Day: September 8, 2012

Minneapolis Somalis not as mentally troubled as those in London

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You (in Minneapolis) can breath a sigh of relief knowing the results of this study. Conversely, if you are one of our 600 plus readers from the UK during the last month, this is very bad news indeed.   Since Somali unemployment in Minneapolis is only 26% (compared to London’s 90%), the Somali population here doesn’t have as much mental illness.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Somali immigrants to the U.K. and U.S. appear to integrate better and have fewer mental health problems if they are allowed to work and they receive practical support during the first few years of their time in the new country, according to a study led by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London and published in BioMed Central Public Health.

The study investigated the experiences of Somalis living in London and Minneapolis. After adjusting for various factors such as age, sex and marital status, the researchers found that Somalis in London were six times more likely to suffer from major depression and four times more likely to have a psychological disorder than those who lived in Minneapolis.

Most of the 189 survey respondents and 47 focus group participants had a shared history of displacement and similar immigration experiences. Like the Olympic Gold medal athlete, Mo Farah, they came to the U.K. or U.S. fleeing violence and human rights abuses in Somalia. However, 90 percent were unemployed in London, compared to 26 per cent in Minneapolis; 98 per cent had obtained refugee status or citizenship in Minneapolis compared to 83 per cent in London.

Update:  Here is more on the same story I just found after posting.

Family from Gambia loses second son in Chicago murder spree

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So, they are thinking about going home to Africa.

From the Chicago Sun Times:

They came to the U.S. from Gambia — in search of a better life.

But two tough decades later, some of Kenwood Academy High School student Muhammed Kebbeh’s family say they are considering going back to Africa after he became the city’s 370th murder victim this year and second of his six siblings to be gunned down on the South Side in the last six months.

“I want to pack everything up and go back,” his oldest brother, Momadu Kebbeh, 36, said Wednesday, as his devoutly Muslim family mourned and prayed at their Washington Park home. “What’s the point of staying here?”

Muhammed, 19, was sitting with his girlfriend when he was shot dead by masked gunmen in a drive-by shooting in the 8100 block of South Ingleside shortly after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Relatives say they had been especially worried about him ever since his 23-year-old brother Omar Kebbeh became Chicago’s 68th murder victim of 2012 back in February.

Muhammed—a practicing Muslim, born in the US, and a gangbanger!

Police sources say Muhammed was a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang and his brother said that was “probably” true.

[…..]

Despite his problems, he sometimes still attended mosque with his mom, Mariana…. (where was Dad?–ed)

Just seeking a better life indeed.

60,000th Bhutanese refugee arrives in the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Under a resettlement plan initiated by then Bush Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Ellen Sauerbrey, the US agreed to take 60,000 so-called Bhutanese that the government of Bhutan claimed were really Nepalese who had settled in Bhutan illegally.  Nepal refused to take its ethnic people back and so they had lived for years in camps run by the UN.  In 2007, the UN persuaded third countries to take them, and the US agreed to 60,000 over 5 years.

The 60,000th Bhutanese refugee arrived in the US a few days ago, but it looks like we aren’t going to stop there.

From South Asia Revealed:

As many as 60,000 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in the US from Nepal where they had taken refuge in the 1990s after being forced out of their country.

On September 4, the 60,000th Bhutanese refugee, departed from Nepal to USA. The 28-year-old woman will start a new life in Columbus, Ohia, with her husband and young daughter, said a statement from the US Embassy here.

The US, in close coordination with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), began resettling Bhutanese refugees residing in eastern Nepal in 2007.

Besides the US, which has accepted 60,000 refugees, some 11,000 have already settled in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, and the UK, as part of the third country resettlement programme initiated in 2007 in association with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Our doors are open for more people in need of jobs and social services:

“The US is committed to considering for resettlement as many Bhutanese refugees as express interest,” said the US Embassy.

Initially, the US government had expressed interest to accept a maximum of 60,000 Bhutanese refugees.

I wrote a lot about the Bhutanese in the early years, most “refugees” did not want to come to the US.  They wanted help from us and others in persuading Bhutan to let them go back there.  I’ve always wondered why such a powerful country as ours couldn’t have made it attractive (lucrative!) for Bhutan and Nepal to welcome back their own ethnic people.  Some of the displaced felt after several generations in Bhutan that they were more Bhutanese than Nepalese.  Frankly, it would have been more culturally sensitive and cheaper for us to send some gifts to the two countries and for them to find room for the displaced people.

Type ‘Bhutanese’ into our search function and note that while some have made it in America, others are having a very hard time especially as victims of crimes in rotten neighborhoods where the volags (federal ‘church’ contractors) have placed them.