlike those in Detroit or the Soviet Jews of Baltimore, the newly arrived Iraqis in Baltimore do not have an extensive network of support to take up the slack left by resettlement agencies such as the International Rescue Committee.
One recently arrived Iraqi asylee said that there are only four Iraqi families who have been in the Baltimore area for a longer period of time.
One Iraqi asylee, who asked to remain anonymous because he has many relatives still living in Iraq, estimated that he had already spent one year and several thousand dollars studying for recertification as a physician here. He held a high position in the government after the American invasion and supervised 10 Ph.D. candidates in their dissertation research. He estimated that he would not be properly certified to find a job in his field here until 2010. Until then he has found a part-time job as a translator.
Many recently arrived Iraqis have not been so lucky. This asylee recounted that prior to leaving Iraq many refugees did not realize that they would not be able to apply the same skills and knowledge in their new location. He said that a resettlement agency tried to place another refugee who had been a doctor in Iraq in a low skill job.
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Christopher Coen
posted 11/21/08 @ 11:07 AM EST
Government grants do not total only $850 per refugee. That is the amount from the State Department per refugee for resettling refugees in the first month or so. (Continued…)
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