At the time of the interview, Amchi Rinchen had recently moved to New Delhi after a year working as a medical physician to an exclusively Indian population in the city of Chandigarh, the experience described in this report. Unfortunately, bureaucratic and administrative issues forced Amchi Rinchen to shut down his practice in Chandigarh. Still, his experiences in Chandigarh tell the fascinating story of a refugee founding the first Tibetan medical clinic within this major Indian city.

The integration of new Russian émigrés in Berlin life is a multi-directional process with manifold challenges that reflect migrants’ and host city responsibilities. This case report identifies the technical aspects of securing legal status and the emotional impacts of settling in Berlin, identifying the challenges and opportunities émigrés face. It highlights the experiences of a particularly vulnerable group of émigrés, LGBT Russians, and finds that despite the relative ease of settling in Germany’s capital, the uncertainty of being chased away from home remains.

Khenpo Ju Tenkyong, a Tibetan refugee based in Dharamsala, India, works as a researcher, historian, and scholar on a number of important projects for the preservation and revitalization of Tibetan culture, language and Tibetan Buddhist literature. Unlike other refugees interviewed for this project, he preferred to use his own name rather than a pseudonym. Khenpo Ju Tenkyong is one of the leading Tibetan scholars in the diaspora, and his environment reflects this. For our Zoom interviews, he sat in a room with thousands of books arranged on floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and stacked on tables beside him. Despite his potentially intimidating erudition, he was extremely humble and down-to-earth throughout the course of our conversations.

This case report aims to detail from a firsthand perspective some of the successful advocacy leading to legal rulings which benefited the Urdu-speaking community’s legal standing in Bangladesh as well as highlight continued barriers to integration for residents who have now lived in Geneva Camp in Dhaka city for over five decades.

The Refugees in Towns project is pleased to publish this case report as part of its Race and Refugees research program. Both the Mobile, Alabama, USA and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA case reports explore the historical, cultural, and political contexts in addition to the lived experiences of refugees grappling with the U.S. construction of race. Both reports have been adapted into StoryMaps, allowing readers to interactively explore Mobile and Pittsburgh while showcasing RIT's reflexive and localized methodology. View the StoryMaps here: Mobile, Alabama, USA and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

The Refugees in Towns project is pleased to publish this case report as part of its Race and Refugees research program. Both the Mobile, Alabama, USA and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA case reports explore the historical, cultural, and political contexts in addition to the lived experiences of refugees grappling with the U.S. construction of race. Both reports have been adapted into StoryMaps, allowing readers to interactively explore Mobile and Pittsburgh while showcasing RIT's reflexive and localized methodology. View the StoryMaps here: Mobile, Alabama, USA and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

This report tells the story of a Tibetan refugee living in Sarnath, India (pseudonym Thubten Dawa), who works for the Sarnath International Nyingma Institute (SINI). Later, in summer 2022, the author traveled to India to work at SINI, where he developed a closer relationship with Thubten Dawa. On numerous occasions, Thubten Dawa expressed his aspiration that by reading this story, “others will understand the importance of pure motivation and necessity to prioritize the welfare of others rather than one’s self.”  

Drawing from his own experiences as an immigrant and his interactions with refugees and immigrants in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone City, Felix Tapilira Chilumpha explores life in the Dukwi Refugee Camp. Located over 500 kilometers away from Gabarone, Dukwi Camp is isolated from much of Botswana’s population and resources, including education and jobs. In his report, Felix focuses on Botswana’s policies that impact refugees' and immigrants’ mobility, employment opportunities, and education.

In this gorgeously written piece, Joseph Zorokong teases out the critical role more established immigrant communities have in supporting newcomers, reflecting on his family’s own refugee experience in Lowell, Massachusetts. In this diverse city, Zorokong examines the small but growing African community, their unique challenges in reaching resources and integration, and the process through which they tend their dual identities as immigrants and Americans.

Personal relationships and understanding between refugees and their hosts can often be the basis for sustainable integration of refugees. In this report, author Nyende Keith Mark discusses an arts-oriented project in Kampala which brought together refugee artists living in Nakivale settlement and Ugandan artists to build relationships and share skills, creating dialogue between refugees and hosts and aiding in refugee integration.

San Miguel, El Salvador is a hub for migrants from across the region. And, often times, it is a shared faith, namely Catholicism and Protestantism, that links newcomers and locals together. In this article, Jocsan Blanco and Fernanda Escobar explore how churches go beyond spiritual support in aiding migrants—from helping them meet basic needs, find jobs, feel part of a supportive social network, and more—a testament to the power of faith organizations in facilitating migrants’ social integration.

Zahed Mukayed, a Syrian refugee living in Istanbul, and Ezgi Irgil, a Turkish PhD student living in Sweden, discuss their research with Syrian refugees in Ezgi’s hometown of Bursa. They argue that a lack of Turkish government action on settlement or resettlement for refugees creates distrust and uncertainty. This disrupts everyday life, as Syrian parents worry about the future of their children should they remain in Turkey or return to Syria. This report focuses on three main concerns for Syrian children: potential statelessness, loss of the Arabic language, and racism.

This report explores lived reintegration experiences of Malawian returnees from Johannesburg, living in Mzuzu, Malawi. In this study, Mwaona Nyirongo explores the challenges and opportunities that the returnees face reintegrating to Mzuzu, focusing particularly on the experiences of elderly returnees and those who break with traditional, often religiously and socially conservative norms in Malawian society. Their specific challenges include witchcraft accusations, changes in the business terrain, broken families, challenges with freedom of thought, hunger, extended families which strain them, loss of resources, and lack of social security. The report points out that there are initiatives aimed at helping elderly returnees, but these are not adequate to help them reintegrate smoothly.

Abdullah Alsmaeel writes about the difficulties refugee parents face in being involved in their children’s education, from interacting with teachers to openly hostile Danish policies towards refugees. It is difficult to raise children in a new country and culture. But there's a glimmer of hope. Refugee parents Abdullah meets in Aarhus strongly believe that education is a healer and that education benefits all who have access to it. "Education heals the wounds and reduces suffering. Education is a protection," said Farah, 34 years, a mother of three in Aarhus. Refugee parents work to motivate their kids and promote the value of education. Fortunately, in Denmark it is important for parents to be involved in their children’s education, so in this regard, refugees and hosts are already on the same page.