Panel discusses church's response to plight of world's refugees in live webcast
"First I left a great part of myself in Iraq," said Khairalla through a translator. "The most precious thing in my life, that was my parents, I left them behind. I left Iraq because I was afraid for the lives of my children and my husband because of threats we had received … I left my precious country and went to Jordan to be a refugee."
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) hosted a live webcast Eucharist and panel discussion focused on the plight of refugees to mark World Refugee Day, June 20.
"We are here today to remember those who have no home and learn what we can do to help that sojourner," said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has designated June 20 World Refugee Day. On this day annually, events are held around the world to bring awareness and attention to the more 16 million refugees and many more millions of people seeking asylum worldwide.
Refugees are men, women and children who have fled their country to escape violence and persecution often related to their race, religion, politics and social involvement. Life in a refugee camp is also a challenge, where food is rationed and opportunities to work are limited.
Kharilla, dressed in jeans and a black blouse and wearing a yellow hijab, or head scarf, told the crowd of about 30 gathered at the church center that she and her family are adjusting to their new life, and are happy.
"We found a great hardship in Jordan … until 2008 we stayed in Jordan. My husband applied to UNHCR in Jordan because of the threats to his family; we were accepted as refugees and came to the United States," Kharilla said. "I am happy to be here with my family, we suffered a lot in Jordan."
Khairalla, her husband, Husam, and their children, Haneen and Saif, arrived in Wilton in October 2008. They were resettled through Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), a New Haven, Connecticut-based refugee resettlement agency, and EMM affiliate, that provides refugees with help obtaining social services, jobs and medical care; learning English; and adjusting to life in their new homes and communities.
Khairalla said she hopes her parents can come to the United States.
The U.S. Department of State works with and funds nine volunteer agencies -- five of them faith-based, including EMM -- and the State of Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services to resettle refugees in the United States. Congress and the president determine the number of refugees permitted to resettle in the U.S. each year. The 2008 quota was set at 80,000, however, 60,192 were actually resettled.
EMM oversees the arrival of six percent of the refugees entering the United States.
Refugees from Burma represented the largest group resettled in the United States -- 18,139 people -- in 2008. Iraqis were the second largest group. EMM organizes the refugees' case before they arrive and assigns them to one of its 30 resettlement partner agencies in 27 dioceses.
The resettlement partners also rely on churches to give time and money.
Churches that don't have financial resources can help with babysitting (80 percent of refugees are single mothers and their children), teaching English and helping people learn their way around the community, said Deborah Stein, director of EMM.
The Wilton Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Committee (WIRRC), which includes nine faith-based institutions – Christian, Jewish and Muslim – in a town population of 18,000, helped IRIS resettle the Khairalla family.
All of the institutions contribute in a different way, depending on the availability of resources and what they can contribute, said Steve Hudspeth, a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Wilton, which is part of WIRRC.
Hudspeth describes working with people of other faiths to resettle refugees and working with the refugees themselves as a transformative experience.
"You will be transformed by it, your community will be transformed by it and it will change your life," Hudspeth said as he choked back tears.
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