Christine Petrie has worked as the national resettlement director for the International Rescue Coalition (IRC), a refugee relief organization based in Manhattan, for the last 13 years. The Weehawken resident works at trying to relocate refugees from all over the world in safer environments, like the United States.
“To have some semblance of a life is the only reason why most of them flee their countries,” Petrie said. “The IRC is just one of nine resettlement agencies in the world. We have 22 locations, including a small operation in West New York for Cuban refugees. We represent many refugees worldwide. But only a tiny percentage of them make it to resettlement in the United States.”
The number of refugees in Africa is staggering.
“There are over one million refugees in Tanzania from Burundi and the Congo,” Petrie explained. “In Kenya, the refugees fled from Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan. Most of those refugees will never get a chance to resettle. They wait in refugee camps until the situations in their native countries are stabilized, but some never do. A lot end up in camps for 10 years or more.”
Petrie said that the United States government decides which refugees can come to the United States legally.
“There is a refugee admission ceiling,” Petrie said. “There’s a certain number that the government will allow to enter, like 70,000 worldwide and some 25,000 from Africa. We have the program to get them started on the road to self sufficiency when they arrive here. We find them employment, a place to live. It’s amazing to see. Many arrive here with just the clothes on their back, and we help them make the most of their opportunities.”
Petrie said that many of the refugees are placed in areas where there are others from similar backgrounds, so than means placement in urban settings.
“We want them to feel as welcome as possible when they arrive,” Petrie said. “If they have relatives or friends here already, we try to place them there. We place them where there is the best opportunity to find employment and where the cost of living isn’t too high. But we have resettlement operations in each state.”
Petrie has been helping many African refugees resettle in the United States for more than a decade, but she never had a chance to see what it was like in Africa where the refugees were fleeing.
Until three weeks ago, when she was given the opportunity to travel to Kenya and Tanzania and see for herself how these people live.
“The leadership of our organization asked if there were any of us who were willing to go to see it first hand,” Petrie said. “It was my first chance to go to Africa and I thought it was a good opportunity. I have wanted to go for a long time, so this basically was a lifetime opportunity.”
So Petrie took the 17-hour flight to Kenya to see the refugee camps for herself for the first time.
“You hear so many things about Africa, and it seems so removed from everything else,” Petrie said. “I was expecting to find more poverty and desperation everywhere. But while a lot of countries are poor, there are some parts that are developed. I also found the people there to offer a warm, welcoming environment, even after all they’ve been through.”
For the kids
Petrie said that she spent the better part of two weeks at several refugee camps. If there was one thing she took from her experience in visiting the camps, it definitely was the reaction from the children.
“The kids were always singing, jumping all over me and wanting to talk to me in the few words they knew,” Petrie said. “When I looked at those kids, I saw hope.”
Petrie said that there were major differences in Africa compared to home.
“Well, the food was entirely different,” Petrie said. “I don’t eat meat anyway, but I still had a hard time. And even the bottled water is much different. It’s not exactly Poland Spring there. I had a rough time with the water.”
There were other differences as well.
“The pace is different there,” Petrie said. “Everyone goes about things at a much slower pace. Their motto is, ‘Hakuna Matata,’ like from the movie, ‘The Lion King.’ It means, slow down and take it easy, take time to smell the roses. They all say it and live by it. They were very interesting people.
Added Petrie, “It really gave me a whole different perspective on how they live and on life in general. It gave me an appreciation for the little things.”
When Petrie came back home to Weehawken from her sojourn, her three sons, Andrew, a junior at Weehawken High, Francis, a sophomore, and Eric, a seventh grader, were all full of questions.
“They just wanted to get a sense of what it was like,” Petrie said. “It was such a great experience for me. I would definitely do it again. I would go back to Africa just to visit because it is a beautiful continent.”