Bhutanese on the way! For real this time

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Stories abound this week about the first Bhutanese refugees leaving camps in Nepal and headed west and to New Zealand.  We have written several stories about this large group over many months, but it looks like they are really on the way now. 

KATHMANDU (AFP) – The first of more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees languishing in camps in southern Nepal for more than 15 years have begun to leave for overseas resettlement, officials said Monday.

A UN represenative said this about the first to leave:

“….some people will leave Monday and we would like to see between 40 to 60 people leave in the next two weeks, to Denmark, Canada, Norway, the United States and New Zealand.”

But, then went on to say the larger numbers will be leaving for the US at the end of the month.   We committed to 60,000!

In October 2006, the United States offered to take some 60,000 of the 107,000 refugees who live in seven camps in southern Nepal, and around 23,000 refugees have since applied.

Some guy gets an award and sends me on a mission

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is going to be confusing because it is to me.  I don’t know what it means but I’ll just throw out the bits and pieces I have.     But, frankly I have more questions than answers.

The guy is Abdullah Jafari of Houston “an established American of Pakistani origin.”   I don’t know if that means he is a citizen or not.   You can read all about the award here, but unfortunately the site won’t let me copy any excerpts from it without seeking permission to use photos.   I didn’t want to copy the photos!  

The publication is the Muslim Observer and although its verbage is moderate sounding, the photos are anything but.   They depict protesting mobs around the world, one shows mobs burning the Danish flag and another mob burning a human effigy. 

Now, back to Mr. Jafari.   Read all about his “Star Among Us” award.  The award was given in conjunction with the Alliance for Multicultural Services of Houston.  That is a volag operating under the the mothership Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC).    Joining the Alliance in presenting the award was the Washington Mutual Bank which helps refugees buy homes and start business (calling all those researching Sharia banking), but that is another story.

Zafar Tahir  (honorary chair) introduced Jafari and said how important voluntarism is and cited the wonderful work 80,000 Bosnian “volunteers” were doing in St. Louis.   Read about the minaret construction here.   But again, that is another story.

I googled Mr. Jafari and found this quote he gave the BBC back in 2004 in response to the beheading of Nicholas Berg.   I’m assuming there is only one Abdullah Jafari in Houston, but if this is not our man I apologize.

This is deplorable. No religion, culture or society can defend this action. US administration’s policies in the Middle East have created this savage hatred against all Americans though they have nothing to do with the policies of their government. I, with no reservations, condemn this act. I also condemn the US policies in the Middle East which have made this world a very unsafe place for an average hard working American.
Abdullah S. Jafari, Houston, Texas, USA

Sure its good that he condemns the brutal act, but intersting he needs to say its all our fault, America’s fault, that Muslims are driven to such brutality.  That’s another story.

Next I checked out the Alliance’s Form 990 for 2006.   Their total revenue for the year was $4,534,160 with $3,494,514 coming from government grants (probably pass through from ECDC).  Another $1,036,204 comes from program services and government contracts.  Of that last figure, $815,243 comes from bingo.  How is bingo a program service?  Most of this organization is funded by the taxpayer with a bit funded by gambling.  But, that is yet another story.

Next I received a copy of a report done by Chris Coen at Friends of Refugees on the Ethiopian Community Development Council  (ECDC) which tells of egregious care of refugees by various subcontractors of ECDC.  Mr. Coen has documented evidence of abuses by affiliates that have resulted in the closing or suspension of some affiliates.  I had also been told at one point that ECDC had been asked to leave Maryland.

In his report Mr. Coen asserts that two directors of an ECDC affiliate in Atlanta left the country during a time that the agency was unable to account for all of its government grants.   You got it, another story!

ECDC is also the contractor for the African Community Resource Center in Los Angeles whose director Nikii Tesfai was arrested last fall for financial wrongdoing.  We wrote about it here. 

According to the Muslim Observer article. Mr. Jafari is also involved with an organization that sends money to kids in Pakistan.  It’s called Developments in Literacy and is headquartered in Long Beach, CA.  A check of its 2006 Form 990 shows that they raised $1,548,683 to help schools in Pakistan.    $879,971 was spent for “conferences, conventions and meetings.”    There was a hotel bill for $154,000 and dinner entertainment for $46,000.  Maybe the IRS gives no category for reporting money to Pakistan so accountants must place it in the “conferences” category.  How much went to kids?  Who knows?   Another story?

Burmese refugees living with rats and roaches —-again!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I really couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this news story from Akron, Ohio.   The International Institute of Akron is being accused of not properly caring for the Burmese Karen refugees in its charge.   Gee, I wonder where I heard that story before?  Oh yeh!  Waterbury, CT, just last week.

While his [Teddy, a Karen refugee] life may be better than the refugee camp, the living conditions are anything but home sweet home for Akron.

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Many of the apartments are overcrowded and have serious problems with roaches and rats. Eight people, including a newborn live in a two-room apartment on the fourth floor. During the day, two mattresses are stood upright so the family has room to walk around. At night, the mattresses are laid on the floor so the family members and the baby have somewhere to sleep.

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Some of the Karen refugees have been placed in houses adjacent to the apartment building. Fifteen immigrants live in one of the homes.

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“I would open up the refrigerator and it would not be working,” Miller [local church volunteer] said. “The ovens, we would find rats in the bottom of the ovens. The cockroaches were just amazing. I would open up a cupboard and there might be 50 of them jumping out at me.”

What does the agency representative say—we are only responsible for them for six months.    This demonstrates AGAIN that one of the major reforms needed in refugee resettlement is to require that each refugee family has a sponsor, a church or other such group to look out for them for as long as it takes to assimilate to America.   These volags apparently just take the money, pat themselves on the back and walk away!

BTW, this is another of the subcontractors of USCRI.

As we said before, cultural orientation is lacking

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just the other day I posted on a cultural orientation program being taught to refugees in Thailand—refugees on their way to America.  At least their training was several days long.   Now Brenda Walker over at VDARE sends me this Los Angeles Daily News article about a group of Iranians who didn’t get their lessons until they were here and then only for an hour or so.

You can’t smoke in most places. Bribes are a no-no. Car seats and kids’ bicycle helmets are the law.

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And beating your wife will land you in jail – not to mention get you deported.

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Several times a year, immigrants – primarily from the Middle East and Africa – who have won refuge in the United States undergo orientations just days after stepping off planes at Los Angeles International Airport.

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The brief orientation lecture, typically three days after refugees arrive, also explains day-to-day life in the United States. These new residents learn their adopted nation’s dress, how to get health care, how to pay bills and get credit, and when to call 911.

Read the whole article here with more on not beating your wife or bribing a police officer.  The article is a stark reminder of the huge cultural gap that exists between America and the Middle East.

It reminded me that I’ve seen these rules before.  When our refugee issue reared its head in Hagerstown, MD, the Maryland Office for New Americans passed out a booklet that was intended for refugees (but in English!) with all these same rules. 

I don’t know if I can find it now, but I remember very clearly it also said something to the effect, “men and women both wear shorts in America.”  I suspect that is to forewarn strict Muslims that in America you might see more than a wrist or ankle.

See Brenda Walker’s take on this at the VDARE blog here.

Your state, apologies

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I see lots of readers have been accessing our “your state” page today and yesterday.  So sorry, that I have not worked on that in awhile.  Time is limited and the breaking news every day is so interesting that it’s hard to make myself work on the page.    I’ll try harder in the future.   In the meantime, please e-mail me at Ann@vigilantfreedom.com  and I’ll help you get started researching your state.