By Cynthia Shabb
GRAND FORKS -- June 20 marked World Refugee Day, recognizing the tens of millions of refugees forced to leave their homes in search of a better life.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees established World Refugee Day in 2000. Today, more than 100 countries join together in celebrating the courage of refugees and the contributions they make daily to their communities here in the United States.
Global Friends Coalition would like to express its appreciation to the many organizations and individuals who helped make our recent commemoration of World Refugee Day a success.
We were pleased to partner with Lutheran Social Services New Americans and the United African Community. Thanks go out to the Town Square Farmer's Market for welcoming the World Refugee Day Fair and to the Grand Forks Park District for support of the soccer game held at Lion's Park. We appreciated the presence of Grand Forks Mayor Mike Brown and all attendees.
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And to all the new Americans who cooked, prepared performances and helped organize the event, we thank you for sharing your cultures with the broader community.
The Global Friends Coalition also appreciates the Herald's before-and-after coverage of the event. But three points in one story need clarification ("Refugees celebrate citizenship," Page B4, June 17).
First, the story combines the work of two separate nonprofits. In Grand Forks, Lutheran Social Services New Americans and the Global Friends Coalition both work with resettled refugees and partner on some projects, including World Refugee Day. But the groups also have distinct missions.
Lutheran Social Services New Americans is the refugee resettlement program in North Dakota. Global Friends Coalition's mission is refugee integration. We accomplish this through work with new Americans as well as the general community.
For example, we provide volunteer mentors and English tutors to new Americans. We also do outreach work with the general community to help people learn about and interact with new Americans.
Our goal is to help new Americans form connections and become engaged members of the community.
Second, the article's headline and its discussion of a local new American's story may have been misleading about the citizenship process. In reality, attaining citizenship is lengthy and difficult and includes both a written test and personal interview.
The path to citizenship requires good English language comprehension and civics knowledge. A resettled refugee is eligible to apply for citizenship after living in the country for five years and must devote a great deal of time to prepare.
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Third, the story suggests that "Somalia's violence has driven the Bhutan refugees here" when in fact, Bhutanese refugees fled Bhutan and went to Nepal, where they have lived in refugee camps, some for as long as 20 years.
Again, we thank everyone who took the time to learn more about new Americans in our community through the World Refugee Day events. We hope to see everyone next year for the fifth year of our local commemoration of the day.
Shabb is program director for Global Friends Coalition.
