The Abayudaya Youth Association – Motto: Struggle Continues

Posted by Amy Schwartz on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 12:28 pm

Jewish? Uganda?

Abayudaya?

Who are they?

The Abayudaya are a Ugandan community who began practicing Judaism in 1919. They are not genetically or historically ethnic Jews but are a devout community keeping Kashrut and fully observing Shabbat.

The story begins with a British colonial agent, Semei Kakungulu, who started to keep and practice the Jewish Shabbat and shortly later had roughly 3,000 followers.

Today the Abayudaya have roughly 1,250 followers and are only recognized by members of the Reform and Conservative movements.

When the HIAS

Of Note: July Fourth Reflections – The Jewish Meaning of Nepali Bhutanese Resettlement

Posted by Gideon Aronoff on Mon, Jul 05, 2010 at 14:29 pm

Each year the Fourth of July offers me a chance to reflect on the meaning of the United States for me as an American, a member of the Jewish community, and an advocate for immigrants and refugees. And each year I feel immense gratitude for the welcome this country gave my great grandparents and the waves of Jewish immigrants and refugees from all corners of the world.

An honest reading of history makes clear that the American immigration story is a

A Means to an End

Posted by Michelle Wachtel on Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 15:23 pm

When I moved to Washington, DC in 2008 I wanted to meet new people and get involved in the local Jewish community – HIAS Young Leaders provided me with both of these opportunities. To many of my friends HIAS was a mere jumble of letters, something I had to repeat a few times when I was explaining that I was off to a meeting or our monthly film club. But to me, HIAS is a house-hold name. Although I didn’t

Angelina Jolie's visit to Lago Agrio, Ecuador

Posted by Genever McBain on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 16:44 pm

In her capacity as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Angelina Jolie recently traveled to Ecuador to visit with Colombian refugees and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

Jolie also visited the remote provincial capital of Lago Agrio, where upwards of 10,000 Colombians came through in 2001 to escape the ongoing violence in Colombia that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and left almost 2 million people homeless since the internal conflict began some 40 years ago.

“A refugee wishes they had your problems”

Posted by Amy Schwartz on Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 15:27 pm

There is a poster hanging in the HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya Office by UNHCR that says, “Your Sympathy cannot help a refugee. But it is a beginning.”

Let me first give you a short background of what HRTK does and why their services are highly needed. First off, conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have forced hundreds of thousands of refugees to seek safe haven in Kenya and Uganda. (HRTK does missions

Karibu to Kenya. My New Co-Workers

Posted by Amy Schwartz on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 13:29 pm

Arrival into Nairobi: 13:30 on Monday, the 31st of May to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

See in the distance: Steven, a driver at the HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya, holding my name up boldly and smiling.

“Karibu!” he says.

What is Karibu, you ask?

Swahili for ‘Welcome.’

Okay makes sense; he was waiting for me to arrive for my fellowship with HRTK and wishes me Karibu!

But what I found out instantly was Karibu doesn’t just mean the standard. ‘Welcome’ that you might see on signs,

HIAS' Statement Regarding the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for FY 2011

Posted by Genever McBain on Tue, May 04, 2010 at 12:05 pm

HIAS' Senior VP for Policy & Programs, Mark Hetfield, today is at the annual public hearing of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which was convened by the Department of State. Below is his statement regarding the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for Fiscal Year 2011.

(Arlington, VA – 5/4/10) – Since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980, HIAS and the American Jewish community have resettled nearly 340,000 Jews from Iran and the former Soviet Union in partnership with

Arizona Advocacy Adventures

Posted by Genever McBain on Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 16:28 pm

Below are the reflections of Viktor Morozov, a recent graduate of Arizona State University who participated in the HIAS Young Leaders Advocacy Mission to Washington, DC in September 2009. He and his family were assisted by HIAS in coming to the US from Kiev, Ukraine in 1994.

As I write this blog, my home State of Arizona has passed one of the most controversial, toughest and – in my opinion – unconstitutional anti-immigrant laws. SB 1070, as it’s known, gives

White House Naturalization Ceremony; HIAS Reflections

Posted by Gideon Aronoff on Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 20:04 pm

I’m on the train heading home after a tremendously inspiring day in Washington, DC, where I saw firsthand the power of American patriotism and the way that our calling to welcome immigrants and protect refugees can reinvigorate our country. This morning I had the honor of being present as part of a very small number of invited guests at a Rose Garden ceremony swearing-in of 24 immigrant members of the U.S. military as new citizens of the United

Getting what you wish for

Posted by Roberta Elliott on Wed, Apr 07, 2010 at 16:28 pm

Sometimes you actually get what you wish for – and there are no regrets involved. Last November, I celebrated my adult bat mitzvah at Bnai Keshet Reconstructionist Congregation in Montclair, NJ. In preparation, I assigned myself a project that was suited to the subject of the Torah parsha, or portion of the Bible, that I studied for my ceremony. The subject, in broad terms, was “kindness to the stranger;” my project was to visit detainees at Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC),