June 14th, 2014, 11:30 am to 3 pm

Once again, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, 1800 N. Congress Ave., will host and cosponsor Austin’s World Refugee Day celebration.

For the sixth consecutive year,  a citizenship ceremony for refugees eligible for US citizenship will take place in the Spirit Theater on the second floor of the museum.  The ceremony starts promptly at 12 and space is limited, so to attend please make sure you are there by 11:45 am.

Educational activities for all ages will include the refugee journey as well as arts and crafts, face painting, a photo booth, entertainment, food and international music. X8 Interactive Drumming is among the performers as well as some talented refugees.

For more information check www.austinrefugees.org or email lzeidan@interfaithtexas.org.

Caritas of Austin is 50 but still as spry as ever! The birthday bash, 4-7 pm on May 8th, 2014, is free and open to the public. It features live music, refreshments, client art exhibit and tours of the Caritas offices.

The event is at St. David’s Episcopal Church at 301 East 8^th St., Caritas’ first location. For more information, check www.caritasofaustin.org

The annual Refugee Roundtable meeting that took place on February 22, 2014, saw great attendance and participation from many organizations in Austin that work with refugees.

The meeting started with Angela-Jo Touza-Medina, Education Services Program Manager at Caritas, who is also the Vice Chair of the Austin Commission on Immigrant Affairs. She gave a summary of what the commission is doing that would be beneficial for Austin’s refugee population.

Next  visiting representatives from the  US Citizenship and Immigration Services spoke and answered questions about the process and barriers of refugees becoming US citizens.  The group included:  Mario Ortiz, District Director; Elaine Mueller- Cantu, Field Office Director; Jacque Crouse, Community Relations Officer;  and visiting from Washington DC, Bryan Salas, New Chief of the Office of Public Engagement .

Then, Evelyn Apoko took the floor, and spoke with candor and deep emotion about being kidnapped as a child by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and her journey from that horrific experience to the positive and inspiring role she sees for herself today. Her moving words reminded us all of the experiences that refugees have had and the real reason everyone in the room devoted time to this work.

Next, each organization present took time to introduce itself and explain their work with Austin’s refugee community. Many questions were answered and connections made between organizations. Thank you to those who participated and to those who invited other interested organizations.

The next public event is a workshop in October. The topic is still to be determined, so if you have any suggestions of topics pertaining to refugees that you would like to learn more about, please email lzeidan@interfaithtexas.org .

The Fate of US Interpreters

To safeguard US allies, Congress passed the Kennedy/Lugar-Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act in 2008. The program provided Special Immigrant Visas to US collaborators and their families to evade danger in their home country and start anew in the United States. This applied to interpreters and others who have worked with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Due to their service to the United States, the lives of these interpreters and contractual workers and their families were plunged into extreme danger when US troops withdrew from the country. However, from the program’s inception, granting SIVs did not run as well as had been expected. The Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis who had worked for the United States during the war in Iraq officially expired at the end of 2013 after a three month extension from its original expiration date in September. Now with the military operations winding down in Afghanistan,   we wonder if the same issues are awaiting those individuals and their families.  For the details read  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/23/afghan-iraq-interpreters-siv_n_3481555.html

One former USAID officer who experienced the tragedy  US collaborators face was Kirk Johnson. Johnson began work as an USAID officer in Iraq in January 2005. He returned to the US in 2006, and in that same year, he received notice that an Iraqi friend and colleague he had worked with received a death threat. A militant group had left a dog’s severed head on his front steps with a note that said “Your head will be next.”  Johnson’s colleague had to flee Iraq with his family because he was denied aid from the United States. This event prompted Johnson to create awareness concerning the plight of the US-affiliated Iraqis. He began The List Project, an organization that represents the Iraqis in danger for their work with the US by providing them with legal support in their immigration process. Read more about The List Project here… http://theli  stproject.org/