help refugees

On Sunday, the Arab American National Museum will host Rock for Refugees, a concert to benefit the national campaign Take On Hate, as well as Freedom House Detroit, the nonprofit that helps new arrivals fleeing persecution. [...] Organizer Ismael Ahmed was inspired to hold the concert, he said, both by the rising hostility to immigrants and refugees nationwide, and the hopeful resistance that was sparked by the Women’s March and the airport protests over the president’s Muslim ban.

Education experts and government officials will gather at the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 20 to 24 March, to discuss ways of expanding the use of mobile technologies to “reach people where they are” and improve education opportunities for refugees and displaced persons and others in emergency situations.

The ubiquity of access to personal technology among contemporary refugees is an opportunity for innovation in refugee education. Phones can provide access to resources, information, languages, curriculum, and more. Tech companies have flooded this space with possibility—new apps, online learning portals, libraries. But, often lost in this rush to help, the best ideas may start very simply and originate within refugee communities.

Refugees are pouring in. Bran keeps a list of why. Besides “killing and torturing” are “abduction of men, trading has stopped, no schools, looting of properties”. “It was preventive fleeing,” says Charlie Yaxley of the UN high commissioner for refugees. [...] Yet inside Uganda something extraordinary is happening. Refugees can move freely, work and own a business. “Uganda is incredibly switched on,” says Musarait Kashmiri from African Initiatives for Relief and Development, which has opened 343km of roads in Bidi Bidi. “Uganda is a showcase,” says Yaxley.

A group of Arabic-speaking University students and community members are volunteering as tutors for Syrian refugee families residing in Hyde Park. The volunteering is facilitated by an organization called Sirat, which provides aid and community services to refugee families. According to its website, Sirat promotes the development of cultural expression, religious involvement, and community service, in line with the values of Muslim faith.

The Buderim-based Buddies Refugee Support Group is again calling for hosts for the Learn English Holiday program, which pairs refugees and Sunshine Coast residents for a week-long exchange. Fergus Fitzgerald of Buddies said he considered the exchange one of the organisation's flagship programs due to its immense benefits to both parties. "For the asylum seekers and refugees, sometimes this is the first time they've stayed in a normal family setting since they've fled their home,” he said.

The ACLU is America’s non-partisan guardian of liberty, working tirelessly since 1920 to defend the country’s original civic values, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They have no political affiliation or ideological component to their mission. Today they’re defending innocent refugee and immigrant families impacted by the recent executive orders—tomorrow they could be defending you, because they are committed to defending all of us.

The United States for decades has helped refugees start new lives, working through nonprofits to resettle and help them with paying rent, buying food and finding work. Communities often stand ready to help. Some get grants from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to make microenterprise loans up to $15,000 and teach business skills to aspiring entrepreneurs. 

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