Refugees escape the past, believe in the future

They come from Somalia and Sudan, Bhutan and Myanmar. Each year, many come to Colorado, fleeing violence, seeking a better life.

By Melanie Asmar, Special to the Rocky

Published November 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Dennis Schroeder / News

Som Baral, a 30-year-old refugee from Bhutan, rides one of two buses from his Aurora apartment to work at King Soopers in Denver. He, his wife and daughter have been in the U.S. for three months and are working hard to jump start their new lives.

Theirs are the human faces behind the world's worst headlines.

More than 1,000 refugees and asylees resettle in Colorado each year, arriving from countries as different - and as troubled - as Somalia, Sudan and the independent nations that once were part of the former Soviet Union. Spin the globe and pick a nation; chances are Colorado hosts someone from a far-off land.

Every year, the United States government decides how many refugees will be allowed to resettle here - and from which countries they will come. This year, that number is 80,000, a figure that varies from year to year, based on humanitarian and political factors.

Given the violence and insecurity that envelops much of the world, the people who find a place here are the lucky ones - squeezing through a legal and bureaucratic keyhole that is very small. Very small. Individual refugees are screened and may wait years for permission to resettle.

In the U.S., there are 10 agencies that help them do that, and those agencies split the 80,000 among them, said Paul Stein, Colorado's state refugee coordinator.

There are five agencies that work to resettle refugees in Colorado, which had more than 1,300 arrivals in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Fleeing a homeland

Raghu Dhaurali is one of the state's newest arrivals. He came to Denver three months ago, from a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal. A former English teacher, 32-year-old Dhaurali is lucky. He escaped jail and torture in Bhutan and disease and malnutrition in the camp, where people lived in leaky huts with no access to good food or toilets.

But not all his family is as fortunate. His sister is still in Bhutan.

"She was weeping with me when I phone her," Dhaurali said in English. "She has six kids but no one is in school. They don't allow the (ethnic) Nepali people to do the school."

Colorado, for the most part, has been a welcoming place. The state has seen an increase in its number of refugees in recent years - a trend Stein attributes to good coordination between public and private services, and the availability of jobs refugees can do.

Still, for many it is a difficult transition. Their communities are often microscopic, their social networks full of holes.

But like the immigrants who have come before them in American history, they somehow survive. Some thrive.

Most refugees come with their families, and parents often say they're willing to struggle so their children can live in peace, their lives uninterrupted by the horrors that caused them to flee.

A new language

A smaller number of refugees, like Ku Htoo, come here by themselves. Htoo, 20, is from Myanmar, the nation once known as Burma. He fled his village at 13 to escape forceful recruitment into the same military that was terrorizing his people, the Karen ethnic group.

He and his brother ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand, where he waited seven years for resettlement.

He's the only one in his family to make it to the U.S., and he sends money from his job as a night dishwasher at a downtown hotel to his family back home.

During the day, Htoo attends English classes. He sees the classes as his ticket to success.

"I like a higher-level job," he said, "but right now, I don't enough education."

For Colorado's refugees, the ability to read and write English can be either the key to success or a stumbling block that induces failure. Language skills are often what stand between them and a good job, good wages and a good life full of opportunities for their families.

"They are keenly aware that the only way to get out of a job like dishwashing, laundry or the meatpacking plant is to get more language skills," said Sharon McCreary, a teacher at the downtown Emily Griffith Opportunity School, which has a program for refugees.

"I hear it from my students every day," she said. "They're desperate to learn English because they have this ticking clock."

The ticking clock refers to the amount of time refugees receive federal assistance with rent, grocery and medical bills. For most, it's eight months, after which they're expected to get jobs and become self-sufficient.

Seeking a better life

The classes are tough, Htoo and other refugees say, and often frustrating. There are other hardships too: loneliness, Colorado's cold weather, financial strain and cultural differences.

It is a difficult life. But better than the one they left behind.

Bakani Osman knows. He left Somalia in 1992, driven out by the civil war that showed up one day at his doorstep.

Soldiers, he said, stormed the house he shared with his parents and siblings, and demanded money. When the family said they had none, the soldiers raped his mother. When his father tried to stop them, they shot him.

When Osman tells this story to his six children, all born in refugee camps in Kenya, they ask why he didn't do something to stop the soldiers. He tries to explain that they had guns and he didn't. They had power and he didn't. There was nothing he could do.

But Osman's kids, who grew up watching Western movies where the heroes always win, don't understand, he said. In most ways, he's glad they don't.

"They will get a good life here," Osman said of his children. "In Africa, there was no good life."

Refugee facts

What is a refugee?

A refugee is a person who has left his or her country "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion," according to the United Nations. Refugees may live and work in the United States and eventually become citizens.

What is an asylee?

The definition of an asylee is the same as that of a refugee. The difference is that refugees are granted refugee status outside the country while asylum is granted to people who enter the United States on their own. They apply and are accepted as asylees.

Where do the refugees in Colorado come from?

According to the Colorado Refugee Services Program, 1,304 refugees and asylees resettled in Colorado in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available. They came from more than 50 countries, including Afghanistan, Sudan and Rwanda. Where the refugees come from largely depends on what's going on in the world. In 1980, most came from Vietnam. In 1990, most came from countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. In 2007, the largest group was from Burma (344), followed by Somalia (308) and Ethiopia (77). Sixty-two came from Burundi and 55 from Russia. Fifteen Iraqis and 24 Iranians resettled here.

Why does the United States allow refugees to resettle here?

The origins date to 1951, when several nations - including the United States - held a special United Nations conference to help the millions of Europeans uprooted by World War II.

The result was a document, called the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which outlines how refugees should be resettled, and the creation of an agency to oversee the process. The convention originally was limited to World War II refugees but was expanded in 1967 to include all countries and conflicts.

Although the number of countries from which refugees may come has grown, the number that will accept them has remained small. According to the U.N., only 15 countries accepted refugees in 2006. The U.S. accepted the most, followed by Australia and Canada.

How many are here?

Nearly 38,000 refugees and asylees have resettled in Colorado since 1980. However, there's no way of knowing how many have stayed because the resettlement agencies don't track their movements.

• November 29, 2008

  5:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  roger44 writes:

  This country can track a cow back to it's origin, but doesn't track refugees, to see how many make it, turn to crime, or how they are doing. The picture of a Chinese man confronting a tank comes to mind when they say the soldiers have the power, they give in and watch these crimes and don't do anything. where would the African Americans be if they hadn't stood up and demanded their rights? Our education system is in the dumper, Politicians bailing out execs who draw millions of dollars a year to run businesses into the ground, people who answer polls and say our leaders are not doing their jobs but how many get off their duffs and write and call them? Unless we get off our tails, this country is in for a long haul of economic failure.

• November 29, 2008

  7:54 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Mr_Bill writes:

  roger44, you must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. While reading this article, it made me proud that America is still a place that people all over the world aspire to live. The strength of this country comes from the diversity of it's people. We are in some difficult times right now, no doubt about it. However, I have faith that we will prevail.

• November 29, 2008

  8:40 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  hikingartist writes:

  Seriously Roger "our education system is in the dumper?" Have you been to a local school lately? Because I have and they are full of good people trying their best every day. Granted, with mass media, etc., parents need to be more involved with their children, but what we have is a great system as long as the religious conservatives do not ruin it.

• November 29, 2008

  8:56 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  The_Punnisher writes:

  When you move to ANY new place, LEAVE YOUR OLD RELIGION, GOVERNMENT and ATTITUDE behind!
  RESPECT THE LAWS OF THE COUNTRY that became your host!
  You left that country for a reason, don't try to bring it here and force that behavior on the US CITIZEN!
  Don't abuse the opportunities you have been given...

  Don't become the person Ben Franklin is talking about:

  " Fish and Visitors stink after three days "

• November 29, 2008

  9:03 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Mr_Bill writes:

  Punnisher, you must not have read the article. It is not referring to illegals, but people our government allowed to come here to escape persecution in their home country.

  Why should the people who come here change their religion? That one of the the most ignorant and narrow minded attitudes you could possible have. What religion do you expect people to become?

• November 29, 2008

  9:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Mr_Bill writes:

  Sorry, I meant "possibly". I knew it wouldn't be long before someone turned this article into a rant against illegal aliens.

• November 29, 2008

  12:52 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Voin writes:

  That makes so much sense. Admit refugees as top priority, pay their medical bills, give them chapter 8 housing and so on. While people who pay $15k-$20k in taxes have to wait for decades and leave to Canada when patience run dry.

• November 29, 2008

  1:44 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  DakotaPlainsman writes:

  A large percentage of immigrants came to America to escape something... including my ancestors. Lack of opportunity, inability to own land, conscription in the military, poverty, oppression. It's what they do once they get here that counts. My grandparents were sent to the desolate prairie of North Dakota for free land. They immediately befriended their neighbors and worked to build a home, a school and a church. They adapted to their situation. Some recent arrivals seem to recreate the same dire situation from which they escaped. Assimilation is part of the problem. I would not dream of going to a new location and trying to live just as I did in the last place. I have traveled all over the country and the world. My best success came when I tried to assimilate. Of course, some may want to hold firm to their prior lifestyle. And, many of our ancestors did keep some of their "old country" traditions. Their seems to be a happy medium that makes for the best chance of success. Failure to learn the local language is a certain recipe for disaster.

• November 29, 2008

  1:46 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  The_Punnisher writes:

  The people commenting here would be the same type that would have complained that Paul Revere was violating noise ordinances during his late night ride...

  I say:" It still moves ".

  ' later

• November 29, 2008

  3:20 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Brain writes:

  Our country is a great one, even our poorest have far better lives than these refugees do/did; we allow more refugees/immigrants to come to our country than ANY other country in the world (700,000 annually since 2000). I think it is a shame that we don’t do more to enforce our immigration laws, this would help those we allow here legally even more. When we continually allow people to immigrate here illegally its harder for these people to be successful.
  I hope we allow as many or more people to come here LEGALLY and do something to decrease the people coming here ILLEGALLY.

• November 29, 2008

  3:39 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  MayanCalendar_2012 writes:

  I'd have that look on my face too if I worked at King soopers.

• November 29, 2008

  5:57 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  seeker writes:

  In many family immigration histories, only the men slowly learned to speak English to get jobs. Mostly they worked for families who were from their original country and they lived in small communities within the cities that were cultural ghettos or a microcosm of their homeland. The women rarely learned much English. They were housewives and what they learned came from their children. The first generations born in the U.S. were of course English speaking and usually bi-lingual. This has been the history of immigration in the U.S. Most of us don’t remember it. Our parents or grandparents may. In my family it was the Irish coming by the millions and the Germans trying to assimilate. The Irish brought their culture and gave us a history rich with their undeniable involvement in the building of America and in politics, the police and fire departments, literature, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and so much more. Likewise the Germans shared their industrious skills and Oktoberfest. Our America is enriched with the sprinkling of many cultures. One has to only watch PBS to appreciate all of them. The difference today is that most of our new immigrants and asylees don’t look like those from back then. They aren’t all white European Christians. We need to be patient and tolerant. This is America. We stand for freedom for every one of all ethnicities and religious backgrounds. It’s why they all want to come here. After reading some of these posts, it’s ironic, isn’t it?

• November 29, 2008

  10:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  The_Punnisher writes:

  Sigh.

  http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/arch...

  http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/urb...

  http://www.jerrykopel.com/2006/Ku-Klu...

  OT, but you asked. It's a shame you didn't learn how to use Google efficiently.

  And before you protest, the MAYOR ran the town in those days....

  And for the ON TOPIC related comments:

  http://obrl.blogspot.com/2007/12/shar...

  REALITY bites...HARD...

  Are you ready for the push for SHARIA law in Colorado?

  That is why my comments are relevant.

• November 29, 2008

  10:52 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Tatopani writes:

  The article, I must admit is one sided and has not been given due journalistic prudence. I encourage the readers to get both sides of the story and make your own decision thereafter. I empathize; having to meet deadlines and to make a living, sometimes the story gets distorted. I can't emphasize enough! The use of the term 'refugee' is not apt and comparing Bhutan's situation with that of Sudan, Somalia and Myanmar is just homework not done well. One cannot become a 'refugee' in ones home country. Who wouldn't like to live in ones home country? The fact is, Bhutan was never colonized, have a distinct unique identity (unlike the U.S. which is totally multi-ethnic) and just like most countries, has its own share of immigration issues to deal with as it enjoys better living standard. Please ask any one of these folks who claim to be Bhutanese and they will silently whisper that it is their own fault. Those that have arrived here are lucky. Please understand that, Bhutan is just another country dealing with its immigration issues, which is always sensitive and politicized. One has to visit Bhutan to help/awaken you. Trust me, it works! I will be more than happy to host anyone so that the planet will have one less ignorant being. Meanwhile, let the sun of happiness continue to shine on Bhutan and the light of wisdom cut through the darkness of ignorance of all sentient beings. Bliss~

• November 30, 2008

  1:04 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Tatopani writes:

  The article, I must admit is one sided and has not been given due journalistic prudence. I encourage the readers to get both sides of the story and make your own decision thereafter. I empathize; having to meet deadlines and to make a living, sometimes the story gets distorted. I can't emphasize enough! The use of the term 'refugee' is not apt and comparing Bhutan's situation with that of Sudan, Somalia and Myanmar is just homework not done well. One cannot become a 'refugee' in ones home country. Who wouldn't like to live in ones home country? The fact is, Bhutan was never colonized, have a distinct unique identity (unlike the U.S. which is totally multi-ethnic) and just like most countries, has its own share of immigration issues to deal with as it enjoys better living standard. Please ask any one of these folks who claim to be Bhutanese and they will silently whisper that it is their own fault. Those that have arrived here are lucky. Please understand that, Bhutan is just another country dealing with its immigration issues, which is always sensitive and politicized. One has to visit Bhutan to help/awaken you. Trust me, it works! I will be more than happy to host anyone so that the planet will have one less ignorant being. Meanwhile, let the sun of happiness continue to shine on Bhutan and the light of wisdom cut through the darkness of ignorance of all sentient beings. Bliss~

• December 5, 2008

  8:57 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  somnath writes:

  first i want to thank rockymountain news for our news. this is to response on different comments. i want to ask tatopani to speak the truth about bhutan as i think he knows more, plz answer me about the bhutanese refugees who are in nepal. are all those not from bhutan? what is the real image of bhutan?

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