IRIS in the Media

News stories about IRIS — Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services

Panel discusses church’s response to plight of world's refugees in live webcast

By Lynette Wilson, June 19, 2009 | Episcopal Life Online

[Episcopal News Service] Noorhan Khairalla wept as she shared the story of her 10-year journey from Baghdad, first to Jordan, and then to Wilton, Connecticut, during a panel discussion on refugee ministry held June 19 in the chapel at the Episcopal Church Center in New York. 

"First I left a great part of myself in Iraq," said Khairalla through a translator. "The most precious thing in my life, that was my parents, I left them behind. I left Iraq because I was afraid for the lives of my children and my husband because of threats we had received … I left my precious country and went to Jordan to be a refugee."

Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) hosted a live webcast Eucharist and panel discussion focused on the plight of refugees to mark World Refugee Day, June 20.

"We are here today to remember those who have no home and learn what we can do to help that sojourner," said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has designated June 20 World Refugee Day. On this day annually, events are held around the world to bring awareness and attention to the more 16 million refugees and many more millions of people seeking asylum worldwide.

Refugees are men, women and children who have fled their country to escape violence and persecution often related to their race, religion, politics and social involvement. Life in a refugee camp is also a challenge, where food is rationed and opportunities to work are limited.

Kharilla, dressed in jeans and a black blouse and wearing a yellow hijab, or head scarf, told the crowd of about 30 gathered at the church center that she and her family are adjusting to their new life, and are happy.

"We found a great hardship in Jordan … until 2008 we stayed in Jordan. My husband applied to UNHCR in Jordan because of the threats to his family; we were accepted as refugees and came to the United States," Kharilla said. "I am happy to be here with my family, we suffered a lot in Jordan."

Khairalla, her husband, Husam, and their children, Haneen and Saif, arrived in Wilton in October 2008. They were resettled through Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), a New Haven, Connecticut-based refugee resettlement agency, and EMM affiliate, that provides refugees with help obtaining social services, jobs and medical care; learning English; and adjusting to life in their new homes and communities. 

Khairalla said she hopes her parents can come to the United States.

Read the complete Episcopal Life Online article »

IRIS, Synagogue Light Way for Muslim Family

The New Haven Register | Monday, April 13, 2009

NEW HAVEN - After living in a mosque where he worked as a caretaker — under missile fire — in a busy Iraqi city, the last place Dawood imagined he would end up would be inside a synagogue in a quiet Connecticut suburb. But Dawood — an Iraqi refugee who asked to be identified by last name only in order to conceal his identity from his countrymen — found what he thought was an unlikely source of help in America: congregants at Madison’s Temple Beth Tikvah.

Read the complete New Haven Register article »

Nonprofit prepares immigrants for citizenship

The New Haven Register story by Abbe Smith | Friday, July 4, 2008 3:00 AM EDT

Refugee Leila and Immigrant classNEW HAVEN - Leila came to America five years ago, seeking a new life and something she never had in her homeland of Iran: freedom.

"Freedom for living. Freedom for thinking. Freedom for women," she said. "I am going to prove women can be free. In my country, women are not free."

As Americans celebrate Independence Day today with fireworks, barbecues and parades, Leila will be doing her homework so that next year, she too might celebrate the holiday.

"I can get freedom here," she said, already patriotic in a jean jacket with an American flag emblazoned on the back.

Leila is one of 10 people taking a class aimed at preparing refugees and immigrants for citizenship exams, and helping them through the naturalization process. The 10-week class is conducted by Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization on Nicoll Street.

Several students in the class asked that only their first or last name be used out of fear for their families back in their native lands.

On Wednesday, the first day of the class, eight people crowded around a wooden table in a classroom at IRIS. The students - some of them refugees, some of them immigrants - come from as far away as Iran, Afghanistan, Mexico and Ecuador. Two students have citizenship exams coming up in less than a month. Most of them said their purpose in taking the free class is to pass the naturalization interview and exam.

But IRIS Executive Director Chris George has another goal in mind, as well.

"We want them not only to pass the exam," he said, "but to be new citizens who are participating in their community and their government." That includes teaching them the importance of attending public hearings and local meetings and helping them realize that they can have a say in the future of their lives and their children's lives.

"That's a very important lesson," George said.

Read the complete New Haven Register article »

To sign-up for the class, call IRIS at 203-562-2095.

 

IRIS Executive Director Chris George at NPRIRIS Executive Director Chris George talks about refugee resettlement in CT with Lucy Nalpathanchil on WNPR Radio's Where We Live

Each year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homeland to escape war, famine, persecution or torture for their beliefs. Some of these refugees find their new home in Connecticut.

Hear the story at radio station WNPR »