NORTHAMPTON — The city resettlement effort will see its first refugee child arrive in Northampton next week, leaders said Wednesday.
The 13-month-old boy is scheduled to arrive with his parents on April 26. His father has spent 20 years in the Rwandan refugee camp from which the Congolese family will take their leave, said Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, executive director of Springfield’s Catholic Charities. Buckley-Brawner said the parents speak Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda, but no English. The father also speaks Kiswahili.
Buckley-Brawner said the agency also received an assurance from the State Department for a new family — a development that marks more movement in the national refugee resettlement scene than the agency has seen since President Donald Trump took office. An assurance from the State Department means the associated family is in the pipeline to come to Northampton, though the timing remains unclear until the process is further along.
“It’s the first assurance that’s come through the pipeline since back in January,” she said.
“The assurances are going to pick up. Not as much as they were before the executive order, but certainly more than after the executive order, which was none.”
Buckley-Brawner said the agency is actively seeking permanent housing for the new family, who may first need to move into temporary housing. She said the Congolese brothers who arrived earlier this month move from temporary housing into permanent housing next week.
Judson Brown, co-leader of the volunteer “circle of care” charged with caring for the incoming family, said the group has been waiting for this family’s arrival since before Trump took office.
“It’s very exciting, but it’s been a long wait,” he said, acknowledging the research he’s been doing into the violent state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “These people are coming from probably one of the most atrocious places on Earth.”
Buckley-Brawner and Brown said those wishing to donate should consider buying gift cards to Yankee Mattress or to food stores that also carry diapers. Brown also noted that rent will be one of the biggest hurdles for incoming families to jump through, and that’s something the fund managed by United Way of Hampshire County can address. To donate, visit WelcomeHomeNorthampton.org or send a check to United Way, 71 King St. in Northampton with “Refugee Fund” in the memo line.
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.