War, poverty, and genocide are some of the reasons a vast amount of people are coming to America. Eighty percent of these people, 13 million in various parts of the world, are women and children, and a significant amount try settling in the Puget Sound region each year.
In 2003, over 2,000 refugees and immigrants in the Seattle area were helped by an organization called the Refugee Women's Alliance (ReWA).
Emanual Chi Dang, a Vietnamese woman who resettled in Seattle, founded the organization in 1985 after she realized there were problems facing her fellow women, especially concerning domestic violence, that were not being addressed. Today ReWA is one of the largest nonprofit refugee and immigrant service providers in the Puget Sound area, complete with a new facility and seven programs.
Targeting refugees and immigrants that are newly arrived in the country, ReWa seeks to provide women with services that are not offered by other agencies.
"The goal is to empower women refugees and immigrants by educating them and by looking at them from the perspective that they have a strength and resiliency despite what they've gone through," said Someireh Amirtaiz, Executive Director at ReWA. "A lot of people are prejudice against refugees and don't see their contributing to society and this is what we want to help them through."
Amirtaiz knows first hand what it is like to feel prejudiced in a new country. She came to America as a tourist around the time of the Iran revolution. Later she changed her visa to a student visa and after the Iran hostage crisis in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days, she realized how difficult it is to hide your identity and came to embrace her heritage.
"Our after school programs are giving the youth that come in here the tools to succeed academically and socially and are instilling pride and value of their own culture," Amirtaiz said. "Because you have to go back to your roots in life and be proud of where you came from, not embarrassed."
With Washington being the fourth largest refugee resettlement state in the nation, ReWA has begun to grow exponentially, with 100 percent financial growth in the last year. The center serves 16 ethnic groups that speak 23 languages and dialects.
With its main office located in South Seattle, ReWa has shifted the program to compensate for the needs of the community.
"We opened the Center in the South end because the population of refugees and immigrants is higher, due to the higher prices of housing in the rest of the city," noted Amirtaiz. "There weren't any programs there so that was a hardship for refugees and immigrants, so we decided that it was an appropriate move in terms of responding to the needs of the community."
Additionally, ReWA has placed itself in a position to help all sorts of people with programs ranging beyond just that of helping refugees and immigrants such as assisting victims of domestic violence, providing parent education programs, hosting youth programs, and offering programs for senior citizens.
Like most outreach programs, however, ReWA does have its struggles, particularly concerning problems that touch a sensitive area with the public.
"The issue of domestic violence is an issue that is taboo in many cultures so it is uncomfortable for people to address," observed Amirtaiz. "We have to find the balance between keeping the grassroots and yet grow as well. It's not just a matter of surviving but striving. We have to make sure that when the tough times come we can still provide the good services."
Clientele such as Mrs. H.D. from Vietnam concede that without ReWA to help her settle in Seattle, she would have been lost.
"Pretty much everything I have today was by the help of family advocates at ReWA," said H.D. through a translator. "People have been very friendly, not only the Vietnamese family advocates but everybody makes you feel like you're not segregated or inferior in any way."
H.D. was a teacher in Vietnam and came over to America eight years ago to be with her husband. After their divorce, and with the added responsibility of raising an autistic son, she was overwhelmed by the seemingly endless problems that arose from not knowing English as a first language. She needed help in diagnosing her son's problem, paying for his medical bills and the phone bills, and enrolling her son in school.
"They are like a second family that I can depend on for help," said H.D.
Many refugees experience the same confusion that H.D. did, and all are able to seek solace in ReWA.
"We try to provide them with answers to questions as well as give them emotional help," said Nga Nguyen, a Vietnamese Family Advocate at ReWA.
With their clientele expanding to include the whole of the Puget Sound, the help is much appreciated.
"My heart goes out to people who are here new and they don't know this system or the language," said Amirtaiz. "It is worthwhile and rewarding work even if it does touch a sensitive spot for some people in the community."[[In-content Ad]]
