Elder refugees thrive in Aurora

Aurora News Today has produced a story about the collaboration between Colorado African Organization, DRCOG, and the Area Agency on Aging, along with the Aurora Center for Active Adults. Elder refugees often feel left behind and isolated in the resettlement process, but these organizations have combined resources to help this population keep moving, keep learning, and keep finding their place in our community. Click here to watch this uplifting story. The video should launch at the 12:20 mark. Enjoy!

Refugees in the news

In case you missed it, there were some excellent refugee-related stories in the news this week.

From Colorado Public Radio, an excellent overview of the specific and special health needs of refugees. What do doctors and other health care providers need to know and keep in mind when working with refugee patients? This story is about 20 minutes long, but worth every minute. The medical school at the University of Colorado has also added a refugee rotation for its students who are training to be doctors. The first family mentioned in the story was also part of our in-home tutoring program. Click here to link to the story and access the online media player.

From National Public Radio (NPR), an intriguing look at the long, sometimes incomprehensible journey that asylum seekers take to get to the U.S. Although many asylum seekers come into the country as students, workers, or tourists, many others enter on foot, via the U.S-Mexico border, with journeys that originate in places such as China, Sudan, Eritrea, or Nepal. We've heard many similar stories as our students have told us their own accounts of risking everything to find safe haven in the U.S. Click here to listen to the story.

David Gilkey/NPR

Also from NPR, an audio story and photo essay about internally displaced populations in Afghanistan. Although you can read this story, it really is worth the time to listen. The photography tells a story all its own. Click here to access this story.

Photo: KUSA

Last week, you may have come upon this story. It was produced locally and also ran  on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Amira Ali lived the past 24 years believing her daughter had been killed when the family fled an attack on their village in South Sudan. When Amira set up her Facebook account, she soon got the incredible news that her daughter was alive. The two were recently reunited in Denver. Click here to watch this story.

The thing about Facebook...

Did you know we have a Facebook page? We use Facebook to keep our volunteers up-to-date on local events in the refugee resettlement community, to share news, and to offer insights into all things refugee related.

We post updates to our Facebook page several times a week. Even if you follow us there, you might be surprised to know how often we post. You may be thinking, "But I only see posts every few weeks." That's right--it's not you and it's not us and there's nothing wrong with your Facebook newsfeed.

No matter how often we post, Facebook only allows a fraction of those posts to go into the social flow. Most of our posts go out to fewer than ten percent of our followers. Of course, for $30 per post, we could reach a much wider audience, but that's definitely not in our budget. You see, whereas your personal posts go out to all of your friends, posts made on "pages," like those maintained by businesses and nonprofits, only go to all followers if the organizations pay for that distribution. Facebook is only sort-of free in this case.

Why are we telling you this? Because we'd like you understand that the news we post is there for you to see, but you have to go and look for it. It's really easy to do that. Every few days, either search for our name in the search bar at the top of the Facebook page or click on our name on any post you did get to see. Follow that to our Facebook page, and you'll see everything we've posted, in chronological order. You just need to make it a habit to check our page on a regular basis.

Thanks for including us in your social media activities. If you aren't following us yet, just follow this link to visit our page: Colorado Refugee ESL Volunteers. You don't even need to have a Facebook account to view our page; it's public!

In-home tutor training

The next training for in-home tutors will be on Saturday, April 12, 2014. If you would like to join our program, training is mandatory--and you must stay for the entire day! Applications can be found on our website, www.refugee-esl.org under the heading, "Apply to our program."

Save the date!

In-home Tutor Training

Saturday, April 12, 2014

8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Breakfast is provided.

Questions? Send your inquiries to sharon_mccreary@dpsk12.org