Refugees are not coming to take 'resources' from others, advocate says | Georgiana Vines

Drocella Mugorewera, the face of Bridge Refugee Services Inc. for six years, has left the agency to form a training and coaching business to help Black women, refugees and immigrants better improve their economic conditions and cultural situations.

Through her work at Bridge and other agencies in Knoxville, Mugorewera — who was forced to flee her country, Rwanda, in 2008 — feels she has reached a milestone that she hopes extends globally.

Her interactive training and workshop programs will be based on an upcoming book, “From Exile to Executive,” she said. “Information is power. I want to help people align together their beliefs, mindset, and perspective with action for ‘Intumbero,’ ” or Rwandan for vision for a brighter future.

Mugorewera said she could not do all the things she wanted to do with an agency, so she decided to resign to form her own program. “I had to be true to myself. I promised to make Bridge a vibrant organization. We did get there,” she said.

Mugorewera and present staff members at Bridge have given talks in the Knoxville community, particularly at churches, the past year to recruit volunteers to help with numerous refugees, including 38 Afghans who came to Knoxville in 2021. This was after the U.S. left Afghanistan at the end of August and the Taliban took control of Kabul.

Since she no longer works for Bridge, Mugorewera said she didn’t feel she should discuss the status of the Afghan refugees and referred those questions to Bridge staffers.

But she did discuss in general problems that refugees face in Knoxville and other communities.

She said the community needs to realize that refugees are not coming to take “resources” from others. If communities invest in refugees, within five years the refugees are making contributions themselves, she said.

“A settlement program is a humanitarian program. People tend to politicize it,” she said.

Mugorewera, 58, is a graduate of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, has more than 15 years of experience in managing programs in the U.S. and Africa and speaks English, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, French and Russian. In Knoxville, she was a multicultural outreach coordinator at Cherokee Health Systems for more than four years, helping refugees access healthcare and interpretation systems.

She feels she can help women through her new project because she has worked with local, national and international organizations that serve the populations and can help them network and better reach their potential, she said.

Since Mugorewera left Bridge in early June, Marina Peshterianu, associate director of the Chattanooga office, has been interim executive director. The Rev. Bo Townsend, a board member from Knoxville who is assisting in the search for a new executive, said Wednesday the agency is close to making a decision on Mugorewera’s replacement.

UPDATE ON AFGHANS IN KNOXVILLE: Some three dozen Afghans who relocated to Knoxville as “humanitarian parolees” last fall have obtained permanent housing and one has been approved for asylum, a status that allows for immediate family members to come here.

The Afghans here began arriving around Sept. 30 under a classification called “humanitarian parolees.” The State Department website says these are Afghanistan nationals at risk, and are eligible for critical assistance with needs such as housing and basic necessities including food, clothing and furnishings for which the federal government provides $1,225. Agencies like Bridge receive $2,275 per refugee as the resettlement agency helping with relocation.

The parolees initially stayed in temporary housing, mostly Airbnbs, until they could be moved to permanent housing. Finding affordable housing for refugees has been one of the biggest challenges that Bridge faces, staff members say. An NBC report on June 21 talked about similar problems elsewhere, particularly where agency staff members were overworked and the refugees’ assistance fell through the cracks.

But in Knoxville as of June 28, “All of our Afghan clients have been placed in permanent housing,” Monica Harris, Bridge program and human resource manager, said in an email.

The NBC report also talked about some legal problems that Afghans face as “humanitarian refugees” and not in a program that assures asylum.

Alessandra Ceccarelli, with Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, is assisting 25 Afghans in Knoxville in applying for asylum as a Department of Justice Accredited Representative with the Office of Immigrant Services. It’s a slow process.

“One was approved in four months,” she said.

Approval for asylum is based on an individual’s race, nationality, political opinion, religion or membership in a particular social group, and the applicant “must be able to prove fear of persecution either in the past or in the future,” Ceccarelli said.

Once asylum is granted, it doesn’t guarantee U.S. citizenship but allows for relocations of spouses and children. “It’s helping those who have family members left behind,” Ceccarelli said.

At present, no Ukrainians are known to have come to Knoxville since Russia invaded the country in February, although some have ended up in Chattanooga. However, Bridge Refugee Services is prepared to handle any who are eligible in Knoxville.

The agency’s website says it welcomes new Americans from Ukraine and their families and is willing to assist under guidelines of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The local contact is Harris, who can be reached at mharris@bridgerefugees.org.

KNOXVILLE BAR RESULTS:  A poll of Knoxville Bar Association members on the retention election on Aug. 4 of five state Supreme Court justices and six appellate court judges indicates support for all to be retained. Unlike eight years ago, no organized campaign against the state Supreme Court justices has emerged.

Justice Sharon Lee, who now lives in Knoxville but most of her career lived in Monroe County, received the highest recommendation with 97% saying she should be retained and nearly 3% opposing her retention.

Justice Sarah Campbell, confirmed by the Legislature on Feb. 10 after being appointed by Gov. Bill Lee to succeed the late Connie Clark, received the lowest support, with nearly 80% supporting retention and 20% opposing.

Marsha Watson, KBA executive director, said about one-third of the 1,580 members participated in the survey and that percentage likely represents the number of lawyers who have cases before the appellate and supreme courts.

“The Knoxville Bar offers the poll to voters to help them assess jurists on the ballot,” KBA President Jason Long said in a statement. “While voters may be familiar with the chancellors and circuit court judges and judicial candidates in our community, the work of the appeals judges is generally not as well known. So we ask Knoxville Bar members who know them best to give their opinion.”

The survey of KBA members was emailed to members on June 3 and the deadline was 5 p.m. June 27.

Here is the ranking on the other Supreme Court justices: Jeffrey Bivins, nearly 88% recommending retention and 12% not recommending; Holly Kirby, nearly 92% recommending retention and 9% not recommending; Roger Page, who serves as chief justice, 89% recommending retention and nearly 11% not recommending.

Here is the ranking on the Eastern section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals: Kristi Davis, nearly 95% recommending retention and 5% not recommending; Thomas Frierson II, 95% recommending retention and nearly 5% not recommending; John McClarty, 88% recommending retention and nearly 12% not recommending; D. Michael Swiney, 93% recommending retention and nearly 7% not recommending.

Here is the ranking for the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals: Robert Montgomery Jr., nearly 93% recommending retention and 7% not recommending, and James Curwood Witt Jr., nearly 92% recommending retention and 8% not recommending.

BACK IN POLITICS: Former state Rep. Jimmy Matlock, a Republican who owns Matlock Tire Corp. in Lenoir City, has been appointed by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission board. Matlock replaced Nancy Dishner, president and CEO of the Niswonger Foundation in Greeneville, and took office July 1. The term is for six years.

Matlock’s business locations include one in Farragut. He served in the state House of Representatives 2006-2018 and was on two subcommittees of the House Education Committee during his last terms, he said Friday.

Instead of seeking reelection in 2018, he ran for the Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District and was defeated by incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Knoxville.

THEC coordinates and provides guidance to the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees, six locally-governed state universities, and community colleges and colleges of applied technology governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Refugee issue is too politicized, Knoxville advocate says | Georgiana Vines