Muslim outreach workers contend refugees in Greensboro are going hungry

A group of Muslim women with the refugee program of Islamic Center of the Triad have been delivering food and clothing to a community of Burmese refugees living at Brookfield Woods apartments in north Greensboro. The mosque outreach workers contend that families have been going hungry and were inadequately clothed for the cold, winter months.

Here Amira Kalala, a 15-year-old girl from Charlotte who has been visiting the Triad with her mother, talks about delivering food to Brookfield Woods apartments on Sunday. YES! Weekly accompanied the women during a return visit on Thursday, but the allegations of hunger and clothing needs were difficult to verify, although food was gratefully received by more than a dozen families. This report and and the mosque outreach workers relied on the translation services of a 13-year-old boy, identified only as RN because his family was part of the pro-democracy movement before they fled Burma.


Amira Kalala from Jordan Green on Vimeo.

The Muslim women's conviction that the Burmese refugee community is experiencing hunger and significant clothing needs comes from the fact that RN contacted an Iraqi woman in the apartment complex, indicating that his family needed food. The woman brought the child to the mosque and he told Amal Sayed, director of the refugee program, how many families needed food and the number of members in each family.

Sarah Ivory, director of refugee and immigration services for Lutheran Family Services said three Burmese refugee families her agency placed in Greensboro last year have food stamps. She said each refugee receives a one-time grant from the US government of $425 to be spent within 90 days of their arrival, and refugees can only qualify for cash assistance from the Guilford County Department of Social Services for eight months.

Sayed and the refugee committee are collecting donations of food, clothing and household items at the mosque. While information gathered about the Burmese refugees is necessarily limited because of their language barrier, Sayed has developed dozens of case files for Iraqi refugees who began arriving in Greensboro and High Point last spring. She said many of the Iraqi refugees have been unable to secure employment. Sayed questioned why resettlement agencies continue to bring new refugees when the job market is so tight. Ivory of Lutheran Family Services said her agency has dramatically scaled back the number of refugees it plans to place in the Carolinas next year in light of current economic conditions.


Amal Sayed from Cheryl Daniels on Vimeo.

The Islamic Center of the Triad is seeking donated office and storage space to support its refugee program.