BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Approximately 3,500 refugees pour into Georgia annually from countries including Vietnam, Iraq, Bosnia, the former Soviet Union, Cuba and Somalia.

They are trying to escape racial, religious, ethnic or political persecution and often have only the clothes they wear when they arrive. They seek freedom and may have vague and glittering images of a new and better life.

Regardless of their national origin and unique experiences of struggle and torment, refugees share common adjustment and resettlement challenges, including finding housing and work, adjusting emotionally and physically and learning English.

The Multicultural Services Program of Catholic Social Services (CSS), a sponsoring agency of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), has created a resettlement program at four community centers staffed by 24 workers.

The workers travel among the centers to help refugees begin integration into American society. Having staff workers who speak a total of 15 languages, the program assists nearly 1,000 refugees, 30 percent of Georgia arrivals, each year.

The centers, begun nearly three years ago, are conveniently located in heavily populated refugee neighborhoods. Tam Bui, the director and a former South Vietnamese refugee himself, says, "(Refugees) are happy with (the centers) because they don't need to travel...This is the goal, to bring service to the community. If they need something, they go right there."

The five-year goal of the program is to help refugees achieve self-sufficiency and the first step toward reaching that goal is resettlement assistance.

Resettlement, according to Bui, helps refugees find housing and jobs, provides food, clothes, school registration for children and health care by providing access to services in the community or teaching refugees to access them themselves.

After attaining approval from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to enter the U.S. and after meeting United Nations refugee classification requirements, many refugees are referred to CSS by the U.S. Catholic Conference in Washington, D.C., or arrive simply through word of mouth.

The centers are located in Doraville, Cobb County, Tri-Cities and Grant Park and are open weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and often on nights and weekends.

As a requirement in the contract between CSS and the ORR, staff workers immediately locate affordable housing for refugees near a bus line or MARTA and provide donated furniture, household goods and bedding.

They also provide survival money until refugees can find employment through the Match Grant Program, a four-month welfare alternative program for refugees which 90 percent of their clients utilize.

Case workers welcome refugees at the airport, often finding individuals or families who are experiencing disorientation and culture shock and the psychological repercussions of war and brutality.

Bui recalls his own family's refugee experience. "When we come over here, we don't have anyone. We try our very best to survive."

In directing the program he says, "I can use my experience and determination and all the information I learned...I would like to share with them how I overcame."

At Grant Park Community Center staff workers sponsor monthly orientation sessions for 30 to 40 people which address immediate mental, social and financial needs and provide refugees the opportunity to ask questions. Representatives from the Department of Family and Children's Services, DeKalb Tech and the Atlanta public school system review topics including enrollment in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and arrangements for health screening exams and child immunizations at a local clinic.

"They can see some options and build some self- esteem," says Bui. "We speak on their behalf. We advocate (for) them and offer them services."

At the centers, informal orientations are offered individually between case workers and refugees where survival skills are discussed. Bui says that the process is ongoing and that refugees continuously call with questions and requests. As they adjust to life in the community, staff workers escort them to apply for Social Security cards and drivers licenses, and counsel on cultural adjustment topics from reading grocery store labels and freezing raw meat to learning crime prevention.

Other topics commonly discussed include washing clothes, shopping for groceries, using public transportation, accessing medical services, paying rent and utility bills and registering for the military draft.

Silvia Barron, a Hispanic case worker at the Doraville center who has worked with refugees for nearly two years, believes that cultural adjustments and learning English are the biggest initial challenges for refugees and that many arrive having heard only vague rumors of the American lifestyle.

The centers are very important to refugees because they need to know that workers care for them as they struggle to adjust.

"They have the feeling that we are their mother ship. They come to us to ask or to answer their questions," she said. "This is something I believe we need to continue."

Soran Ahmedif, a Kurdish refugee from Iraq who has visited the Tri -Cities Center for three months, appreciates the quick assistance he received in getting food stamps and a job at Silver Line Corp. building windows and doors. He was attending the center's ESL classes, but with his new job has less available time for them.

Apdiris Kanyare, a Somalian refugee who escaped and has been in the U.S. for nearly a month, is thankful through the assistance at Tri-Cities Community Center to share a house with four brothers and a sister and to have food money. He says, "I'm happy to get that assistance from (the) American people and government."

As they begin to become settled, many refugees continue utilizing ongoing services offered at the centers in collaboration with 21 Atlanta non-profit agencies, including Bridging the Gap, a youth violence prevention program, the Truancy Program, which links parents and schools, and the Family Friend Program, which matches volunteers with refugees.

Within three years of arrival, Bui says, refugees become more financially and emotionally independent and rely less on the support and services.

Bui says that 90 percent of the refugees receiving funds from the Match Grant Program find jobs within four months and that generally refugees receive welfare for a maximum of six months.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the unemployment rate among documented immigrants, which includes all refugees, is lower than the national average and 7.2 percent of immigrants start their own businesses.

Assistant Director Pete Sweeney feels that refugees and immigrants are hard working and determined to succeed in American society.

"It's like shoving them into a sink or swim situation and they swim," Sweeney said. "We help them to take advantage of skills they already have. Most people upgrade their social and economic status."

Bui's greatest joy in working with refugees is "to see the people have success."

When funds become available, he hopes to open a center in Clayton County. In order to increase the opportunities, he said, "We would like some more support in everything--manpower, volunteers, friends, advocates for refugees and immigrants, because they don't have a voice."

For more information on Multicultural Services Program, contact Tam Bui at (404) 881-6571.