Congolese Backgrounder and Employer Guide to Hiring Refugees

          I greatly appreciated the perspective brought on by the Congolese Backgrounder, and I feel the Employer Guide to Hiring Refugees would be beneficial to building awareness about refugee employment. When thinking of the potential employers the Employer Guide would undoubtedly be helpful. I imagine the topic of hiring refugees contains quite a stigma surrounding it. It is refreshing to see a document encouraging employers to hire refugees, because it seems as though they may be pooled into the category of illegal immigrants. Like we have talked often in class, it is imperative to educate our community on what exactly defines a refugee, so we may begin to move forward in assisting them to our full potential. The Congolese Backgrounder also does a fantastic job of doing this. Specifically, I found the information about the underlying causes and initiating factors of the war affecting many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to be helpful. I often find myself not considering the effects the circumstances refugees are venturing out of may have on their assimilation into other countries; however, underlying sources of conflict from their home countries can have a major impact on refugees, and the Congolese Backgrounder presents this important information in an effective way. Educating the community on issues surround who refugees are and what we do as we welcome them to our country should remain at the forefront of the focus of such documents for the our community. 

            I found the information within the Employer Guide to Hiring Refugees about the training programs they offer to refugees to be a lot of information in a little amount of space. Employers will be intrigued knowing their potential hires have this kind of training, but I would consider presenting the information in a different format and only keeping the major points. Within a “Working with Refugees” document, I would add personal testimonies or interviews from refugees who have been resettled. I feel this would add a personal aspect and it would be valuable for volunteers and potential employers to be able to put a face to this idea of refugees within their communities.