A Preview of World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day, coming up on June 20, is a day to raise awareness about the plight of refugees, and encourage citizens to become involved in the lives of displaced people.  In the coming weeks, Snellville Patch will highlight organizations and individuals in the area that are making a difference in this field, as well as a few stories from the lives of refugees in Snellville. 

According to Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, Snellville has gone from 90 percent white in 2000 to a little over 60 percent white in 2010.  Part of that change has been due to an influx of refugees and immigrants to the area.  

Although Snellville has 1,727 foreign born residents, neighboring Lawrenceville has 6,963 and Lilburn has 3,932, according to five-year estimates of the American Community Survey released  by the Census in 2009. (These estimates were based on a previous household population counts of 19,568 for Snellville; 27,191 for Lawrenceville; and 11,642 in Lilburn. The Census did not ask foreign-born information for the 2010 Census.)

Beth Rhodes, a former grant coordinator and caseworker at World Relief, which is located in the Stone Mountain-Clarkston area, was strongly affected by her work with refugees.  

"I realized how people so close to us have stories that are almost like movies," she said. "I've come to see where these people are coming from and have more patience and understanding for people who may not speak English."

While she worked at World Relief, she met with many Burundis, Burmese, Meskitian Turks, and Bhutanese families. Rhodes, who has grown up in Snellville, said she heard once that there are more ethnic Bosnians in Gwinnett County than there are in Bosnia now. 

"Quite a few Iraqi families are now settling in the Snellville/Grayson area," she said.

Bosnians and Iraqis are the primary refugee communities in Snellville, although there are small pockets of other ethnicity scattered throughout the city.

The Bosnian Community Center, located on Centerville Highway, moved to Snellville nearly six years ago. Mayor Oberholtzer has been active within their community and spoke at their Independence Day celebration in March. 

“It’s always been my goal, since I’ve been mayor, to reach out to new folks,” the mayor said. “I reach out so that people can come to Snellville and be a part of it.  We have so many good things going here.” 

The mayor believes that if people feel welcome in an area, they will become active in the decisions that affect it.  

The ambassador from Bosnia presented him with a silver tea set in honor of his work within the community.  Many members of the Bosnian community fled Bosnia during the war in the mid-90s.      

According to Refugee Family Services, a nonprofit based in nearby Stone Mountain, the Atlanta area is home to more than 50,000 refugees.  

A refugee is someone who, according to UNICEF, has fled his or her home country for fear of persecution. Their life is often in danger in their home country because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs.  Other circumstances that create refugees are war, human rights violations and natural disasters. 

A refugee differs from an immigrant. Immigrants take the time to choose their location, say goodbye to their family and friends, pack their belongings and head off with great hope for the future. Refugees often flee in the middle of the night, leaving everything and everyone behind. They are left at the mercy of their caseworkers.  Many spend years in camps with poor living conditions across the world.  

The cap for refugees entering the U.S. stands at 80,000, with most of those being allowed from "Near East and South Asia." In 2010, the U.S. took in 73,293 refugees, a nearly 2 percent drop from the previons year.

Worldwide, there were at least 14 million refugees, according to the most-recent World Refugee Survey. According to data at the UN Refugee Agency, there were an estimated 10.4 million refugees at the beginning of 2011 for whom the agency tracked. 

The Clarkston Community Center in Clarkston, Ga., will host a large celebration for World Refugee Day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 17.  The event is sponsored by the International Rescue Committee and the Georgia Coalition of Refugee Stakeholder partners.  It will feature Bhutanese and Burmese dancing as well as plenty of international food.  Everyone from the Atlanta area is invited to attend. Contact Amber Mull at Amber.Mull@Rescue.org for volunteer opportunities or call 678-636-8929.