The face of Lancaster, PA refugee resettlement
Posted by Ann Corcoran on May 20, 2012
Only last week we had a widely read post about the problems in Lancaster, PA with an overload of refugees. A commenter from Lancaster to the US State Department May 1 meeting said that Church World Service (CWS) was bringing thousands of refugees to Lancaster. Then a commenter to that post said that was hogwash, there weren’t thousands being resettled in Lancaster. But, here CWS tells us about the person responsible for resettling “thousands upon thousands” in her home town of Lancaster.
Not many people can claim to have resettled thousands upon thousands of refugees to their hometown – but Sheila McGeehan can.
Since she began her work with the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) 25 years ago, she has introduced refugees from all around the world to Lancaster, Pa. – the “tranquil, prosperous, safe, pretty” city she loves.
In turn, newcomers from Russia, Vietnam, Sudan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Burma, Bosnia, Iraq and numerous other countries have transformed this small city in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country into what McGeehan calls a “very cosmopolitan” community, population 55,000-plus.
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“I don’t take credit. This is a great area for resettlement, and it would have happened without me,” said McGeehan, Director of the CWS/IRP Lancaster Office. “But it’s been very satisfying to contribute to making Lancaster more open and diverse.”
Hmmm!
2 Responses to “The face of Lancaster, PA refugee resettlement”
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tomasrose said
this seems like a caricature of a puff piece on refugee resettlement. and the woman profiled is perfect. Wanted to do Peace Corp, but did not. Never spent significant time overseas, does not speak a foreign language. I hate to say it , but if she is divorced then she is a near 100% fit for this type of codependence on the 3rd world.
Amazingly, the NYT ran a strong review of a book by Paul theroux – a person who did serve in the Peace Corp and came home with a somwhat more jaded view of tthe 3rd world. the review is worth reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/books/review/the-lower-river-a-novel-by-paul-theroux.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y
Jewel said
So it comes out: Resettling third-world, sick, illiterate, mentally ill and often criminal peoples in Lancaster is done for furthering the utopian dream of diversification. Is there any other reason?
In Philadelphia, the African natives have been harassed and victimized by the American blacks. Can’t wait to see how the Haitians and Congolese fare in the neighborhoods of East King Street and South Queen.
Oh wait, I’ll tell you from personal experience: Interpreting for a Congolese family whose little boy got severe lead poisoning from a dilapidated row home on East King street. If you have never seen what happens to toddlers who’ve been lead poisoned, it’s shocking to see.
The father and mother then moved the family into a housing development where almost all the tenants are black.
They live in abject fear of their neighbors and their pit bulls. They keep their shades drawn and they feel betrayed by the people who settled them here.