How and why refugees come to the U.S.

SALEM, Ore. — Joel Nzabakiza describes his childhood as a “sad story.”

When he was 7, his father was stabbed to death in front of his family.

Fleeing for safety, Nzabakiza’s mother led his family, including his five brothers, to a nearby forest where they hid for a week until they were able to return to their home.

After years of running from the religious conflict in central Africa, Nzabakiza and his family lived in refugee camps for seven years, though they had to frequently live in camps apart from one another.

One day, they were given the news that they were able to resettle in the United States as refugees.

Arriving in Salem in April 2015, everything was different.

“We came; we didn’t know anything,” said Nzabakiza, now 19.

About 60 people like Nzabakiza have moved to Salem since January, reported the Statesman Journal.

These refugees are in addition to the more than 1,300 who came to Oregon in 2015 primarily from Cuba, Burma, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq, and Somalia.

Organizations like Catholic Charities Oregon coordinated efforts to obtain needed materials, homes, job and language support for the future residents.

In 1951 the United Nation’s Refugee Convention defined a refugee as someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

In order to obtain refugee status, people have to go through extensive processes, including fleeing from the country in conflict, registering as a refugee with the U.N., waiting to be approved, and undergoing the resettlement process into the country.

By the end of 2014, there were 19.5 million refugees worldwide, according to the U.N., and 14.4 million of them were under the mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Council. This was an increase of 2.9 million from 2013.

The remaining 5.1 million refugees were registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

However, there are an estimated 59.5 million forcibly displaced persons around the world, according to U.N.’s Global Trends report.

This population not only includes refugees, but internally displaced persons, asylum-seekers and stateless people as well.

Nzabakiza’s story is telling of many of these people.

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, just after the second Congo war officially ended, Nzabakiza grow up in a time of violence.

Desperately hoping to escape the violence, his family sought refugee status and eventually was able to resettle in the states.

According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, more than 64,000 refugees have resettled in Oregon since 1975.

Most of these refugees initially settle in the greater Portland metro area.