Covid is affecting us all, but is especially hard on the women whose stories I tell in EMPOWER A REFUGEE and women like them. Because gatherings are unhealthy: training sessions can’t be held for newcomers. Instead, those who know how to sew and have at home sewing machines are sewing masks for places like the […]
To clear up the misperception that resettled refugees are a drain on our economy and us, here are some facts to clarify the contributions these newcomers, who come here legally, make to our society: 1. Once resettled, refugees not only contribute to their new communities economically, but also play an active role in civic engagement, participate […]
There seems to be some confusion about these definitions, so I will provide them here: The word “migrant” is being used in place of “immigrant.” A migrant is a person who moves from one place to another within a country. My parents were migrants who came to California from Oklahoma and Texas in the early […]
This, reported in the Washington Post in 2012. Has anything changed? Huda Khalaf told her husband not to fight. She remembers telling him: “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want my kids to grow up without a father.” She said she would leave him if he insisted, which they both knew was an empty […]
Alan Taylor writes in the Atlantic Magazine: Almost 600,000 Rohingya refugees crossed into Bangladesh in 2017. Many refugees tell distressing stories of their villages being attacked or burned by Burmese soldiers, or of their neighbors or family members being injured or killed. The United Nations has accused Burmese troops of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign. The […]
How long must you live in a place to find people who make a difference? I moved here six years ago and didn’t know a soul. Just learning to navigate this major city after living in a town of 3,000 in the winter and a small city the other eight months was almost overwhelming. I […]
Israel has banned Jewish Voices for Peace from entering the country along with nineteen other organizations in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement. (BDS). And a member of their own Knesset has been told that he can’t formally accept an invitation from JVP to speak in the U.S. Really. He’s appealing to the Israeli Supreme […]
Have any of you been on a mission trip? In state? In country? Out of the country? Where? What was the result of the trip and what did you do while you were there? I ask because I wonder what such a trip does for you and for the people you visit. As I read […]
This is what the UN Commission on Humanitarian Affairs is reporting: Sustained hostilities in south-west Syria since 17 June have led to the displacement of an estimated 271,800 individuals as of 2 July. Of those, approximately 60,000 displaced to areas in close proximity to the Nasib/Jaber border crossing with Jordan, including the free zone, and […]
Hello Dear Readers, I haven’t blogged for some time simply because my website was hacked, and it took people far more technical than I to “resolve the issue” as they call it. I call it frustrating and infuriating. How about you? So much has happened since my last post. A brief rundown and then more […]