Happy New Year EDN friends, family, and community. We are excited to kick off 2017 with the publishing of our long anticipated Recent Arrival Toolkit.
EDN’s Recent Arrival group has been hard at work, and is thrilled to announce the release of the first installment of the Toolkit today, Employee Rights In the Workplace, with plans to release the full version on May 24, 2017. The Toolkit provides guidance on a number of issues that are relevant to recently arrived Eritrean refugees and their transition to life in the United States. The full version of the Toolkit will be made available online and in print in both English and Tigrinya.
This toolkit is divided into 5 sections, and will address common questions such as “what are my basic rights as an employee?”, “where can I find support around the city to help me with my immigration paperwork?,” and “where do I go if I need medical help?” We hope that by answering these questions and providing general guidance on transitioning into life in the U.S., we will encourage recent Eritrean arrivals to become their own advocates, and empower them to overcome many of the challenges they often face.
The final version of the toolkit is under development, but each month for the next 4 months, a summary of each section will be made available on our website. We ask that you support this work by helping to disburse this information to new arrivals in your personal networks.
We would like to take the time to thank the following members of the Recent Arrival Work Group who have committed their time and energy to ensuring this toolkit is a success: Martha Berhane, Ghenet Besera, Naomi Demsas, Hellen Fissihaie, Robel Meskel, Niste Reta, and Michael Woldemariam.
A special thank you to our wonderful Tigrinya translators Tesfai Habtemariam for lending us their talents and time.
If you are interested in supporting this work group, we ask that you sign up as volunteer, donate HERE, and/or invite you to become a Tigrinya translator. For details please email us at eridiaspora@gmail.com