Hear our Words and Understand our Needs: Burundian and Burmese Refugee Women Resettlement Experiences DeBrenna LaFa Agbényiga, LMSW, PhD 1 Salamatu Barrie, Graduate Student 2 Michigan State University School of Social Work 1 Ecological-Community Psychology 2

Literature 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide – Of the millions who are displaced, 15.2 million people are classified as refugees – Waves of Refugees 1900-Europeans/Russian Jews 1960 Cubans/Latin Americans/Asia 2000-Yugoslavia (former) Present- Increase immigration from non western countries

Literature (Cont.) Resettlement Period- Goals – Child care – Housing – Healthcare/food assistance – ESL – Employment – Social support – Cultural adaptation

Purpose of Study What do Burundians and Burmese Refugee women need during the resettlement period ( days after arrival)?

Methods Sampling Frame Matched pairs samples (married couples) Single men and women Semi-structured Interviews Consent form (IRB) Protocol components Interviews (including translator) Participant incentives Snowball recruitment Participant Demographics (N=33) Burundian (n=23)Burmese (n=13) Gender Male11 (48%)8 (62%) Female12 (52%)5 (39%) Age (mean) Children (mean) Education 0-2 years8-9 years Employment Status 15 (65%)8 (62%) Participant Demographics _Women (N=17) Burundian (n=12)Burmese (n=5) Age (mean) Employment Status6(50%)3(60%)

Results-Burundian Women Basic Materials Employment, money, furniture, food, housing Culture Specific English Courses Learn English in a community setting (e.g., sewing group) Community Support Interact with more Burundians or other refugees from Africa Respect Better/Quicker responses from agency staff ESL teachers take into account their age and educational level Being treated like an American “I didn’t like it; I’m not happy with that. Um, I didn’t get money. I want to say house, I didn’t find nothing in the house, she didn’t get the money like other refugees…, and 6 month for me, for us, who didn’t go to school, at all, it’s not really enough. It’s nothing for us [big emphasis on nothing]. Because 6 month it’s almost done. I still don’t know where to, where my hospital is. I don’t know how, or I can say if I go to the hospital, snow is coming we will die in the house cause we don’t know where to go. We don’t know nothing. So they have there suppose to extend that the time they need to help us. Even somebody who went to school, they cannot just get use in 6 months. How bout me? … In Africa it’s really hard for old person just to get something so quickly. So it’s really hard for us to learn and then when we cam, before we came, they told us that we are really poor, people had a lot of problems, no background, they want us just to be okay, to bring us here just to feel good. Forget about the things they probably had. But it’s not what we found here. They looked for us expensive houses cause we don’t know how we’d paid those houses. We really don’t know how our life will be, yeah, so they are supposed to help us paying the house, even after six months, so that they can wait until we get used with the life. We can know how to work and just, get used with the life but it’s look like we never improve. So, briefly house, I didn’t, she didn’t find anything in the house and then, they didn’t have, any, about, money thing, and then six months is not enough for them”

Results-Burmese Women Employment Language Courses Able to speak their dialect in class Get help from other students in the class Health Find proper medical care Medicare Educational advancements for their children “Okay, so they[agency] didn’t help for looking for a job and by that time she had [a job] she had a very difficult time to pay the renting fees and even all the clothing too and they didn’t have enough yet, so she had to borrow from other people and it took so long to pay back.” “Um even though [the agency] has provided ESL classes that have been good, but I wish the way they provided us was for instance okay nobody can speak Burmese language then we’re not allowed to speak Burmese language in the class than… all [of us are at ] different levels and then some of us don’t know anything, even one word that what they’re talking, what they’re talking… then when they [other people in the class] explain to us what the teacher was saying in Burmese then the teacher give us punishment again so then nothing is really beneficial so for [the] future” “Oh, okay, I had a gastric problem, stomach problem, and the first two months doctor took care for that and gave some medicine, but after two months when I went there, she didn’t get any medicine anymore, so right now I’m still feeling pain for that. I cannot eat many foods”

Questions ???

Contact Information DeBrenna LaFa Agbényiga, PhD, LMSW Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Inclusion College of Social Science 509 E. Circle Drive 201F Berkey Hall Office (517) Office (517)