Jive

I like cultures, I'm an anthropologist (a real one!) and I work with refugee youth. Afghanis, Somalis, Ethiopians, Rwandans, Ugandans, Iraqis, and some Chinese youth. I decided to start this blog because I like waxing pedantically to myself, or rather, I want to help remove the stigma from the words "refugee" and "asylum seeker"

Also, I feel like regurgitating my masters thesis for everyone.

Definition of Terms:

Asylum Seeker = Someone who enters the country in search of refugee status, must begin a series of appeals. If you are under the age of 18 you are guaranteed housing, vouchers for food, and an education (required to get an education at that)

Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker = Young person who enters the country without a parent or guardian, many having observed the violent death of a parent.

Refugee Status or getting your "papers" = Someone who was successful in the appeal and has been granted indefinite leave to remain, must provide substantial proof that you have fear of persecution for race, religion, political viewpoints, gender, sexuality, and that your own government can't help

Home Office = Big Scary Place where all border and immigration matters must go through, I've had to deal with them once for my own visa and will have to go through them again in June.



Problems that may arise:

Age Dispute = Young person claims to be one age but is actually younger. Some knowingly attempt to finagle the system to secure benefits, other cultures may never log birthdays or follow our calendar (there are 13 months in Ethiopia, did yah know?)

Forced Repatriation = Home Office deems the country safe of origin and people are deported, that's happening now with the Zimbabwe elections. The country is in a state of emergency and nobody is allowed in but Home Office said there is no visible threat.

All names, ages, and locations will be altered to protect the young people- the only thing I might include is nationality, if relevant. I'm not even sure if I should be blogging about this, but I want to share some of my experiences with everyone, explain some cultural differences that may arise, discuss any current legislation issues, and hopefully help bring this world into a more "culture friendly" status, one blog post at a time.

Cheers!