Refugee Economic Independence Project
- by Jon Devin, Friday, September 28th, 2007
Cam Echols (left) and Ruth Lomo with refugee children. Photo by Jon Devin.
Imagine that today is your first day in the United States. You got off a plane with your seven children, the clothes on your back, no money, and no knowledge of the English language whatsoever. According to Ruth Lomo, founder of the Refugee Economic Independence Project (REIP), you would still have a very long road ahead of you while seeking basic needs and acclimation to life in a new country. So she and her small band of REIP volunteers are working to turn disaster into the American Dream.
REIP (pronounced “reap”) is a program of the United Methodist Neighborhood Centers, whose offices occupy a crowded building at the corner of Walnut Grove and Tillman. Lomo, a native of Sudan, says she could have used REIP’s help when she first moved with her children to the United States.