The Need

The Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of over 74 million people made up of 250 ethnic groups, has experienced Civil war for the past 17 years. This war, the deadliest in modern African history, has left millions dead and many millions more unprotected and displaced. The atrocities committed in this war are horrendous: Congo has often been called the “rape capitol” of the world and boys are being kidnapped and used as soldiers. Because of this many have fled for their lives to U.N. refugee camps in neighboring  countries. 



Over 2.7 million people have been displaced. 500,000 of them to the neighboring countries of Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania. Additional refugees are scattered in camps throughout eastern and southern Africa. 

Besides the war in Congo there have been many other unrests around the world in the last few years which have displaced people into refugee camps and who are now being resettled to places around the world and to the Twin Cities.

Ninety days after being resettled to the Twin Cities, relocating agencies will close the case and the refugees are on their own. This is where CEEDS comes alongside the resettling family with individualized support and long term relationships to help them define their future as they are planted and flourishing in their new lives.
Many immigrants and refugees who come to the United States have suffered multiple traumas and the experience of ongoing displacement.

They need helpers who understand their trauma, culture and language to help them pick up the pieces of their lives. Basic support services are not enough. They need a combination of services (psychology, psychiatry, emotional support, etc.) because more than 85% of them suffer from PTSD.

Even once they are safe in the United States the trauma, emotions, and violence…still hunt them down.

When refugees are released by the United Nations from the camps, in which most of them have been staying for years, there is often very short lead time to prepare for their arrivals.  



In addition, there is the challenge of what is called “secondary migration” in which refugees leave the city to which they were assigned by the State Department and move to an area where they know their countrymen are living. This is already happening as families have come from New York, Iowa, North Carolina and elsewhere to the Twin Cities. Because they have left their original governmental support system, these people often “fall through the cracks.” CEEDS is in a position to help them connect to support services and to walk with them during this time of transition.

Some of the major challenges facing new immigrants are education, job opportunity, isolation and prejudice due to their lack of cultural understanding. Because CEEDS volunteers have been through these challenges themselves they are in a position to be a positive support to the newly arrived.