McAuley Center to help refugees settle in Eastern Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS — Mushabah Alfani remembers the day soldiers came to his village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As pastor at a Pentecostal church, he had been visiting a local priest.

They first saw the smoke. Then they heard the soldiers. By the time Alfani had run back to his village, he found the bodies of his wife and many brothers and sisters.

Alfani, 58, now lives in Cedar Rapids and attends English language classes twice a week at the Catherine McAuley Center in Cedar Rapids, where he was learning the English names for countries and continues on Monday.

He traced his journey to America on a wall map at the center. First, he spent 14 years in a refugee camp in Zambia, before he, his wife and their four children were settled in Columbus, Ohio.

Three years ago, a friend suggested he move to Cedar Rapids, where there were more job opportunities. Alfani now works long hours at a Tyson meat plant.

The Catherine McAuley Center hopes to bring 10 other refugee families to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, having committed to being a 'primary settlement organization' for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants — though that plan is on hold after President Donald Trump on Friday halted refugee settlement for 120 days.

Primary settlement

Cedar Rapids is an ideal location for refugee primary settlement — the first home for a refugee — because of its low cost of living, stable job market, access to health care and social and educational services, said Paula Land, the McAuley Center's executive director.

For years, the center, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1989, has helped refugees apply for citizenship and offered free English classes, now with 404 students from 49 countries.

But the center wasn't sure it could take on primary refugee settlement, Land said.

'But we really understand the need,' she said. 'We really thought it was our place to step up and address this humanitarian crisis affecting us right now.

'It's hard for people to imagine, but if Cedar Rapids were suddenly under attack and your children could be killed or your house burned down or your family member raped, you are going to flee and find somewhere where you're safe,' she said. 'Refugees love America because we offer opportunities to do those things.'

Welcoming

The first refugee families sponsored by the McAuley Center will be set up in Iowa City because of the rich resources there, Land said. The center then hopes to settle refugees in Cedar Rapids soon.

'Cedar Rapids is such a welcoming community,' Land said. 'We are built on immigrants. You have opportunities to learn about other cultures, other people. It just makes more rich arts and culture and food and having a broader perspective of the world.'

Before the refugees arrive, the center will set up safe, affordable housing for them, as well as medical appointments for vaccinations and exams.

Land said the organization is working to identify landlords willing to rent to refugees, as well as employers willing to hire them.

Some refugees, Land said, are highly educated and come with specialized skills. Others, she said, will value a job because it may be the first job anyone in the family has ever had.

Land said the center also needs volunteers to greet refugee families with a hot meal or to donate clothing, furniture and appliances.

They also need volunteers to show refugees how to use kitchen appliances, shop at a grocery store and how to use fire extinguishers.

'When you think of somebody who may have been in a refugee camp for 15 years, they may never have cooked on a stove,' she said. 'One refugee member who came here when she was seven said she remembers a family who, when they went to cook, ended up thinking the dish soap was oil because it was the same color.'

How will it work

During Alfani's Monday morning class, Alice McCabe, a volunteer tutor at the center, explained what Trump's executive order meant. Many of the refugees at the center don't have access to news or proper language skills to understand the order.

It took a bit to understand, but it was tough news for Alfani. He learned five months ago that two of his children survived the attack on his village. After almost 20 years, he's working to bring them to America where he hopes they can get an education.

McCabe told Alfani how the United States was created by people who came from all over the world, making a melting pot of cultures. She compared it to a stew Alfani might make, saying all the ingredients come together to create the flavor. He laughed.

Asked what he likes about Cedar Rapids, Alfani said, 'Security. In Congo, every day people die. Every day people go in the bush (to hide).'

Though Alfani works long hours and then must spend time learning English and American history so he can apply for citizenship, it's worth it, he said, because he feels safe.

l Comments: (319) 368-8516; makayla.tendall@thegazette.com