They Come Seeking Peace, Freedom and a Better Future

National Headquarters | April 16, 2016

According to the latest report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 60 million people worldwide are currently a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum due to wars, conflict and persecution in their homeland. That’s one in every 122 humans on this planet. But are most of us aware of these staggering numbers? Hardly.

This global phenomena only started to become a hot topic in Western mass media when migrants and refugees began storming the borders into the European Union (EU). More than one million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015, the majority from war torn Syria where ongoing violence prompted more than 4 million to flee. The resulting humanitarian crisis created division in the EU, as countries struggle to cope with the influx of new arrivals and develop a strategy for resettling people. Across the Atlantic in America, we watched from a distance but public opinion was stirred up.

Although data kept by the Refugee Processing Center indicates that only 2,192 Syrian refugees were relocated to the U.S. in 2015, the public outcry and firestorm of political controversy that ignited about accepting Syrian refugees would suggest otherwise. The uproar was largely fueled by fear following the terror attacks in Europe, but could there be a greater shift in attitude at play? Apart from Native Americans who were here from the start, the ancestors of all Americans were once newcomers to this land. Have we become less eager to put out the welcome mat for immigrants and refugees?

At Tzu Chi, we keep advocacy for humanistic culture, tolerance of difference, and the fostering of compassion close to heart, so we decided to explore the story of newcomers to America to help build public awareness and encourage acceptance if need be. Our new video series “The Resettled” premieres on April 18 and presents the stories of refugees who have or are in the process of making a new home in the USA, while introducing organizations that help immigrants, refugees, and asylees as they transition to a new life here.

For this series, we worked with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) to film with a family in Dearborn, MI who were newly resettled from Iraq. USCRI is one of nine agencies that place refugees and seek to find a “welcoming community” which may include affordable housing, “friendly” employers, the provision for medical needs, and more. The USCRI has protected the rights and addressed the needs of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide and supported their transition to dignified lives for over 100 years.

The young woman who arrives fleeing war who is scared, malnourished and overwhelmed at the prospect of learning another language; yet she tirelessly cares for her family while taking evening ESL classes and grows into a social justice leader, known across her new state.

The father who has witnessed atrocities and lost his business, extended family and country; will practice his interview skills in order to land an entry level job and eventually open his own business and begin to employ other new arrivals.

The young children who have never lived anywhere but a tent in a dusty, impoverished refugee camp will retain their optimism and readiness to learn and soon laugh in school with new friends and a world of opportunities.

We believe we can save more lives, and would like to see the amount of refugees for the U.S. double. We have the capacity, and the U.S. sets the tone for the rest of the world.

Stacie Blake, USCRI Director of Government and Community Relations