Tag: Refugees

Support the DREAM Act of 2017 & Oppose the RAISE Act

Help mobilize support for beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), otherwise known as Dreamers. Also, express your opposition to the RAISE Act, which reduces the number of legal residency and refugee visas the United States issues. No human being is illegal!

Petition by iPetitions

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Refugee Task Force Holds Winter Clothing Drive

South Carolina is famous for its mild winters.  But we still have to bundle up for the cold, which can be a problem for those from even warmer climes…  or those forced to leave everything behind.

Carolina Peace’s Refugee Task Force is holding a Winter Clothing Drive for Refugees now through Friday March 10th.  Most refugees arrive with very few possessions.  Please donate winter clothes of all sizes.  We also welcome donations of children’s clothing.  Items benefit refugees resettled here in South Carolina.

DROP OFF LOCATIONS:

Redeemer Lutheran Church
WEDNESDAYS 6PM-8PM
(February)
525 St. Andrews Rd Columbia

2931 Blossom St.
Columbia, SC
Please leave items  in box on porch.
Look for sign saying REFUGEES WELCOME!

Reformation Lutheran Church
FRIDAY March 10th 10 am-Noon
1118 Union St. Columbia, SC
If you would like to give your donation directly to a refugee family, please join us 10am at Reformation Lutheran Church.

Another Location, Arrange a Pick Up
Text 817.881.8199 for Katrina.
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Email: Refugee Task Force, rtf@carolinapeace.org
Facebook: South Carolina Welcomes Refugees

A Thousand Protest Trump Executive Orders on Refugees, Travel Ban

On Tuesday January 31, the Carolina Peace Resource Center held a United We Stand: Immigrants and Refugees Welcome Rally at the South Carolina State House. The rally was a protest against the executive orders signed by President Trump that curtail refugee resettlement and indefinitely suspended resettlement of refugees from Syria as well as instituting a travel ban from seven nations into the United States.
Close to a thousand people attended the protest, forming an expansive sign line across the State House grounds. Carolina Peace provided materials for protesters to craft their own signs, and the finished products combined with signs brought by other attendees to make a visually stunning show of support for immigrants and refugees.

Carolina Peace President David Matos led the crowd in cheers that welcomed immigrants and refugees. After his initial remarks, the protesters lined Gervais St. to chant and hold signs for nearly two hours.

Local voices for peace attended the march, such as poet Nikky Finney, pictured above. The crowd made an impressive sight to passersby and vehicles driving by the State House.

As the sun began to set, the crowd relocated to the grounds in front of the State House grounds to listen to several informational speakers including a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union and Omari Fox from Simple Justice: Black Lives Matter.

The crowd continued to rally and cheer on the grounds and the overall mood was one of goodwill and acceptance. Several local press sources covered the event. Below are links to articles about the event:

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2017/01/31/donald-trump-statehouse-protest-sc/97289334/

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/crowd-of-about-gathers-in-columbia-to-protest-president-donald/article_690c23b4-e80f-11e6-b6d7-273522ccd18d.html

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article129896284.html

Overall, the event was an exciting show of support for immigrants and refugees and an inspiring event for Carolina Peace. We are grateful for the outpouring of support that was shown and are excited to see what we can accomplish together in the future.

Introduction to the Refugee Task Force of Carolina Peace Resource Center

The Refugee Task Force of Carolina Peace Resource Center meets monthly to plan educational, visibility and charitable events to support refugees and refugee resettlement programs. We also promote legislative advocacy at the federal and local levels, and we strive to stay abreast of anti-refugee legislation so that we can organize to defeat it.


Email us for more information. We welcome volunteers of all backgrounds, not matter how much time you have to give. Volunteering matters to us.


You can follow the Refugee Task Force’s activities on Facebook. Posts on the task force’s activities are in the category Refugee Task Force.

Donate to Syrian Refugee Relief

Carolina Peace Resource Center, Aiken Peace raise $1,500 for Syrian Refugee Relief at benefits with photojournalist Thomas Hammond.

We are humbled and gratified to announce that, through your generosity, the Carolina Peace Resource Center and Aiken Peace raised nearly $1,500 for Syrian Refugee Relief at benefits in Columbia (Thursday Feb 27th) and Aiken (Tuesday Feb 25th) proceeds going to the Syrian-American Medical Society, the Al Salam School, and the Maram Foundation. We will be able to cut checks for $500 to each of these worthy charities.  But it’s not too late to sweeten those checks and increase our impact: help make a real difference by donating. Details below.

SPECIAL THANKS to Thomas Hammond, Al-Amir on Main for donation food, Conundrum Music Hall, Tom Law, Manar S., Danya Naifeh, Wes Joiner and Zach Jones, Nyna Dalbec, Michelle Hutchinson, Paul Palmer and everyone who helped.

Photo by Thomas Hammond An unfinished concrete building in Reyhanli, Turkey housing five familes of Syrian refugees, 32 people in all.

MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TODAY!

DONATE ONLINE VIA PAYPAL: Click on the PayPal button at the right/top of the page or click here.

IMPORTANT: Remember to click on “Special Instructions” and note “for Syrian refugee relief” before submitting your payment.

OR

MAIL DONATIONS:

Make your tax-deductible check payable to “Carolina Peace Resource Center” and note for “Syrian Refugee Relief”

Mail to: Carolina Peace Resource Center, P.O. Box 7933, Columbia, SC  29202

SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS: http://bit.ly/syriarelief

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MORE INFO & DONATE DIRECTLY TO CHARITIES…

 

CONTACT US: If you would like to help raise awareness or raise money locally (South Carolina area) for Syrian refugee relief, contact our Syrian Refugee Relief volunteers, Manar (manar @ carolinapeace.org) and Thomas (Thomas @ carolinapeace.org).

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Thomas Hammond’s “Postcards from Syria” in Columbia’s Free-Times: www.free-times.com/cover/112013-postcards-from-syria

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EARLIER WINTER APPEAL: Donate to Syrian Refugee Relief: Winter Appeal

As winter bears down on over two million refugees from the Syrian civil war, Carolina Peace is making a special call for year end donations for Syrian refugee relief.  Carolina Peace will bundle donations and direct them to four reputable charities doing some of the best work:

Syrian-American Medical Society http://sams-usa.net/

Karam Foundation http://karamfoundation.com/

Syrian Orphans http://www.syrianorphans.org/

Maram Foundation http://maramfoundation.org/

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DONATE DIRECTLY TO CHARITIES: If you would prefer to donate directly to charities doing some of the best work, here is a list of charities vetted by our Syria relief volunteers:

Karam Foundation http://karamfoundation.com/

 

Syria Relief http://www.syriarelief.org.uk/syriarelief/

 

Maram Foundation http://maramfoundation.org/

 

NuDay Syria http://www.nudaysyria.net/home.html

 

Hand in Hand for Syria http://handinhandforsyria.org.uk/

 

Free Syria Foundation http://www.free-syria-foundation.org/

 

Palmyra Relief http://palmyrarelief.org/

 

Syrian American Medical Society http://sams-usa.net/

 

Human Care Syria http://www.humancaresyria.org/

 

The Amal Project http://theamalproject.com/

 

Al Seeraj http://alseeraj.org/en/

 

Watan http://www.watansyria.org/en/

 

Syrian Orphans http://www.syrianorphans.org/

 

Sawa For Syria https://www.facebook.com/Sawa.4.Syria

 

Basmeh and Zeitouneh https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D8%A8%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A9-

%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A9-Basmeh-Zeitooneh/607188292628342

(in Arabic)

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To Exist Is To Resist

Dheisheh refugee camp, located on the outskirts of Bethlehem, packs a population of 11,000 in a few square miles.  Populated by Palestinians who were driven out  and lost their homes with the creation of Israel, the camp is a jig-saw puzzle of haphazard grey concrete buildings, rising slowly to multistory structures as families add a story to make space for each new generation.  Tufts of steel rebar sprout from flat roofs and walls and many buildings stand incomplete as works in progress.  Many refugees spent the winter of 1948, camping with what few supplies they had, after being driven from or fleeing their homes, hoping to return to their villages when hostilities had ended.  However, Israel did not honor the right of return for refugees, wanting a Jewish dominated state and possession of the refugees’ lands.  Israel accordingly demolished some 500 Palestinian villages within the area of its conquest in the 1948  War to erase the claim of these refugees.

 

 Unable to return home, the refugees gathered in squatter tent camps, many, as with Dheisheh, just past the Greenline armistice line outside of newly created Israel.  Under the supervision of UNRWA, a newly created UN Refugee Works Administration, tents gave way to the first concrete houses, UN funded schools and relief.  Despite UNRWA’s assistance, the Palestinians of Dheisheh have faced grim circumstances.  Under the occupation, unemployment runs at 65%, the highest in the West Bank and rivaling Gaza, and poverty with all its socio-economic implications is rampant..  Israeli supplied water flows only twice a week, requiring hoarding seen in large black water tanks clustered on the flat roofs of Palestinian homes.  While we were visiting Dheisheh the water had run out for a full week; the previous year, sewage had seeped into the water supply rendering undrinkable for at least a month. 

 

Walking through the winding alleys,  we saw bashful children standing in doorways and  not so bashful children playing in the street,  old bleached, curled remnants of martyr posters were still pasted on some walls, but it was the prominent martyr paintings and “Palestine” graffiti that caught our eyes.  During the second Intifada, Dheisheh, whose residents had lost so much to Israel, became its fiercest resisters in armed struggle.  The Israeli response was severe, invading the camp and searching house to house, punching through walls instead of entering through doors and traumatizing families.  Some twenty multistory homes were demolished by Israelis as “homes to terrorists” despite the fact that made dozens of innocents homeless and only further radicalized those affected.  Nearly everyone in the camp knows someone who was killed during the Second Intifada and many of  the camp’s men have served lengthy terms in Israeli military prison without trial.  Post-traumatic stress would be rampant, if the trauma could be categorized as post rather than ongoing.

 

Yet, Dheisheh’s residents have held on, remembering their heritage and identifying themselves as being from their home villages.  Instead of agonizing, they have organized.   Lacking any community space, they pooled their together their meager resources and built the Phoenix Community Center, a place now that plays host to weddings, dance troupes, educational facilities and summer camps.  Today, just persisting or being steadfast- sumud in Arabic- is their main way of resisting Israeli military rule that is so hostile to their living an everyday life.