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CWS notes 25th anniversary of Africa-centered agency it helped start
Mark Cassini of CWS, Dr. Tsehaye Teferra of ECDC, and Geraldine Owens of CWS in conversation help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ethiopian Community Development Council in May 2008.
Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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NEW YORK -- As the Arlington, Virginia-based Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) celebrates 25 years of service, its president is expressing appreciation to Church World Service for its support of the agency from the start.
"CWS has been there since the very beginning," said Dr. Tsehaye Teferra, referring to Church World Service's financial support for the fledgling organization when it was founded in 1983 to provide social services to Ethiopian refugees and immigrants living in greater Washington, D.C.
ECDC extended its services to other African refugees and immigrants as they became part of the U.S. mix, also expanding geographically. When the U.S. Refugee Program added the organization to its list of national voluntary resettlement agencies, CWS was among the first to welcome the group and to give some of its caseload to the new partner.
Whenever ECDC comes to the table, it provides "a unique understanding of Africa from an African point of view," said Geraldine Owens, CWS Immigration and Refugee Program Associate Director for International Programs.
She said a particular ECDC contribution to the broader U.S. refugee and immigrant service community is its Africa-focused national conference, which each year draws wide participation from national voluntary agencies, local community based organizations, government partners, and others concerned with African refugees and immigrants.
During this year's conference, held May 5-7 in Arlington, Va. and co-sponsored by CWS, Owens described the work of CWS-administered Overseas Processing Entities in Accra, Ghana, and Nairobi, Kenya, at the panel called "From Refugee Status Determination to Resettlement." The processing entities prepare case files for all refugees in sub-Saharan Africa who are being considered for resettlement by the U.S. government's refugee program.
Panel moderator Mark Cassini, who directs the Nairobi-based CWS Cultural Orientation (CO) Program for refugees from Eastern and Southern Africa approved for U.S. resettlement, described the program as "a bridge between the long refugee journey just completed and the many challenges ahead adapting to a new country and culture."
Cassini and other conferees also visited legislative offices on Capitol Hill to encourage an increase in protection for and assistance to Africa's nearly three million refugees.
Dr. Teferra said those "languishing warehoused" in camps deserve "more resources to lead more productive lives and those repatriating need to be supported financially, materially, and socially, and they need jobs."
The organization also is advocating for the U.S. to admit more African refugees each year.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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