Hello.  I’m really happy that you have found this website.  It’s my “author” site to help promote my new book about refugee resettlement.  You are welcome to browse through the posts and pages of this site for more information.  Be sure to visit the book site at www.10millionto1.com where you can get more details about the book and order it too.

But here’s the big news…  Go visit the Refugee Resettlement Support website.  I started that site before authoring the book and will continue to add content there.  That site gets many more visitors than this one.  So by continuing to add content over there, I can reach more people without taking the time to update two sites.

Thanks for understanding.  I hope to see you there.

A few years ago I started watching the TV show “Glee” with my daughter.  She was a bit young, not quite teenager, and I a concerned father wanting to review what goes into her head.  While I would disagree with the airing of some episodes during family prime time, some others have delightful and quite redeeming qualities.

This week’s Christmas episode was one of the good ones, including an expression of the real meaning of Christmas.  Near the end, the cast sang “Do They Know It’s Christmas“, a remake of the 1984 hit song.  For me I recalled the original version’s attempt to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.  And then my mind switched over to refugees in camps through Christmas.  Sadness.

Last month I attended the 2011 Refugee and Immigrant Conference in Chicago.  Keynote address, first morning, Vincent Cochetel of UNHCR pointed out that the average term of a refugee in a refugee camp is now 17 years!  Can you imagine?  After 17 years in a camp, where is your home?  Is it the country you left, with hopes to return to a place in your distant memory?  Is it the camp you’ve lived in?  Is it a new country that someday, if you’re lucky, you’ll move to?  And what does it mean if you were born in the camp and lived there for 15 years?  Then this is the only home you know.

Do they know it’s Christmas?  One year in a camp, blending into the next year in a camp…

Many refugees are Christian.  Many are not.  But to me the religion of refugees, and whether they practice it or not, does not matter.  Christmas is a time of love.  So you could just as well rewrite the question as, “Do they know they are loved?“  This is the real question.  For where is the love when a child spends their growing up years in a refugee camp?  Where is the love when a young person wastes away the most productive years of his or her life unable to do meaningful work?  Where is the love when individuals are kept away from the potential they have?

Refugee resettlement gives hope to those who need it.  Refugee resettlement is an outpouring of love (given and received).  Refugee resettlement is Christmas for someone.

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”  Christmas is for all the people.  Do they know it?

In my experiences with refugees, I have worked very closely with LIRS, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an organization that works with sponsors in resettling refugees. Yesterday, LIRS mentioned me and 10 Million to 1 in its blog.

In 10 Million to 1, I mention LIRS on the very first page:

The first time that refugee resettlement crossed into my realm of consciousness was in 1998 or 1999. One morning at a business networking breakfast, Bill spoke about refugee resettlement instead of talking about his business.

He said that he was a volunteer ambassador for LIRS, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. His task was to help find church groups, of any denomination, that would be willing to help sponsor incoming refugee families.

His descriptions of refugees and the resettlement process intrigued me. While I love to travel abroad, I was excited that refugee resettlement offered an opportunity to learn more about the world without leaving home.

What I didn’t realize was how much I would learn.

Thank you, Bill and everyone else at LIRS for your hard work and dedication.

Thanksgiving is a time to give back, which for many people means time to volunteer. While some might work at a soup kitchen, deliver Thanksgiving meals, or collect warm clothes for the needy, others might sit down and talk to their extended family about supporting a refugee family during the family members’ resettlement into the United States.

For those families considering becoming such a support system, “10 Million to 1″ is a guide that lets you know what you should expect when you make the commitment to help a family.

I commend families for talking about becoming such a huge and important factor in the refugees’ lives. In line with the holiday season, I would like to give back to those volunteers. If you order “10 Million to 1″ on Tuesday, November 29, you will not only get the book, but also will receive free access to:

• a video you can use to help you get additional refugee team members. It addresses the big fears that resettlement volunteers face. When those fears are overcome, it’s much easier to get started.
• a “welcome guide” written for refugees about what to expect in their first few months in the U.S. You can learn a lot about what the refugees’ expectations are, what they will be going through, and how your volunteer efforts can fit in.
• a great bonus called, “Speak Your Business in 30 Seconds or Less”(tm).  These tools will give you the upper hand in all your promotional efforts, in life as well as for your refugee resettlement project.

** People normally pay $29.95 for this “Speak Your Business” program, but Ann Convery (see www.10millionto1.com/annconvery) is offering it for free when you buy “10 Million To 1″ on the 29th.

Thank you for all that you do to help others this holiday season!

You know, when people hear that I’m involved in refugee resettlement, or they learn that I wrote a book about it, one of the most frequent questions I get is, “How did you get into thaaaat?” Here’s a little more detail than I normally give in conversation…

It all started innocently enough. Back in 1998 or 1999, I don’t recall exactly, I was at a business networking meeting. Instead of giving his normal business introduction, Bill, one of the regulars, spoke about refugee resettlement. Prior to this introduction, I had no idea there was anything we could do to help refugees. Heck, at that time I barely knew what a refugee was. Unless there was a story on the news about a large number of refugees because of some event, the concept was not on my radar.

Bill was looking to find church groups that would be willing to help refugee families who were arriving in the Milwaukee area. While I took an immediate interest in the concept, I did not take any significant action until a couple years later. With the need greater than ever, and Bill sounding desperate to make progress, I made arrangements for him to talk at a social concerns meeting at my church. It was all going, more-or-less, as you would expect an introductory meeting to go. But then Bill did something to personalize the experience, at least for me. Bill opened a folder, pulled out some papers, and passed them around the room. This paper revealed a brief written biography of a family that needed our help. Mom, dad, three kids, along with names and ages. Wow, these are real people and so is the need!

Although Bill could not predict an exact arrival date, the fact that he already had a biography meant that arrival was imminent. I realized right then, that if anything was to be done for this family, it would have to start with me. I had only one question for the social concerns team, “If I can get a group together to help, can we say that our church will do this?” The answer was a resounding YES.

First I needed to get my wife on board. I knew this would be work, and I needed her to understand what we were going to do. She agreed to help. My team just doubled! Then I started making phone calls to members of our church. I continued until I had a group of 10 volunteers. We barely had a team put together when I learned that the family was to arrive on September 7. The flurry of activity had begun and we didn’t even know what we were really supposed to do or how to do it. But we were off and running, no point in looking back now!

Excerpt from 10 Million to 1: Refugee Resettlement – A How-to Guide

The one place most people long for is home. A refugee is someone who cannot go home or is afraid to go home. For refugees, their home is taken away, suddenly, and often by force. Since they must travel quickly and light, they leave the bulk of their possessions behind. They flee to a neighboring country where they may face inhospitable conditions, overcrowded refugee camps, few services, and little welcome. In a short time, they lose their previous lives, their possessions, their friends, even their family.

There are far too many refugees in the world today. At the beginning of 2011, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized roughly 10.3 million refugees of concern to their organization. These refugees are found all around the world, with more than half in Asia and about twenty percent in Africa. As refugees, they live in a variety of different conditions, from well-established camps to makeshift shelters to roaming without shelter. More than half live in urban areas.

It is important to note in light of ongoing immigration discussions, that when refugees arrive in the U.S. they are not illegal immigrants. They do not sneak across our borders in the dark of night. They are not undocumented workers. They do not have to lie about their status or hide from authorities. They arrive in our country by following a lengthy, fully-documented legal process by which they receive most rights and benefits of natural citizens.

A refugee is a person 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, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.

from The 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention

A refugee is

any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

from the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980

Imagine for a moment that you are a refugee. You have lived in the same community your entire life. It’s roughly the same place your family has lived for generations. Suddenly, a military dictator rises up and everything changes. You find yourself part of an ethnic group that is considered an undesirable minority. You are the target of extermination. First, you think you’ll get through it. You’ll survive. Bad things happen to other people. Then the police raid your home and take many of your possessions. Your children are assaulted. You are beaten. One of your neighbors was killed. What to do? You flee!

That’s the beginning of your story, that’s your first step to being a refugee.  But it’s not the end.  In the end, you have made new friends who helped you start a new life.  You are loved, and you begin to let go of the tragedy and the pain you suffered.  That transition period between fleeing and uncertainty, to settled and restarted, is refugee resettlement.  It’s where the difference was made.