Issues of housing, economics, education and social acceptance are among the challenges international refugees face when they come to Utah, according to a recent study.

MacLeans Geo-JaJa, a professor in BYU's Educational Leadership and Foundations Department, co-conducted the study with University of Utah professor emeritus Garth L. Mangum. The study was funded by the David O. McKay School of Education.

The professors interviewed about 100 refugees and drew conclusions on what life has been like for them.

"The essence of this research is to examine how well we, as a state, are doing in terms of delivering culturally sensitive services to refugees and helping them achieve social and economic integration into the system," said Geo-JaJa in an interview with University Communications.

Geo-JaJa is a former refugee from Nigeria who fled to the United States in the early 1970s, according to University Communications.

Many of these families reside within the Salt Lake's Granite School District boundaries, a 300 square mile region. Lately, more families have been coming from Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan and Liberia, as well as 47 other countries, according to Paul McCartey, administrator of educational equity in Granite School District.

Research

In the study, one conclusion is how overwhelming education can be for refugees, as they resettle without knowing English.

"Many of our parents and children coming into the country have had little if no formal education from their originating country they're from," said McCartey. "We need to help them all we can and also cultural confidence."

Geo-JaJa said the English as a Second Language (ESL) program needs improvement. Refugees don't know enough English in their daytime jobs.

"To us, ESL is a key integrator that has not received enough attention in terms of delivery," he said to University Communications. "It should be consumer-friendly."

As many refugees enter Salt Lake with little or no education, the study finds them to be working low-income jobs that help them learn the basic job skills.

"A lot of them are working for Deseret Industries," said Carrie Pender, a refugee family-support specialist. "There they're offered English classes while they make money, learn job skills and obtain clothes. Their biggest problem is English."

Other refugees are working at places like Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

Refugees

As of 2005, the Deseret Morning News reported there are 30,000 to 50,000 refugees in Utah. They come in search for a haven from the social and political turmoil their native countries face.

Nyaneeng Aleu is one of these refugees. She fled from her native country of Sudan to Ethiopia and then to Kenya seeking protection from the attacks of the Sudanese army during the country's civil war, which began in 1983.

"You can't sleep at night because you worry about being killed," Aleu said. "Sometimes they grab the women and kill the men immediately. Sometimes there's no food, no water."

Aleu gave birth to one of her sons during her run. Not having anywhere safe to go, she hid in a bush as her father pulled the umbilical cord with straw grass.

Upon her arrival to Kenya, Aleu fled to a refugee camp, where the United Nations housed, fed and taught her English and interviewed her about her feelings toward the living conditions in Sudan. She told them she did not feel safe and did not want to return. She was placed on a plane with her children set to fly to Salt Lake in 2004 at age 35.

She was put in connection with the Catholic Community Services (CCS), a refugee agency in Salt Lake.

CCS settles between 300 to 450 refugees a year, said Aden Batar, director of CCS's Refugee and Resettlement and Immigration Program.

"We're a non-profit agency," said Batar, a former refugee from Somalia. "We get little resources from the federal government. For each refugee we resettle, we get $425 per person to provide all furnishing [and] household items, plus rent, utility, deposit for first month."

Since Aleu's arrival, she has accomplished much, she said.

"When I came here, I felt worried because I didn't know the United States," she said. "But I learned more English, finished my ESL in 2005, got my high school diploma and am now at Salt Lake Community College. I want to study social work."

Now, she also drives and currently works as a translator for incoming refugees who only speak Arabic and Dinka.

She is safe now, she said.

"I have food, where to stay, and it's secure."

Copyright Brigham Young University 25 Jun 2007