http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4464
Lutheran Group Ensures African Refugees 'Enrich' IOWA
Immigration; Posted on: 2008-05-05
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Hispanics might be the most visible growing population here in Iowa, but it's
not the only one. Another immigrant group in Iowa has grown even faster the
past year. The African immigrants are still getting used to electricity and
running water.
160 Burundian refugees have resettled in central Iowa in the past year. Back
in 1972, many families escaped the ethnic violence and genocide taking place
in Burundi, and resettled in refugee camps in neighboring Tanzania, another
impoverished country that could provide earth to live on, but little else.
"These families are coming from war-torn countries where awful, awful things
have happened to them. And to be able to be part of an organization that
provides new hope and new life to those individuals is such an honor," said
Jill Stuecker of Lutheran Services in Iowa.