Being on the phone all day with refugees is not unusual for Omar Bah, the founder of the Refugee Dream Center. His phone rings constantly. He and his wife Teddi get calls about jobs, food, housing, interpreters–the list is long.
Most of the families who get help from the Refugee Dream Center are from the Congo, Somalia, and Syria. The life of a refugee adjusting to living in the United States is already hard, but the Coronavirus pandemic compounds that. “They are people who are looking for ways to settle down, to adjust to a new life that they were not prepared for,”Omar said. “And now there is a 2.0. Even staying home is probably harder for them than the average population.”
Refugees in the United States get some cash and medical assistance from the federal government and resettlement agencies, but getting basic, reliable information is a hurdle, especially during a crisis that requires physical isolation. A lot of refugees still rely on news and information from their home countries because they’re not comfortable speaking in English, and misinformation is a huge issue. Not only are those news sources not relevant to people living in the United States, they are also not necessarily reliable. “A lot of people get information such as, you know, false treatment, like eating garlic,” Omar explained. “Or a lot of information that we know is not recommended.” To combat this, Omar and his staff tell refugees the facts: there is no cure yet, but the government is looking for it, and there is no hope.
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