From hating school to encouraging students: a refugee educator’s story
Sunday, August 2nd, 2020
School never came easily to Olivier Muhire. Not when he was a young boy during the aftermath of a war and genocide in his native country of Rwanda. Not after he came as a refugee to the United States for high school. Not even while he earned a college degree. But he pressed on because […]
Read More »Bridge prepares refugee students for school amid a pandemic
Sunday, August 2nd, 2020
Back-to-school isn’t an easy process for anyone in a pandemic—for refugees, it’s a monumental challenge. As students across East Tennessee prepare to go back to school, case managers at Bridge Refugee Services have scrambled to communicate time-sensitive information to clients while strategizing ways to serve those with school-aged children during the upcoming, unprecedented school year. […]
Read More »Graduation Marks Milestone for Bosnian Mom, Daughter
Monday, June 1st, 2020
Like most parents of the Class of 2020, Belma Denic looked forward to attending her daughter’s upcoming high school graduation from Hardin Valley Academy—and worried that the COVID-19 outbreak might mar those plans. For Belma, a refugee from Bosnia who resettled in Knoxville when she was 18, attending the graduation holds particular significance. “It will […]
Read More »Sudanese family puts down roots with Habitat home
Monday, June 1st, 2020
Yagoub and Tayba will soon have something they haven’t had since they fled war-torn South Sudan roughly six years ago – a house of their own. “My family will be so happy when they know that they live in their own home, and it will secure my family’s future,” Yagoub said of the four-bedroom house […]
Read More »In Chattanooga, Tornado Collides with COVID Crisis
Tuesday, May 5th, 2020
The tornado that ripped through Chattanooga on Easter Sunday night came with no warning. “It happened at midnight,” said Marina Peshterianu, associate director of Bridge’s Chattanooga office. “The majority of people were asleep.” She and her husband rushed to a downstairs bathroom to take refuge, listening to howling winds and crashing trees outside her home. […]
Read More »COVID Impacts Most Vulnerable Clients
Tuesday, May 5th, 2020
With soaring unemployment rates and taxed health care systems across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged everyone in unprecedented and unexpected ways. But the coronavirus outbreak has highlighted how much more vulnerable refugees are during a global crisis. “It’s definitely had an impact,” Bridge Program Manager Katie Weber said of the pandemic’s disruption of […]
Read More »Celebrating Our Knoxville Partners
Friday, April 24th, 2020
There is not a more invested and dedicated church partner than Two Rivers Church. Their Community Assistance Team (CAT) welcomed a young man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September, showing him how to cook, helping furnish his apartment, assisting him in opening a bank account, and inviting him to take part in […]
Read More »Celebrating Our Chattanooga Partners
Friday, April 24th, 2020
“Volunteers of the Year:” Vicki Suttle and Marsha Gentry! Vicki and Marsha have been Bridge volunteers since 2018, and together they lead the Hixson Presbyterian Church Community Assistance Team (CAT), which has co-sponsored FOUR refugee families from Burundi, Colombia and Sudan. They truly go above and beyond as volunteers to build trust and form close […]
Read More »Bridge continues services, spreads hope during pandemic
Wednesday, April 1st, 2020
As the COVID-19 virus has spread globally, Bridge Refugee Services’ leaders have taken their mission to promote hope to heart in East Tennessee. “Our whole team is working collaboratively to help people cope,” said Bridge Executive Director Drocella Mugorowera. “This is a time of action, reflection, compassion, helping one another, sending messages of love and […]
Read More »Monday, March 9th, 2020
Rehema Mukeshimana’s family arrived in Tallahassee, Fla., in August 2016, but relocated, at a friend’s suggestion, to Knoxville in June 2018 for better employment opportunities and to be nearer to a more vibrant Swahili-speaking community. Like they do for most clients, Bridge Refugee Services, which reports the Congolese as its fastest-growing refugee group in Knoxville […]
Read More »