A refugee, by definition, is a person who has faced persecution because of their ethnicity, political beliefs or religion. Many of the artisans fled from Burma to Thailand and Malaysia, living in limbo in refugee camps for years, even decades, before being granted political asylum by the United States.

Once these families are settled in the States, they may face many challenges, including securing steady employment and navigating a variety of cultural and language barriers. In addition, many refugee families are still healing from the physical, mental and spiritual repercussions of war. After many years of listening closely to our refugee friends, here are some key needs we’ve observed:

• The opportunity to earn. Employment is the greatest need for refugee families. In the typical household, a refugee woman will stay at home taking care of young children and elderly parents while their husband works a minimum-wage job. In one artisan’s family, nine people are supported by one hotel housekeeping position. A few of the artisans are either widows or single mothers, with no wage-earners in the household.

• The opportunity to learn. In addition to the need for income-earning opportunities, refugee women are rarely exposed to English and have trouble entering the job market after their children are in school. Many refugee families chose to come to the U.S. with the hopes of giving their children a good education. We’ve seen refugee children thrive and excel in school, but their mothers have often lost hope of receiving formal education and pursuing personal dreams and careers themselves. The need for personalized English and life-skills training is considerable—some artisans are illiterate in their native tongues, so the jump to even simple English is overwhelming. Others just need a little support, encouragement and practice to prepare for a job interview or navigate a tricky health care situation.

• An opportunity to belong. Isolation is a major problem among newly-settled refugees. Creating community is key to a family’s long-term success in the States. Making connections to other refugees and Americans serves as a safety net to prevent refugee families from falling into crisis. As refugee families adapt to life in America, one of their major concerns is that they not lose their own culture, language and community.

Overall, the needs facing the refugee community loom large, but the courage, determination and strength of refugee families are even stronger.