Bridge to Self Reliance 2000 refugees San Diego CA

Large Arabic-speaking families from Darfur have been among recent refugee arrivals in San Diego.  School children frequently arrive with no English, and often with no experience of formal education. If the only language they know does not use our alphabet, where do they begin? An Episcopal Refugee Network's outreach...

We had climbed up the narrow stairwell in a stark concrete box of a building. The apartment was on the 4th floor. I had brought someone with me, who had "never met a refugee", and who registered in her expression, amazement at how different living conditions in this area of the city were from the areas with which she was...

One day, when delivering household goods to a family in City Heights, San Diego, I was met at the curbside by the mother.  She smiled broadly, placed a very heavy box of dishes on her head, and bending her knees to clear an overhead bar at the gate, without missing a step, she disappeared up three flights of narrow...

This summer brought three special reasons for celebration.  First, the Network's new weekly tutoring session for refugee school children in El Cajon, filled to capacity with eager students.  Those receiving this help in El Cajon are mostly Karen and Iraqi. Some require our staff's translation services.  All...

In 1998 one hundred Lost Boys of the Sudan arrived as refugees in San Diego.  They were young men who had suffered many dangers and privations on their long walks to refugee camps. For them, the struggle to adapt to a new and very structured society was often more traumatic than it was for those who came as part of a...

The Episcopl Refugee Network is frequently needed to solve the many problems that a family faces when one member gets sick.  A salary lost may mean the rent cannot be paid.  It can mean having to decide between buying needed medication for Grandma and putting food on the table for several days.  Even a week...

Most cultures have a set pattern of greeting such as, "Hello James. How are you?" "Fine thank you.  How about you?" Neither person expects a long list of ailments in reply - it is simply an expression of pleasure in meeting.  Many of our refugee families come from cultures which go a step further.  For them,...

For our poster girl for June, in picture 1, the end of the school year marked a huge step into a bigger world. She had attended high school in San Diego for two short years, and had enthusiastically attended every Thursday's after school tutoring/homework coaching progam, run by the Network. She had also come to community...

In the last three weeks the Refugee Network has received several exciting pieces of news about what refugees we have helped in the past are doing now. Those who knew how to speak and write English when they arrived, and those who had work experience or education, had a definite advantage when it came to adjusting to this...

It happened again on February 18th!  It was a Friday. The telephone rang. It was a refugee who had used our services in the past and knew where to turn for help.  "Did you know there is a family in our block of apartments that has no food for the weekend................?"    A conversation...

 5 days into the challenge that gave our project a permanent home on the Global Giving web site, the response from those who know the work of the Episcopal Refugee Network was strong and we already were close to fulfilling the requirements.  We needed only 21 more donations!  Your getting the word out to...