Supporting Our Communities During COVID-19
Supporting Our Communities During COVID-19
By Som Subedi, Refugee Congress Honorary Delegate (Oregon)
For more than a year, the news of Coronavirus spread has pushed families and communities into a panic mode, both locally and globally. I am anxious because of the uncertainty, but I am also prepared for it.
I remember fleeing the persecution of my home country and living in a refugee camp for decades, where I watched people die without health care and resources. Amidst these tragedies, I hoped for a better future and more certainty in life. Being in America, I feel safer than ever before.
One of the reasons of my success in starting a new life here in this country is that I was able to push through all of these challenges. Like all refugees, I am resilient. That’s why I believe in celebrating World Refugee Day each year with other newcomers in America. World Refugee Day is June 20, and we celebrate throughout the month of June.
Most newly arrived community members have lost their trust in their governments from back home. Here, trusting the government in a time of crisis is very crucial. Every level of the government (federal, state and local) is working 24/7 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Please follow the steps that scientists and other experts recommend.
The only thing we can control now is our own actions. We can help each other by keeping a social distance while in public and staying home. Small acts of kindness make a big difference, such as checking community members’ mail, calling the doctor’s office, helping neighbors, volunteering at food pantries, supporting seniors in need and interpreting for non-native English speakers.
People born in the U.S. and people who immigrated here before us have welcomed us as newcomers. Now is the time to give back.
Connections and self-sufficiency are critical for the integration of the newly arrived and due to the virus, that has been delayed in some cases. But please know that community safety is the highest priority. The entire community, newly arrived and established, needs everyone’s cooperation and support right now. We will fight this together! We must go on. We must have hope for the future.
I want community members to be calm, save lives and provide information to other community members in need. That’s what a refugee does in crisis. I know because I have been there, so I started this Facebook event page in Portland, Oregon, as a one-stop resource so all of us can easily communicate and connect while maintaining social distance during this time. You are not alone. We are all in this together.
Som Subedi is a Refugee Congress Honorary Delegate from Oregon. He and his family were expelled from Bhutan, and he lived in a Nepalese refugee camp for almost two decades before being resettled to Portland, Oregon. He is an active writer and advocate.
The opinions of Refugee Congress Members expressed in articles authored by them on the Refugee Congress Blog are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire organization.
