Resettlement Stories: 2/12/08

TIME Magazine recently had an exceptional article, well worth reading in its entirety, on the trials and tribulations of an Iraqi woman resettled to Phoenix:

The $450-a-month unit picked out for them had a busted air conditioner and cockroaches. It was sweltering inside. Faeza was distraught, and the manager of the building was nice enough to let her spend the weekend in the dressed-up unit used to lure new renters… A few days after she arrived in the U.S., she ran into two Iraqi Americans from the local Chaldean Catholic Church, who were in the IRC office to meet Iraqi Christian refugees. When they saw Faeza, who is Muslim, they immediately offered to help… "When I see Khattab, this let me to stay here," she says in her broken English. "O.K., this is for [her 7 year old son] Khattab. This is the future for Khattab."

Other, shorter stories appeared in local papers about Iraqis being resettled in New Hampshire, Providence, Boston and Idaho.

In focus: British government sets out resettlement packages

Earlier this week, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband sent a statement to the House of Commons laying out the details of the assistance packages which Iraqis resettling in Britain will receive. At a net cost of over 25 million British pounds, Iraqis will be given a choice of three different packages. Critics are taking issue with the stipulation that Iraqis must have been working for the British for over a year to qualify, eliminating many Iraqis who are in danger because of their association with the coalition, even if formerly employed for less than a year. Still, it is worth noting that any of the proposed packages are more extensive than what refugees in the United States are being offered...

Read the report at The Times Online.