Dallas, Texas, Jun 18, 2009 / 19:50 pm
Catholic Charities of Dallas’ Refugee and Resettlement Services is expected to receive over 200 refugees this summer, mostly Burundians who have been living in Tanzania. Many Dallas-area Catholics have helped prepare for their arrival by assembling furniture for the refugees’ new homes.
The refugees fled Burundi in 1972 to escape widespread massacres largely perpetrated by the ethnic Tutsi-dominated government against the Hutu majority. As many as 250,000 people were killed, with about 150,000 fleeing to neighboring countries.
Most of these refugees have spent almost all their lives in exile, and some were even born in exile. According to Catholic Charities of Dallas, they were not able to integrate locally and are either unable or unwilling to return home.
Their land has long been confiscated and would be almost impossible to recover.
Dallas-area Catholics prepared for the refugees by assembling Ikea dining-room sets at St. Bernard of Clairvaux school.