By Dan Metz
Special to Delaware Business Times
In 2013, Pathy and his pregnant wife were forced to flee their home in Central Africa to a Ghanean refugee camp, where they applied for refugee status with the United Nations. They raised their daughter in that camp, selling homemade charcoal to survive as they waited.
After five years of exhaustive background checks and interviews, Pathy and his family were able to make the journey to the United States, where they were greeted by representatives of Jewish Family Services (JFS), Delaware’s sole partner for refugee resettlement.
Now, Pathy and his wife work as house cleaners in Newark where they live with their daughter in a small suburban townhouse. Sitting at his kitchen table, Pathy expressed his gratitude. “Life is nice. I have a good job. I can support my family.” As he speaks, he looks over at his daughter, Victoria, who is watching Monsters Inc. in the living room.
When they first arrived, they needed a lot of help: transportation to work and doctors’ appointments, expensive translation services, and sessions with a social worker. Despite its contract with the state
of Delaware, JFS has covered much of these costs on its own.
HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, first formed its partnership with JFS in late 2016, with plans to settle 50 refugees over the course of the next year. HIAS is one of nine agencies partnered with the U.S. State Department. JFS got a small stipend for each refugee upon arrival, which would be used to pay for organizational and social services to help refugees adjust in their first 90 days.
In response, JFS hired a task-specific social worker and expanded their staff to match its new responsibilities.
As of Nov. 1, Delaware and JFS have received 58 refugees. JFS has been forced to pay out of pocket for the resources and staffing they still need to welcome incoming refugees to the First State.
Even the original amount was barely enough to cover costs, said JFS CEO Basha Silverman. “We were told and we signed a contract that we would welcome 50 people (in 2017). We were relying on a little less than $50k and staffed up and budgeted to do that. And you can tell, if you just kind of thought about what $50k covered, it barely covers someone’s salary, their health care, translation services, mileage. It was a skeletal structure.”
But Silverman and JFS remain committed to resettlement. “The past four years or so we have seen the largest worldwide international refugee crisis since World War II and JFS Delaware wanted to be part of the solution,” she said. “These families are seeking safety and freedom, just like all of us want. They are excited to be independent and excited to be self-sufficient and just need a little bit of guidance of which path to
take when they arrive here.”
The disparity comes from new federal regulations and restrictions, said Silverman. Since the partnership formed, the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. has dropped from 110,000 per year to a scheduled 30,000 for 2019, the lowest in U.S. history. In addition, the Trump Administration has blocked immigration and refugee resettlements from numerous countries with a travel ban, citing concerns that travel in general and refugee resettlement more specifically could allow unknown and potentially hostile individuals to enter the country.
Silverman said that dealing with the shifting regulations has been tough, but JFS’s relationship with HIAS has given her a lot of support. “We have weekly calls with all of the other affiliates across the nation. We’re allowed to ask hard questions, challenging questions. HIAS sends out a lot of emails, and we stay connected to others who do this work.”
Silverman also points to overwhelming support from Delawareans. “Delaware is a state where we know each other and we have relationships with each other. We’ve been able to make incredible change happen for these families.”
Meanwhile, Pathy’s just happy that he can take care of his family. He shows off his hands, which are no longer covered in calluses from chopping wood all day. “I have work. I have money to pay my bills. The money is small, but I have to take care of my family.”
