Refugees are fleeing — they’ve left war-ravaged lands, trying to get into Europe, trying to come to America. They’ve left the violence and chaos of Iraq and Syria in the Middle East, and troubled lands in Africa. They’ve sailed in leaky boats, marched in long lines, traversed one country after another, waited in camps.
Once Ridgefield helped such people, refugees.
“We brought in Khampu Chansouk from Laos,” said Ruth Gustafson of Standish Drive, a parishioner who was involved in St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church’s efforts to resettle refugees in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s.
“The Chansouk family, from Laos, were the first,” she recalled. It was a troubled time, the 1970s, with the American war against communists in Vietnam having spawned instability across several Asian nations.
“They came via Cambodia, across the river,” she said of the Chansouks. “This was fairly early in the 70s.”
A query about refugee resettlement efforts, made through the Ridgefield Clergy Association in November, got responses from two Ridgefield churches that have histories of helping refugees, St. Andrew’s Lutheran and Jesse Lee Methodist.
“It was our first experience of bringing in a family,” Gustafson said of St. Andrew’s effort with the Chansouks in the early 1970s. “We wanted to make sure Mr. Chansouk was employed. He became part of the custodial staff at Ridgefield High School, and then he became the sextant for the church.”
St. Andrew’s church members Phil and Christine Lodewick were involved.
“They were in a refugee resettlement camp in Thailand and they had two children there at the time,” Phil Lodewick recalled. “They left Laos, he had worked on a U.S. Army base in Laos, so he became persona non grata when the communists took over.
“They left their older son behind, they were afraid in leaving on a boat at night, if he started to cry it would give away the location of the boat.”
They eventually had six children — three born here, two who came with them, and the oldest, who was eventually reunited with the family.
“Christine and I were godparents to one of their sons,” Lodewick said. “We had one of their sons living with us for eight years, Christian Chansouk, until about the eighth grade.
“He’s in Danbury, he’s about 27 or 28 now,” Lodewick said. “I think he’s a bartender at a restaurant in Danbury.”
St. Andrew’s supported the effort as a congregation, and there were perhaps a dozen church members who were deeply involved in resettling the Chansouks, and later some other members of their family.
“We helped resettle one of his relatives, who never came to Ridgefield but resettled down in the Philadelphia area,” Lodewick said.
The family did well and ended up buying a house in Danbury and more recently moved home to Laos.
“He is now retired. He and his wife are now back in Cambodia or Laos,” Gustafson said.
St. Andrews also helped number of refugees from Poland.
“We actually resettled probably five different Polish refugee families,” Lodewick said.
“We got them settled here, got them jobs,” he said.
“Irek Biernat, he came. He’s 58, he’s been working at AT&T for 31 years. He was probably in his mid-20s. We settled a couple: Jan and Maria Szewc.”
Jesse Lee
Ridgefield’s Methodist church, Jesse Lee, also has a history of helping refugees.
“Jesse Lee had a committee that sponsored refugees in the 1990s and early 2000s,” said Pastor Debbie Mygatt, director of the church’s healing ministry. “One family was a young married couple who were escaping war in what was then Yugoslavia. One of them was a Serb and one was a Croat, so they were not safe remaining in their homeland. They are doing well and come back to visit us with their child periodically.
“The last family we sponsored was from Liberia,” Mygatt said. “They had fled the civil war in that country after seeing most of their relatives killed, and escaped first to Sierra Leone and then to Guinea.
“The rebels were following and killing members of certain tribes, so they were in danger in Guinea, too.
“We brought Louise and Abel to Jesse Lee with their young son Abel. They lived on the property for about a year and we helped them to learn the skills that would assist their transition into life in America.
“They both got trained as CNAs (certified nursing assistants), learned to drive, and gradually became independent,” Mygatt said. “They had a son after being here for a year and named him JesseLee.
“Now they live in Georgia, and Louise has become a writer. Her first book is So Far to Run and is about their escape from their war-torn homeland. She is already at work on her second.”
Three agencies
Today in Connecticut refugee resettlement is largely overseen by three agencies that work with the federal Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, part of the U.S. State Department. The agencies are the International Institute of Connecticut, based in Bridgeport; Catholic Charities of Hartford; and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services in New Haven.
“All three agencies have a national agency that we report in to,” said Claudia Connor, president and CEO of the International Institute of Connecticut. “And the national agencies have agreements with the State Department.”
The International Institute of Connecticut — which calls itself ‘IICONN’ and says it is the state’s leading nonprofit provider of integrated legal and social services to new immigrants and refugees — commended Gov. Dannel Malloy for saying Connecticut would accept refugees regardless of national origin, while governors of 29 other states said they would not allow refugees from Syria in their states.
“We applaud Gov. Malloy for his leadership in supporting some of the most vulnerable and persecuted people,” said Connor, the institute’s president. “We stand with the people of France as they respond to the terrible attacks in Paris, as we stand with people everywhere who are victims of violence and terrorism. …
“These refugees are fleeing exactly the kind of terror that unfolded on the streets of Paris. They have been confronted by violence like this for almost five years. They are victims of terror themselves who are simply looking for a safe haven.
“IICONN remains deeply committed to resettling refugees in Connecticut,” Connor said. “Our current refugee caseload is comprised predominantly of Congolese and Eritrean populations, with smaller numbers of Colombian and Iraqi clients.
“All of these refugees have had the heart-wrenching experience of being forced to flee their home countries. Our doors remain open to refugees from all nations, including Syria. The United States has a rich history of welcoming refugees and immigrants seeking safety, justice and opportunity.
“The U.S. refugee resettlement program reflects our nation’s values and commitment to compassion, kindness and humanitarian leadership,” Connor said. “Since the program started, Americans have resettled over 3 million refugees from all over the world, opening our collective arms to welcome these newcomers to our communities. Displaced as a result of violence or persecution, refugees are forced to flee their home countries, leaving everything behind, including loved ones, to seek safety in a foreign land.”
Nationwide, Connor said, the State Department has an agreement with nine national agencies to do the refugee resettlement program.
The International Institute of Connecticut in Bridgeport, Catholic Charities in Hartford, and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant services in New Haven all work under the auspices of that federal grant.
“It is envisioned by the State Department as a public-private partnership,” Connor said, “so the federal grant provides some funds on a per-capita basis.”
The amount provided is $2,025 per refugee.
“That’s for three months of services. It’s a one-time per-capita payment,” Connor said.
“The agency receives the funding on a reimbursement basis — $900 goes to the agencies to administer the program, and the balance goes to the refugee.
“But that’s a one-time payment, so it’s absolutely imperative that any employable member of the family gets a job as fast as possible.
“We rely heavily on a range of private resources, both financial contributions and a lot of in-kind contributions,” Connor said.
“For every refugee resettled across the country, the resettling agency has to find an apartment and furnish it, and the State Department agreement is very specific about what needs to be in that apartment. If it’s a family of six, there have to be six beds, six chairs, a table, couch, six forks, six spoons, bedding, towels …
“So a lot of the in-kind contributions are donated from people who have those items that they want to donate. We rely heavily on contributions at the community level, with churches, school groups, Rotary clubs, community service groups.”
Ridgefield is in the area the International Institute of Connecticut oversees, although the organization doesn’t place people here and is not currently partnering with any groups in town for support of refugees it settles.
“All of our refugee clients live in Bridgeport,” Connor said, “but we have relationships with churches that are in Weston and Westport and community groups that are in Stamford. It’s a wide range.”
People can learn about opportunities to help as a volunteer, a mentor, or by donating financially at the International Institute of Connecticut’s website: .
“We have a list of ways people can be involved on the website, in addition to donating,” Connor said.
Churches
Ruth Gustafson of St. Andrew’s looked with pride on the breadth of the church community’s effort for refugees such as the Chansouks from Laos.
“We really cared. We did it right,” she said.
“When they came over, we provided a home. We supplied all services to the family.”
She remembers teaching English to Somkit Chansouk.
“It took a while with the language, but it came,” she said, “And St. Andrew’s continued to support them — emotionally, and in every way,” Gustafson said.
Many people helped. She recalled local pediatrician Dr. Christine Guigui.
“Dr. Guigui, she gave her services free. People in the community embraced them quite well,” Gustafson said.
Mr. Chansouk was part of St. Andrew’s community for many years.
“He retained his connection to our church,” Gustafson said. “He was our sextant until just a couple of years ago.”
And the Chansouks thrived here.
“It was so good for them,” she said. “By the time they left, they had a truck, they had a car, they owned a home in Danbury. They were living a good life — whatever America provides.”
They returned to Laos after Mr. Chansouk’s retirement.
The nine refugees from Poland that St. Andrew’s helped resettle had an easier transition, coming from a European nation.
“They became absorbed into the American culture, deeply, and got advanced degrees,” Gustafson said.
One Polish refugee ended up marrying a daughter of a church member.
Different today
Help is still very much needed, but resettlement works differently today than in the years the Ridgefield churches were sponsoring families on their own and bringing them to town, said Connor of the International Institute of Connecticut.
“There aren’t opportunities like there used to be to sponsor a family,” she said.
“If a church wanted to have that relationship with a refugee family they would work collaboratively with one of the refugee resettlement agencies.”
Concerns about terrorism have made the process more complex, and slower.
“After 911, the refugee resettlement program was shut down entirely,” Connor said.
Scrutiny of refugees coming to the United States has tightened.
“For any refugees coming into the U.S. there’s multiple levels of security checks,” Connor said.
Phil and Christine Lodewick said they understand the increased scrutiny and the fear that prompts it. But they also look back with pride on St. Andrew’s refugee resettlement efforts.
“We developed some successes in those days,” Christine Lodewick said. “And the people we resettled are still around.”
She continues with the work, mentoring one of the Chansouks’ children.
“It still takes a village,” she said.
St. Andrew’s church members who got involved helping refugees felt they were doing something real and good in the world, Phil Lodewick recalled.
“We said, This is a mission for us. This is an outreach mission. These people are struggling in their home countries. It’s an opportunity for us to help them restart their lives in a new country,” Lodewick said.
“You needed to give them some support, you needed to reorient them. You needed to help them with job assistance, so they could find meaningful work within the framework of their background,” he said.
“It turned out to be something all of us were very pleased with because all of them have turned out to be very productive American citizens.”
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