Refugee Resettlement Experiences from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Triad Area of North Carolina

This case study describes the needs, challenges, and opportunities that newly resettled refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Eritrea face when they arrive in the Triad area of North Carolina. It focuses on the initial 90-day period in which they receive support from a resettlement agency. Findings of this study show that these newly resettled refugees from sub-Saharan Africa are adjusting to their host community. However, both refugees and service providers pinpoint the lack of resources and the insufficient time they have to receive support in their resettlement process. Both refugees and agency workers agree that the services provided by the agency are useful, but that the agency is trying to fit, mostly in 90 days, a support system that (a) needs to be longer, and (b) should include other community partners. This anthropological study also shows that sub-Saharan African refugees face some similar challenges to other refugees resettled in the USA. However, they also face particular difficulties as a result of the following: the context of exit from their war-torn home countries, the context of reception in their in-transit countries (where they spent numerous years in transitional refugee camps), and the characteristics of a midsize metropolitan area such as the Triad, which is predominantly white and lacks an established diaspora community from sub-Saharan Africa.