1.
On American plains, refugees receive a warm welcome in a cold
climate
2.
News to use in the classroom
3. Free video on Chad/Darfur refugee crisis
1. On American plains, refugees receive a warm welcome in a
cold climate
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| Sioux Falls' latest refugee arrival, Nagung Ging, is welcomed by family she last saw nearly 20 years ago in Sudan. © UNHCR/J.Rae
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It
was a scene repeated throughout the United States this past
holiday season. Two young girls waited at an airport to greet
their grandmother. Their hands clutching balloons and American
flags, they eagerly scanned the approaching passengers trying
to identify a woman they had never met and who they had known
only from their mother's stories of a childhood abruptly cut
short nearly 20 years ago in Sudan.
When
Nagung Ging and her son emerged from the crowd she showed few
signs of fatigue following a disorienting journey from Egypt,
where they had lived as refugees for much of their lives.
The morning after their arrival, a resettlement case worker
took a bewildered Najung Ging and her son on a tour of the town.
The abductions, beatings, flight and exile were over. It took
years to reach this point and it will take months more for Sioux
Falls' newest refugee family to feel fully settled. But Najung
Ging was confident about the future. "When I was coming
here," she said, "I was so full of joy at the thought
of seeing my daughter again. And when I arrived, I thought I'm
finally home."
In 2006, more than 200 refugees came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Most, like Nagung Ging, were reunited with family. Others arrived
knowing no one. Refugee resettlement agencies provided a range
of assistance to help ease the refugees' transition to their
new homes and integration in the US, such as getting social
security numbers and food stamps, looking for work, providing
English lessons and other support and counseling.
41,000 refugees were resettled to the US last year. The US remains
the number one destination for resettled refugees, accepting
more than all other countries combined. Share
refugee stories from Sioux Falls with your class.
2. News
to use in the classroom
Iraq: UNHCR
launches new US$60 million appeal for Iraq operations
The
UN refugee agency on Monday launched a US$60 million appeal
to fund its work over the next year for hundreds of thousands
of refugees and internally displaced people affected by the
conflict in Iraq.
Learn
more about the Iraq refugee crisis.
Panama: Indigenous
Kuna children and Colombian refugees live and study together
in Panama
On the southern tip of Panama's Caribbean coast in the
town of Puerto Obaldia, local indigenous Kuna schoolchildren
are living with Colombian refugees and studying alongside them
in a secondary school set up with help from a UNHCR partner
and designed to benefit the whole society.
Learn
more about the Colombia refugee crisis.
Yemen: Somali
smugglers' boats capsize off Yemen, leaving 17 dead and 140
missing
Seventeen people are confirmed dead and some 140 missing after
the smugglers' boats carrying them across the Gulf of Aden from
strife-torn Somalia capsized in the dark off the coast of Yemen.
Learn more
about the Somalia refugee crisis.
3.
Free video on Chad/Darfur refugee crisis
Surviving Darfur, UNHCR's
latest DVD, is available free of charge. This
narrated photo feature gives students an inside look into the
refugee crisis in the Chad/Darfur region where some 2 million
people are internally displaced in Darfur and over
200,000 refugees have fled to UNHCR-run camps in Chad. Order your free copy today.
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