AAIM Refugee School

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Imagine being dropped in the middle of a busy street in downtown Kinshasa. People are dressed strangely, talking in a language you don't understand, going about their daily lives. Now imagine you have to find a job, register your children in school, buy groceries, open a bank account - all the basics of establishing a normal life. How would you manage without speaking the language?

Now think of the reverse. Imagine someone from country culturally different from the US suddenly finding herself in Austin (with limited knowledge about what to expect and with about 3-6 months to become financially independent and self sufficient) This is exactly the situation with most refugees. Imagine not having the concept of health insurance, air-conditioning or a utility bill. Imagine answering your telephone and not recognizing the difference between a legitimate inquiry and a telemarketer; opening your mail and not being able to distinguish between bills and junk mail. And imagine not knowing enough English to ask questions about all that is confusing. Without the benefit of language, so much of life remains a mystery.

Who is a refugee?

A refugee is someone with a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, who is outside of his or her country of nationality and unable or unwilling to return. Refugees are forced from their countries by war, civil conflict, political strife or gross human rights abuses. There are an estimated 13.9 million refugees in the world - people who had crossed an international border to seek safety; and at least 22 million internally displaced persons who had been uprooted within their own countries. According to a publication by the Office of Immigration and Refugee Affairs, about 3,000 refugees and immigrants settle in the greater Austin area each year. AAIM is the only agency in Austin that exclusively teaches survival language and life skills to newly arrived refugees from four different continents.

One of the largest populations of refugees in Austin is the Burmese. The Burmese refugees resettled here in the last two years had left their countries years ago to seek safety in refugee camps in neighboring countries. They all belong to ethnic and/or religious minorities. Many have been persecuted, chased, murdered, their villages burned, their drinking water cut off, forced to live in the mountainous jungles with no schools, food shipments or sanitation. Those who escaped to refugee camps were safe but living in crowded conditions and as virtual prisoners not allowed out of the restricted areas. There sometimes for periods as long as 20 years - they were dependent on UN rations and on social workers to help them make huts, dig latrines and create makeshift schools. They are lucky to be resettled in Austin but they have nothing in their previous life experiences to compare it to.

Their situation was not as dire as that of some of the African refugees. Those who belonged to the persecuted ethnicities in Burundi or the Congo may have been hunted, tortured, murdered, raped, their children kidnapped and forced to bear arms or become slaves some as early as the age of 10. Those who ran often found themselves escaping from one refugee camp to another, from one country to another, in each place encountering more violence. Most of these families have lost loved ones- many literally lost in their long treks seeking safety. It is common for families to have no idea where a sibling, a father or even a young son or daughter are. And chances are, they will never know. After being resettled in a far away place, like Austin, Texas, the possibility of a lost loved one, if alive, ever tracking them down is negligible.

Our refugee clients are from other countries as well - though some may not have lived in refugee camps, they have been victims of oppression by virtue of their race, religion or political opinion. At the least their children were bullied, their homes ransacked, their businesses closed, they were not allowed to practice their religion freely or to express their opinions. They were also the first to be thrown in prisons indefinitely and the last to get government services.

AAIM's Refugee School

AAIM holds English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for legally documented adult refugees 6 days a week. The daytime location of AAIM's Refugee School is at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin. There, due to the generosity of CPC, we are able to hold three class levels, a supervised children's care room, a 6-week summer youth program, monthly orientation lunches and bi-weekly intake and registration sessions. AAIM also hold three other multi-level evening and weekend classes in north and south Austin in locations near where refugees live. Annually, AAIM serves over 400 refugees of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, so far from 25 different nations.  The United States resettles refugees from different countries every year.  In 2009, most refugees came from Iraq, Iran, Bhutan, Burma, Congo, Somalia and Cuba.

Our Refugee School aims to equip refugees with basic survival English skills as well as provide them with cultural and social information that will assist them in assimilating into their new environment. An important function of the ESL classes is to offer a friendly, supportive, first community for the newly arrived refugees. This inclusive environment allows them to acculturate to their new life in Austin.

Classes are ongoing with biweekly registration and intake. For information on classes, times and locations, contact ehumke@aaimaustin.org or call the Refugee Program office at (512) 386-9145 extension 12.

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