Coming to a new country
can be a drastic change for person but with help they can adjust.
Journey’s
End Refugee Service is a Christian founded agency located in Buffalo. Their
goals are to settle family units and adults, help refugees learn English,
provide them with skills to obtain a job, and assist with their health.
Mary C. Cummings is the Board Chair of Journey’s End and
a professor in the Elementary Education and Reading Department at SUNY Buffalo
State.
Cummings has been
a part of the Journey’s End family for quite some time.
“I got started working with Journey’s End by
working with Bell Network through Buffalo State in 2007. That was designed to
focus on second language support on the west side,” said Cummings.
One of the goals for Journey’s End is to get refugees
adjusted to American customs through the use of case workers. Cummings said “We
have a large network of case workers assigned to each refugee family that comes
in and they walk them through for a period of three months with everything they
can possibly need.”
Cummings also discussed the specific types of aids that
are provided. “There are health services, educational services, especially for
language acquisition. There are legal services and there is usually someone
assigned to support them while they are getting resettled in the community.”
People from all over the world find themselves at Journey’s
End, Cummings said particularly, “wherever there is strife and conflict and a
person can be identified as a refugee.”
Journey’s
End also works closely with the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees.
Cummings said “They designate refugee populations and people that are
considered refugees. Then, that starts a process through Church World Service
and Episcopal Epic Medical ministries with us to get folks into this country.”
Although
journey’s end was founded by a Christian organization, it doesn’t put pressure on
Non-Christians refugees to convert. “Non-believers are not affected by this
because we do not focus on that one component,” Cummings said. It was founded
by a Christian organization but everyone’s needs are met, regardless of their
religious affiliation.”
Not only does Journey’s End assist refugees with getting accustomed
to American culture but they also help reunite families. The
agency reunited a mother and son who had not seen each other for three years.
“The people who work on that are to be highly commended,”
Cummings said. “They work diligently to try and reunite these families. They
expressed to me that when the reuniting happens it’s just a very exciting and
joyous time for them.”
The reunification process can take a while.
“There
are several cases pending where our legal department helps track down separated
children from their parents and then work to reunite them. It is a long
process. Months, and months, and months can be involved, if not years to get
that reunification established,” Cummings said.
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