World Relief Minnesota

Many of us involved in the lives of newly arrived refugees often approach the topic from our own vantage point: social worker, volunteer, friend, community member, church body, refugee.  We have questions as to why refugees do what they do or feel what they feel, or how they are impacted by their new communities.  We wonder why certain decisions are made on behalf of our new friends, and how they fit in to the multiple complex systems Minnesotans need to navigate on a regular basis.  And what is our role in all of this? The list of questions is almost endless and can differ depending on who is asking; and almost every question can be answered differently depending on who is responding.

This is why WRM is excited to announce the launch of our blog, Starting Over: Refugees in Minnesota.  We hope this blog will be able to give a holistic view of refugee resettlement by including the stories and refugees, staff workers, volunteers, community members, etc. from the perspective of various staff members at our organization.  The purpose is to shed light on the challenges and triumphs of refugee resettlement, and how those we serve are affected by people, policies, and systems here in Minnesota.

We encourage you to visit our blog at http://refugeeresettlementmn.wordpress.com/ and subscribe.  We’d also love your feed back or suggestions for future stories, which can be directed to mnvolunteers@wr.org.