I know I should not hold my breath but I can’t help it.  The father in our Karenni refugee family started a new job last week!  He completed a 40 hour week; 4 ten-hour days Monday through Thursday.  So far so good!  I think I can let my breath out.

His job is a temp-to-hire position at a company that makes corporate promotional t-shirts and other clothing.  He does general cleaning and shop floor support.

He LOVES it! When I pick him up after work he is practically glowing.

The problem we are working on right now is transportation.  Although it is fortunate that the company is located only ten minutes from his home, it is not on a bus line.  On top of that, he must start work at 6 am.

I did not have a single person volunteer to drive him to work at that early hour.  Go figure!  Thankfully, the W-2 program has arranged for a taxi cab to take him to work temporarily – for one month.  This will give us time to work out a plan.  Currently, four volunteers pick him up from work at 4:30 pm, each taking a different day of the week.  This is working beautifully.

We are busy checking into a possible carpool situation.  He also likes to ride his bicycle and I know he will do that once he is comfortable with the route and the weather cooperates.  This is a heavy traffic area so outfitting him with a helmet and reflective gear is a must.  When we told him about our worries of him biking to work, he laughed it off.  He used to drive a motorized scooter in an overcrowded city in Thailand, weaving in and out of traffic with little concern of his personal safety.  He told us we worry too much.  We told him we like him too much and are prone to worry.  We are not backing down on the helmet!

Our group is so relieved that the demands of the W-2 job search are over!  As a team, we put in 146 hours of time in 6 weeks for serious job search.  Out of this effort came 3 interviews (one by phone, two in person with an interpreter) and 2 calls from companies interested in learning more but discovering the English language barrier too great for the job requirement.  Although nothing we did directly landed him a job, we did learn some valuable things for the future.

For example, the people that arranged the interviews, and the ones that called to find out more, all commented on how much they liked his cover letter…

I wrote a cover letter explaining his refugee status, refugee info in general, and our commitment in supporting him through the job process as well as being resource for providing interpreters and being the liaison between employer and employee.  I also included a phonetic spelling/pronunciation of his name.  This resulted in a lot of positive feedback on the letter, but most of all they appreciated how to say his name when they called! 

We had never had the foresight to send out a cover letter of that kind before.  We used to focus solely on skills, and work ethic but nothing on the situation and support behind him/her.  It certainly helped with the online applications and made him stand out among the other candidates.

In the end, however, it was not the 146 hours we provided for the W-2 program, but rather the staffing company that put him into the first job that lasted only one day back in January placed him in his current position.

It does not matter how he got this job, we’re just super happy he has one.  And so is he!

We have a great core group of refugee resettlement volunteers.  Some of our activities come off without a hitch because we’ve got experience.  Some things work well simply because we have enough people sharing the load.

When things break down it is often because there are not enough people to handle the task. 

With our current resettlement project we have two families of four combined into a larger family of eight.  Where in the past we might have been able to get away with just a driver or two for appointments, we are starting to burn out our drivers this time around.

Whenever all family members are needed we require at least two drivers to have enough seats for everyone.  If only one or two family members are needed, as in the case for medical appointments, only one driver is needed.

Medical appointments can take their toll on drivers.  Often each person requires multiple visits to different doctors; public health, family doctor, specialists, dentist.  Usually the family members get appointments at different days and times and each appointment can take several hours.

With a small driving team the time requirements are too high.  Try to have one person do the majority of the driving and burn-out is not far behind.

This is a situation we’ve experienced before, but made much worse this time around by having a large family of eight persons.  Clearly we don’t have enough driving support at the moment.

What skills do you need to drive refugees to appointments?  There are three I would consider to be crucial.

1. Calendar management.
2. Comfort speaking to someone who may not understand your language,
      and/or
3. Comfort traveling in silence.

Calendar management is important to make sure you’re available when they need help.  Timing is important so that you’re picking them up with enough slack in the schedule to get the appropriate family members in your car or van and to the appointment on time.

Speaking to someone who may not understand your language and traveling in silence are two sides of the same coin.  I think it’s beneficial to talk while you drive even though those in the car don’t understand.  They are hearing spoken English from a friendly person.  If that’s too weird for you, then you should be comfortable with the opposite, saying nothing.

If you are OK doing these things, and you can give up a few hours of your time every once in a while then helping out on the resettlement transportation team might be a good fit for you.

(By the way, if you’re in the Waukesha area while reading this, and you’d be willing to drive we could use your help.  Just comment below with information on how to contact you.)