The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

32 APRIL 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A isha arrived at Kennedy Airport on a rainy afternoon in November 2009 looking more than a little apprehen- sive as she clutched her two small children and a number of mis- matched bags holding their personal belongings. Four years earlier, she had fled her village in Rwanda and ended up in a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There she awaited resettle- ment in a third country. She filled out reams of application forms, provided bio- graphical data, and sat for interviews with representatives of the Resettlement Support Center and numerous security officials, followed by medical exams. When she was finally told that the United States had accepted her application, it was like a dream come true. But it was not until she had a departure date, and started attending cultural orientation classes, that the reality sank in: she was actually going to America! Aisha was suddenly beset with doubts. She didn’t know a soul in America; how would she survive? Maybe she should just stay in the camp, she thought. But with everyone congratulat- ing her and telling her how lucky she was, she put on a brave face and reminded herself of the violent events she had lived through, and the anguish of the years since leaving Rwanda behind. Right now her most pressing concern was hiding from her children her fear of getting on an airplane for the first time in her life. She was reassured when she was greeted in New York City by a representative of Church World Services, who assisted her family in transiting the airport and boarding another plane to Minneapolis. There, the local CWS sponsor escorted them to a two-bedroom apartment. It was a bitterly cold, snowy day in December; they had never seen snow before. Then things began to happen at a bewildering pace. The sponsor explained how the stove, heating system and smoke alarm worked, and took Aisha and her children to a church basement so they could pick out warm clothes. Other CWS staff explained U.S. currency, showed her around the neighborhood, and pointed out where and how to shop, and how to take the Carol Colloton, a State Department Foreign Service officer from 1976 to 2002, served as deputy chief of mission in Mauritania and as the first regional refugee coordinator for Central Africa following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, among many other assignments. After retiring from the Service, she worked for several years with State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration on refugee resettlement, and continues to do other work as a When Actually Employed annuitant. How Refugee Resettlement in the United States ActuallyWorks Historically, the United States has permanently resettled more refugees than all other countries combined. Here’s what’s involved. BY CAROL COL LOTON FOCUS ON HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY