A New York NGO ensures that refugees feel warm at home

New York Jewish Week via JTA - five years ago, Norma Batiz Martinez arrived in New York from Honduras, where the increase in crime made life too dangerous for her and her children.Batiz and her children had crossed Mexico, enduring hunger, cold and fatigue.

But their difficulties did not end when they arrived in the United States, where they looked for refuge.She did not know the language, did not have a job or a driving license, and above all, she did not even know what questions ask or how to do it.

"The process was very difficult," said Batiz at the New York Jewish Week in Spanish."When you arrive in this country, not to mention the language, there is so much information that escapes you.It is difficult to access the help that the city offers.We can address everything [social services] now, but we don't know what we don't know.»»

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"It is very important," she adds, "to have this person on whom we can rely in order to access everything.»»

Mme Batiz a trouvé « cette personne»» grâce au New Neighbors Partnership, une organisation à but non lucratif qui met en relation des familles de réfugiés et de demandeurs d’asile nouvellement arrivées avec des familles locales de la région de New York dont les enfants sont légèrement plus âgés.Once or twice a year, these local volunteer families transmit the used clothing of their children to partner families.

Shoshana Akabas a créé le New Neighbors Partnership après avoir travaillé avec des réfugiés et des immigrants au travers de son travail bénévole à sa synagogue, Bnai Jeshurun sur l’Upper West Side. (Crédit : autorisation : New Neighbors Partnership/ via JTA)

The program is particularly useful for families arriving from warmer climates. Comme l’a fait remarquer Mme Batiz elle-même, « il fait trop froid à New York»».

Often these local families become more than simple clothing resources.They become friendly faces in a new country and help to orient themselves in social services and public school systems.

New Neighbors Partnership was founded by Shoshana Akabas almost four years ago. L’organisation a reçu le statut officiel 501(c)(3) au printemps, et depuis, Mme Akabas a pu « jumeler»» davantage de familles locales avec des familles de réfugiés, qui sont récemment arrivées principalement d’Afghanistan.Before Afghanistan control by the Taliban, refugees came mainly from Latin America and Africa.

« C’est comme un travail de rêve»», a déclaré Mme Akabas, 29 ans, au New York Jewish Week. « J’ai l’occasion de rencontrer des gens du monde entier et d’aider à les accueillir dans une ville que j’aime»».

Ms. Akabas's interest in work with refugees began when she was a student at the University of Pennsylvania, where she volunteered in Hias, the Venerable Jewish Society for Helping Immigrants.After her return to New York - Ms. Akabas grew up in the Upper West Side and attended Beit Rabban Day School and the High School Stuyvesant - she continued to work with refugees and immigrants by volunteering in her synagogue,Bnai Jeshurun, in the Upper West Side.

Des réfugiés afghans arrivent à l’aéroport international de Dulles le 27 août 2021 à Dulles, en Virginie, après avoir été évacués de Kaboul à la suite de la prise de contrôle de l’Afghanistan par les talibans. (Crédit : Olivier DOULIERY / AFP)

Thanks to this work, Ms. Akabas has discovered many problems in the context of existing clothing collections - namely that they are often anonymous, ineffective and time -consuming.Donations are thrown on a battery instead of being sorted to meet the needs of beneficiaries.And who has time to request donations, manage a collection and organize the destination of donations?

She also learned that thousands of refugees arrive in New York each year with clothes not hot enough for the cold, especially for babies and growing children.According to Ms. Akabas, refugee assistance organizations are generally only engaged for three months and devote most of this time to find jobs, housing and schools for new families.

But Ms. Akabas has accidentally found a solution to the clothing problem when she met a pregnant woman from Afghanistan, recently arrived in the United States with her husband, translator for American troops.Wishing to lend a hand, Ms. Akabas asked one of her friends, who had given birth a few months earlier, if she had second -hand baby clothes and supplies that she could donate to the couple.That's what she did.

Six months later, Ms. Akabas's friend had other clothes that had become too big for her baby, so she gave them.Ms. Akabas quickly realized that it was very practical for both parts of the chain to be paired directly, as part of a partnership.She now asks volunteer families to get involved for three years.These first two mothers are still in contact.

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— keeley Wed Sep 26 18:32:38 +0000 2012

It was the first twinning of what has become new Neighbors Partnership, which has now created more than 300 partnerships and provided more than a thousand clothing packages to refugee families.There are at least 200 families based in New York on a waiting list to be linked to refugee families, many of whom are on military bases and are waiting to be reinstalled after fled Afghanistan this summer.

Un paquet de vêtements et de livres légèrement usagés est destiné à une famille de réfugiés jumelée à une famille bénévole du New Neighbours Partnership. (Crédit : Avec l’aimable autorisation de New Neighbours Partnership/via JTA)

About at the same time, Ms. Akabas left her post as a writing teacher at Columbia University-where she obtained her master's in fine arts-to work full time as executive director of New Neighbors Partnership.

« Nous essayons de nous développer de manière aussi durable et responsable que possible»», a déclaré Mme Akabas.

The service, she explained, depends on the good knowledge of refugee families in order to best meet their needs.Volunteers know, for example, if partner families are practicing Muslims, which generally means that they prefer more modest clothes. Ils savent également si une mère célibataire élève une famille, afin que personne ne fasse don d’une grenouillère portant l’inscription « My Daddy Loves Me»» (Mon père m’aime).

For the moment, in addition to Akabas, the organization has three staff members, who are all refugees and participants in the program themselves.Ms. Akabas is convinced that her Jewish education played a role in the creation of the association.

She feels obliged to welcome foreigners.

« Je pense que si je devais indiquer d’où vient une grande partie de ce [travail d’engagement communautaire], c’est de ce que nous avons fait à l’école Beit Rabban»», a-t-elle déclaré. « En tant que peuple, nous avons été contraints de fuir à de très nombreuses reprises»», a-t-elle ajouté. « C’est quelque chose que nous connaissons bien et nous savons à quel point c’est difficile»».

The advantages go in both directions.For Renee Rachelle, a local mother, one of her best memories during the containment of the COVID in the spring of 2020 was to visit the mother with which she was twinned from Kirghizetan.Rachelle led her upper West Side house to Brooklyn from her house and books from his house, and to catch up with lost time in the garden.

« Le simple fait de voir un visage familier et d’avoir un contact quelconque entre nous était vraiment agréable»», a-t-elle déclaré au New York Jewish Week. « Cela élargit tellement ma communauté»».Another local participant and member of the organization's board of directors, Holly Schechter, agrees.

« New York est l’un de ces endroits étranges où tout est si grand, mais peut aussi être si petit»», a-t-elle déclaré. « Ce [partenariat] donne en quelque sorte l’impression d’être un peu plus petit, ou un peu plus accueillant pour les nouveaux arrivants»».

DULLES, VIRGINIE – 27 AOÛT : les réfugiés montent à bord d’autobus qui les emmèneront dans un centre après leur arrivée à l’aéroport international de Dulles après avoir été évacués de Kaboul, le 27 août 2021 à Dulles, en Virginie. (Crédit : Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

« Ces familles [locales] ont été là, collaborant avec moi, me demandant ce dont les enfants ont besoin, comment ils vont, si elles peuvent aider pour la garderie ou l’acquisition de vaccins»», a déclaré Mme Batiz.His family also helped her find an English course.

With New Neighbors Partnership, Ms. Akabas hopes to develop hearts and minds by abandoning charity - often a unique and impersonal donation - for the benefit of a community sharing and support system.

« Savoir qu’une famille est derrière vous pendant votre difficile processus de réinstallation ajoute beaucoup de valeur»», dit-elle."It is much more significant than going to a resettlement agency and recovering anonymous clothing items that have been given.»»

Ms. Batiz recently obtained legal immigrant status in the United States, relief after so much uncertainty and insecurity in recent years.One day she hopes to leave the city with her family to settle in a place where she can buy a house, like the one she left in Honduras.For the moment, she saves for the education of her children and gets used to New York winters.The 18 clothing packages that she has received from her partner family since their connection in July 2020 helps him enormously.

« Dans les enseignements juifs, on nous enseigne souvent que le don anonyme est une forme élevée de don»», a déclaré Akabas."But I think there is also room for a form of non -anonymous gift that preserves the dignity of all members of the community. Et j’aime à penser que c’est ce que fait notre programme»».