United States Refugee Resettlement Program and Mopendo International

The United States Refugee Resettlement Program was actualized under the power of Title IV, Chapter 2 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Refugee Assistance Extension Act of 1986 was signed into law in November 1986. This program provides social services, cash, and medical assistance to eligible refugees and their families through sub-grant arrangements with community-based nonprofit organizations. This program also has programs that focus on employment, job placement, English language training, and support services. This program has helped change the lives of many refugees that have come from many different countries and have experienced a variety of horrific things in their lifetime. One person who has been helped by the United States Refugee Resettlement Program and who has been a hero for many people, including Susan Sarandon, is Rose Mapendo.

Mapendo is a Tutsi woman who, along with her husband and seven children, were put in a Congolese death camp in 1998. The people in this camp were starved, tortured, and systematically killed because of their ethnicity. During her time in the camp, she was pregnant with twins and had to endure these hardships and prepare herself and her babies for childbirth. Her husband died in the camp so she did not have his strength or support during this time. Her twins did not survive the birth but she did and she says, "That is the day I survived. Something came as a joy in my heart; I don't fear. At the time I gave birth, I said, 'God, I'm alive.'" This woman is uniquely amazing not only for surviving in the camp, but what she did while she was there and what she did after. After giving birth to her twins, in an act of forgiveness she named them after the commanders charged to kill her family. She declares that this was "the first in...a miraculous chain of events that ultimately resulted in her family's rescue and resettlement in Phoenix, Arizona through the United States Refugee Resettlement Program in 2000. Mapendo is now a U.S. citizen and has learned to speak and write English. Her life has changed due to the United States Refugee Resettlement Program, for she says "When I came here, I found out there was life. I never thought I could be like who I am today. Resettlement saved my life."

However, Mapendo's story does not end with this. She made a decision to help others the way she had been helped, and in 2005, along with Sasha Chanoff, she founded Mapendo International. Chanoff is the contractor who found and rescued a group of 32 refugees in need (including Mapendo and her children) while on a government relief program. This organization works with the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations to identify and help African refugees in danger. Mapendo International has helped over 2,000 refugees into the United States Refugee Resettlement Program and has given over 3,000 people medical care through the organization's health clinic in Kenya.

Mapendo International Mission Statement:

"Mapendo International works to fill the critical and unmet needs of people affected by war and conflict who have fallen through the net of humanitarian assistance. This commitment is expressed through targeting individuals, families and groups of people overlooked by existing aid programs. Mapendo strives to alleviate human suffering, to protect life and health, and to raise awareness for these vulnerable people."

(Picture above: Rose Mapendo with her seven children; Picture below: Rose Mapendo with Susan Sarandon)

Sources:

http://www.mapendo.org/about_mission.cfm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/10/16/heroes.sarandon.mapendo/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

http://dhs.dc.gov/dhs/cwp/view.asp?Q=492705&a=3&dhsNAV=%7C30980%7C