Exodus Refugee Immigration
 |
Exodus Refugee Immigration is a refugee resettlement agency located on 1125 Brookside Ave. Suite C Indianapolis, IN, 46202. Exodus Refugee Immigration is affiliated with two national VOLAGs, the Church World Service (CWS) and the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM). These VOLAGs are assigned cases by the Refugee Processing Center in Arlington, Virginia whereby government funds are provided for the resettlement of refugees. These funds are channeled through the VOLAGs into local resettlement agencies such as Exodus, who work with local communities and religious organizations to provide housing, employment services, ESL and financial services to the incoming refugees.
Exodus works with both the Church World Service and Episcopal Migration Ministires to resettle the refugees that are assigned to Indiana. Most of the refugees Exodus recieves are from the Chin and Karen ethnic groups in Eastern Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Western Myanmar, respectively. The Myanmarese government, controlled by a military junta, has declared these two states as no-go zones. Anyone caught in these zones can be shot, forced in to labor, and exploited legally. As a result many Chin and Karen flee to neighboring Thailand and Malaysia where they may wait years in refugee camps until being resettled in the United States. Most Chin and Karen refugees are resettled into the Southport, Stop Ten, Stop Eleven area of Indianapolis.
Exodus Refugee Immigration has 11 people on staff, most of which are caseworkers. Of these 11 people, 5 were refugees themselves once, and are members of the Chin people and the Karen people. They work actively with the burgeoning Chin and Karen populations in southern Indianapolis, providing translation, transportation, medical, financial, and social services.
See Also
Refugee
VOLAG
Church World Service
Chin people
Karen people