A very complex mix
What Amanda Lim brings as IRCO’s new board president
By Ronault L.S. Catalani

The Asian Reporter

There’s an old Sulawesi saying about power: “Trust most those who have truly sorrowed.”

As old school as it sounds, it’s still the wisest way to delegate power — ask any political science scholar. Indeed, this Old World prescription retains startling resonance for every modern day electorate picking its new president.

The proverb certainly applies well to Amanda Lim, the recently elected board president of IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization), a Portland-based, nationally recognized and replicated resettlement agency. In its earlier identity and in its current form, IRCO has been assisting bewildered families, job-training ambitious newcomers, and serving energetic communities arriving from the former Soviet Union and its former East European satellites, from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, and from the Muslim world, since 1976. Today IRCO does it all on an annual budget of about $9.8 million.

As strong as Ms. Lim feels about IRCO’s management record, she insists the agency would not have the model service delivery reputation it enjoys without the daily contribution of the organization’s extraordinary staff, drawn from those nationalities and ethnicities they serve. She also credits the ongoing support of IRCO’s constituent communities and compassionate funders. It’s all a very complex mix.

In her 8-to-5 professional life, Ms. Lim is a fiscal analyst for the State Office of Child and Family Health, a public health program of Oregon’s Department of Human Services. After work she has served as treasurer of the Seattle-based Cambodian Women’s Heath Organization, an educational effort for low-income, high-risk, pregnant women. Between breaths, Ms. Lim provides legal and medical translation for Khmer community members caught in circumstances more complex than families can handle on their own.

Understanding it plus living it. It is precisely this, as IRCO’s new board president puts it herself: a combination of her understanding an immigrant’s urgent needs plus her experience as an often-awed non-Western refugee, that has given her the insight and the empathy to contribute to IRCO leadership.

“When we first come to this country,” Ms. Lim says, “we all dream of a good future. Everything seems possible. But then there’s the unforeseen challenges — language problems, employment barriers, acceptance into our new society.” Then she adds with a smile, a mix of exhaustion and conviction, “you can only understand these things after you’ve struggled through them.

” According to IRCO’s new chairwoman, what fuelled her determination to succeed in America were her deceased parents’ words and deeds. Her father, Mr. Chiev Suor, president of the Cambodian-English College, was executed on orders of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. The Cambodian Communist Party terrorized the country, nearly eliminating the entire educated population beginning in 1975 and lasting until the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam’s cross-border invasion in 1979. “Before he was killed, my father told my mother, ‘when Cambodia is back in peace, if I’m not alive, make sure my children leave the country, and make sure they all have a good education.’”

Madame Lim Kim Heak made it to America in 1981 with nothing but sorrow and three frightened children. “I am inspired by her,” Ms. Lim says, her eyes at once sad and fiercely focused, “a single mother in her late 30s with no transferable job skills, with just her will, her strong will to learn about American systems.”

Ms. Lim’s mother raised and college educated her daughter and two sons on wages she earned on an electronics assembly line. “She took my father’s words and made them a mission of her own.” Tears of love, of pride.

Twenty-seven years into America, Amanda Lim says she’s grateful to have an opportunity to be a part of IRCO. She calls the agency “a path that guides and supports immigrant and refugee families toward self-sufficiency.”

The first woman to serve as IRCO board president (in the organization’s 31-year history) is not a bit bashful talking about how proud she feels every time she meets newcomers who have struggled to become successful citizens. She is also proud about working with IRCO’s committed board and management. According to fellow board member Monica Smith, Ms. Lim “works in a positive, collaborative manner with all members of the board, and on behalf of all the communities served by IRCO. “She is a strong voice for all immigrants and refugees.”

Confirming the efficacy of the old proverb, Amanda Lim is that kind of strength grown from great sorrow. The kind you can truly trust.

Approximately 60 refugees from countries including Nepal, Ethiopia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Barundi and Cuba recently attended a workshop at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization on public safety, basic laws and emergency services.

In the countries where many of the attendees formerly lived, people in uniform were not seen as friends or advocates. In fact, many saw police officers as figures of fear, if not terror. The IRCO workshop is designed to begin changing those perceptions while informing the new Americans about how to avoid trouble with the law, how to respond if stopped by police and when to call police for protection.

Specific topics at the Nov. 16 workshop included traffic and criminal laws, domestic violence laws, identity theft, using 9-1-1 for emergencies, making non-emergency calls to police and what to do if stopped by a police officer. It also included a section on bicycle safety.

The facilitator of the workshop, Aaron T. Olson, is a retired supervisor with the Oregon State Police. Most participants heard his words through an interpreter, as most had been in the United States for just one to three months.

Following the completion of the workshop, 11 bicycle helmets were given to participants. Olson organized the helmet program when he recognized the participants could not afford to buy helmets but that they and their children were using bicycles on the streets. He purchases the helmets from manufacturers at a special nonprofit price of just $2.50 each, and he solicits donations from various groups for the purchases.

IRCO and Olson have been partnering to present this workshop quarterly to newly arrived refugees since May 2002. Anyone interested in contributing to the bicycle safety program’s helmet distribution or interested in more information about future workshops contact Rowanne Haley at 503-234-1541.

Editor’s note: Rowanne Haley is the manager of Community and Donor Relations at IRCO.

ROWANNE HALEY
FOR THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Portland took in close to 2,000 refugees yearly, until the U.S. State Department implemented lengthier background checks following the attacks. Now, about 1,200 refugees arrive in Portland each year.

It may be less than the pre-9/11 peak, but that number still keeps Outer Northeast Portland’s Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization’s (IRCO) employees, most of them former refugees themselves, scrambling to get their clients acclimated to Portland’s sometimes bewildering environment.

The refugees come from Eastern Europe and from countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia and Myanmar, said Rowanne Haley, manager of community and donor relationships.

“Some of them have never seen traffic, television or even running water,” she said.

And, certainly, many of the children of those refugees have never before been personally introduced to Santa Claus – until Thursday, Dec. 20, that is when IRCO invited Santa to its gymnasium at 10301 N.E. Glisan St. While the jolly old fellow held little ones on his lap, elves distributed gifts and tried to keep throngs of eager children from surging onto the stage.

“Some of them are the children of Burundian parents who have been living in refugee camps for 30 years,” Haley said.

For many refugees, Santa and his bountiful sack of toys symbolize the advantages the United States has to offer, like free education, abundant food and freedom from persecution.

And, for the adults, Santa’s main helper is the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization.

Wherever they flee from, initially, every adult refugee in Portland gets assessed at Outer Northeast Portland’s IRCO, where they are taught the ways of American culture and get help learning English and finding employment. While the parents learn tasks like how to take a bus, ride MAX and read signs, their children are already enrolled in local public schools.

Often, the first workshop a refugee takes at IRCO is on basic English language survival skills.

“Someone coming in from Cuba, that’s an easier client for us to deal with because they have great education and literacy,” Haley said. “But for a Somali Bantu, their language doesn’t even have a written form.”

Nevertheless, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, a nonprofit, does find jobs for the refugees, Haley said, even if it means some are hired to gut fish or slaughter chickens.

“The goal is self sufficiency,” she said.

At first, refugees earn about $8 to $10 an hour at their new jobs, but they tend to advance quickly, she said.

“They are willing to work. They will have two or three jobs each,” Haley said. “They see enormous opportunity here.”

By Merry Mackinnon

The Gresham Outlook

Immigrant children, many from conflict-torn nations, see Santa for the first time

By Nikole Hannah-Jones
The Oregonian

The children didn’t laugh or race about as they entered the winter wonderland with the sparkling white Christmas trees, dancing gingerbread men and enormous lollipops. They didn’t examine the mounds of brightly wrapped packages stuffed under the trees.

Instead, the babes folded somberly to the floor. No giggles. Barely even a fidget.

“Look at these children,” Victoria Libov says sadly. “They are not smiling. It doesn’t come naturally to them. But in America, it will.”

The world, with all its sorrows and conflicts and pain, came to see Santa Thursday. Children of every hue and scattered from their homes across the globe, gathered in a Northeast Portland gymnasium to find the joy of Christmas.

But as first they just didn’t know how. Long perilous journeys brought most of 240 children to the United States just months and for some just weeks ago. They escaped conflict-torn places such as Somalia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan and Myanmar, the nation formerly know as Burma. Some had lived their entire lives in refugee camps.

And now, the sat in a fantasyland put on by the Immigration and “Refugee community Organization, or IRCO, which helps refugees in Portland with jobs, Housing and language skills.

“Do you guys hear Santa?” a woman called out in a language they didn’t understand. The children stared, their eyes shifting back and forth and then locking on the white guy with the long beard and funny looking hat.

He snatched up a glass and chugged. “Santa Loves milk!”

Snickers escaped the mouths of a couple of kids. And prodded by adults, a few walked up timidly and shook his hand. Then they were directed to the presents, separated by gender and age, and told they each could have one.

A boy in a camouflage jacket grabbed the biggest one- a large rectangle sheathed in bright green. Girls in scarlet hijabs or in flowered head scarves took turns sitting on Santa’s lap and then picked packages for themselves.

They sat again, their arms wrapped around the gifts. As the first child tore into his box, smiles flooded the room. They threw paper to the floor as they unwrapped fire trucks and skateboards, soccer balls and baby dolls.

The room for the first time exploded with the laughter of children. A Burmese boy showed his new board game to a boy from the Ivory Coast who had just opened A Walkman.

“I’m happy and having a great time,” Khin Win Paw said through a translator. The Burmese girl had never live outside of Southeast Asian refugee camp until she came to Portland three months ago. She didn’t know who that red-suited man was, but she like him. Her father watched nearby.

“I’m so grateful,” Htay Win said. “I want my kids to be happy and have a Christmas because they’ve never had one before.” It doesn’t matter, he says, that the family is Buddhist. Life has been hard and he wants them to know joy.

That is why Luz Toledo, a job coach for IRCO and Venezuelan immigrant, started the Christmas party a year ago. “A lot of these kids have never seen Santa or had gifts,” Toledo said. “I wanted them to experience that, to be a part of it.”

She paused tearing up. “This is to welcome them and show them love. That we’re just one big family.”

The world came to see Santa Thursday, with all its sorrows and conflict and pain. And for just a few hours, the world smiled.

When Sokpak Bhell first arrived in the United States from Cambodia in the early ’80s, like many refugees she was relieved to be in this country, but adjusting wasn’t as easy as she expected.

In Cambodia, where she moved from one refugee camp to another, older people who had visited the United States told her that it was a clean, peaceful place.

“They said, ‘You can’t even spit on the sidewalk there,’ ” Bhell said. “They tell you, ‘It’s the land of opportunity.’ And it is, in a way. But you have to work for it, and it takes a long time.”

After hard work, Bhell now is established, with a home in Gresham and a career as an anti-poverty coordinator for Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), where she has been employed for five years. Located at 10301 N.E. Glisan St., the organization’s main office provides employment, job training, interpretation, senior, family and domestic violence services, not only to the multi-cultural immigrant and refugee community, but as of last summer, to mainstream Multnomah County residents, as well.

Bhell’s work includes helping other refugees get settled, many of whom are shocked, as Bhell was, by the disconnect between their expectations of life in this country, and the reality they face.
“When they come here, it’s the opposite of what they think,” Bhell said.

Refugees coming to Portland largely from counries in Africa and from the Union of Myanmar (Burma), places where there is political turmoil, sometimes have problems getting established.

“A lot of the community currently coming from Somalia, for example, is having trouble adjusting,” Bhell said.

She said that unlike some groups, African immigrants don’t always have a tight-knit community in place where they can buy food and find others who may speak their language and practice similar customs.

However, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization’s recently opened Africa House should alleviate some of that isolation, Bhell said.

A number of refugees arriving here find that they left behind very good careers, Bhell said. They were doctors and engineers or worked as skilled crafts people.

“But when they come here, they can’t use their skills,” Bhell said.
For one, language barriers can be daunting, especially when the skill is technical, as in medicine or engineering, and new education and certification may be required in order to practice their profession.

Like Bhell, Sokhom Tauch, the organization’s executive director, was a Cambodian refugee when he arrived here in 1975. One of the first Cambodians in Portland, Tauch, who had been in the Cambodian navy, said his initial employment in Portland consisted of low-wage service jobs.

“I did all kinds of jobs: dishwasher, janitor, busboy. When Oregon Employment Services sent me to a busboy job, I misunderstood what it meant. I thought it was about working in a bus and collecting people’s fare,” wrote Tauch in a short memoir posted on the organization’s Web site at www.irco.org.

In general, those who come to this country without any skills are the ones who face the most barriers to becoming self sufficient, Bhell said. It used to be that when immigrants or refugees settled here, many would find employment at the nearest factory. But now, according to Bhell, the economics have changed and manufacturing jobs have disappeared.

“A lot of people who face poverty, they don’t have a lot of skills,” Bhell said. “Manufacturing jobs and physical labor are the only things they can do.”

Bhell refers not only to the economic struggle of refugee clients she helps with rent and utility assistance and other services, but also to Outer East residents who may have been born here. A no-wrong-door policy assures that not just refugees and immigrants, but Multnomah County residents are eligible for the organization’s services.

“A lot of my clients were born and raised here,” Bhell said. “It’s first come, first served. We don’t discriminate.”

By Merry Mackinnon,
The Gresham Outlook.

The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization will be starting new programs immediately in youth mentoring, health research and conflict resolution for newly arrived Africans, made possible by funding from new federal grants. Representing $1.4 million in funding over a three-year period, the projects have been funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Office of Minority Health and the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, respectively.

Partnering with IRCO in the youth mentoring program is the David Douglas School District. The project will serve 45 students over a period of 15 months from grades four through eight in two elementary schools and one middle school. Goals are to provide guidance promoting personal and social responsibility, to increase participation in academic learning, and to discourage involvement in gangs, illegal activities and promiscuous behavior.

Two projects directed toward increasing the understanding and use of preventive measures to protect the health of underserved and marginalized African and Asian and Pacific Islanders populations will be launched soon. IRCO will partner with the Multnomah County Health Department to increase knowledge and testing for Hepatitis B and HIV, as well as to increase the size of the pool of skilled medical interpreters fluent in those languages.

OHSU and IRCO will work together to research the most effective means to reduce the incidences of cervical cancer through culturally tailored intervention that will increase cervical cancer screenings in Vietnamese women. Vietnamese women experience the disease at rates five times that of white women in the United States.

IRCO’s Africa House will serve 115 refugees, mostly from Somalia, Ethiopia and Liberia, to reduce conflict between community members, to improve stability in family dynamics, to increase awareness of and access to culturally and linguistically appropriate services to help stabilize their living situations, and to increase community engagement in constructively resolving intercultural conflict.

At Immigrant community conference “The best revenge on a system that does not value you is to get an education. What a win-win!”

Those words were spoken by Claudette La Vert, a special education teacher in the Reynolds School District, at the African Youth Leadership Conference Sept. 29 at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization.

Nearly 100 immigrant and refugee youth from a wide variety of African nations attended the conference, designed to empower youth between ages 12 and 23 to succeed in school and life. Additional goals were to establish a sense of community among youth from multiple (and often warring) African cultures and to increase personal self esteem and affirm cultural awareness.

Negussie Sado of Virginia State University, gave the young people advice on the necessity and methods of advocating for themselves in their schools. Sado emigrated from Oromia in Ethiopia to get an education in the United States.

Sponsored by and developed under the guidance of IRCO’s Africa House, the conference was organized by a committee of youth, including Fatuma Mohamed. Mohamed was less than two years old when civil war caused her family to flee their home in Somalia. For the next 14 years she lived in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the U.S. as a refugee in 2004.

Valerie Palmer, a researcher and director of the toxicogenomics laboratory at the Center for Research on Ocuupational and Environmental Toxicology at Oregon Health Sciences University, kicked off the day with a general address.

She used the stories of three children from different countries who all came to the United State and became educated, successful and are making positive differences on people all over the globe, urging the youth to follow their dreams, strive to reach their goals and make a difference.

Palmer, a Zulu who grew up poor on a small farm in South Africa, escaped apartheid at age 17 by traveling to England. When that country refused her asylum, she came to the U.S., where she completed her education and launched a career in research on the causes and cures of diseases affecting poor people in developing countries.

Also included in the conference were an African youth fashion show and African music provided by DJ Menzies.

The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, elected new officers and appointed three new members to its board of directors. Assuming the helm as the board chair is Amanda Lim. Lim is Fiscal Analyst for the Oregon Department of Human Services Office of Family Health. Kristin Lensen, of Kristin Lensen Consulting, was named Vice President. Monica Smith, an attorney with Smith Diamond & Olney, acceded to Secretary.

New members are Rithya S. Tang, the Portland franchise owner of DNA Services of America; Rich Sayre, Global Project Manager for Footwear Product Integrity at Nike; and Raquel Laiz, a legal assistant at the law offices of Gregory and Gregory.

The general understanding of most people is that the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization specializes in services targeted at people from other countries, and rightly so. However, as the organization has grown and expanded its services, it has offered more and more services to the local mainstream population.

One example is IRCO’s services to seniors. In July 2005, IRCO became the Multnomah County-contracted provider of services to mid-county seniors and the operator of the senior center located in the East Portland Community Center.
Although the center now offers more outreach and activities designed to draw in the diverse population of the mid-county area, the client base remains primarily mainstream.

Senior services are offered to anyone who is 60 or older and living in Multnomah County. The goal is to provide services that help older adults to remain independent and self sufficient.

Case management is the capstone of IRCO’s senior services. The Oregon Project Independence program is available to seniors who need assistance with the activities of daily living and who meet specified income limitations. Those who meet the criteria receive services designed to keep them living at home, such as homemaker assistance, personal care, grocery shopping, and light cooking for a fee of just $5 per year.
Case managers are also available to assist seniors who do not need personal assistance. Assistance for these clients focuses primarily on accessing available services. They may include things like finding affordable housing and financial assistance, home repairs and yard work, emergency food and shelter, financial and insurance counseling, employment, health issues, protective services for abuse issues, and medical and mental health services.

The Family Caregiver program is for persons 55 years and older who are acting as caregiver to a person (a child, spouse or anyone for whom they have legal custody) who is disabled, whether due to illness, injury, or the frailty that occurs with age. This program provides funds for respite care, adult day care, or other services designed to support the caregiver.

In June 2007, IRCO senior services had 429 clients receiving case management, of whom only 102 (or 24%) were of non-Caucasian ethnicity. IRCO has 6 senior case managers, all with a Bachelor’s degree or higher. All of them except one are fluent in at least one language besides English.

Weekdays, through a partnership with Loaves and Fishes, a hot lunch is served in the senior center for a fee of $2.65. Seniors who cannot go out may sign up through IRCO to receive free Meals on Wheels lunches delivered to their home.

One of the most popular services utilized by the seniors is transportation assistance, which scheduled over 500 rides in June. Seniors who are signed up for transportation services may call IRCO and staff will arrange for free public transportation for medical appointments, grocery shopping, visiting family, work, volunteer or social activities or just about any purpose they need. Primarily the transportation is provided via specialized Tri-Met door-to-door bus service or, in some instances, by taxi.

Some other popular activities IRCO provides at the senior center include senior law clinics every Friday from 1:15 to 3:15 p.m., for which seniors may schedule no-cost one-half hour appointments with a volunteer lawyer for help with legal issues. Setting up a will or trust, divorce, contesting civil fines, neighbor disputes, or contesting evictions are among the most sought-after services.

Senior Health Insurance Benefit Assistance provides assistance with any Medicare-related issues, such as de-mystifying the Part D benefits, enrolling, understanding invoices, or switching providers. This service is available on Wednesdays from 9 – 11 am.
At the Foot Care Clinic, held every 3rd and 4th Thursday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., a nurse provides a warm foot soak, toe nail trim, foot massage, sanding and smoothing of foot corns and calluses, and consultation relating to foot problems. This service, for which a podiatrist normally charges $60 - $100, is offered for a fee of just $20.

Osteo Exercise classes are held on Mondays and Fridays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and cost just $30 for a 13-week session, or 26 classes.

Other regular services include blood pressure screenings; support groups for Alzheimer’s, mental health, and diabetes; a writer’s group; and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for persons of Asian and Russian ethnicities.

For information or assistance with senior services, call 503 988-6073.

At the other end of the age spectrum, IRCO offers free in-home parent education and child development services to any parent (especially first-time parents) who lives in Multnomah County. Called the Healthy Start program and funded by the Multnomah County Health Department, this program also serves many mainstream clients, although staff can also serve clients in Cambodian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Thai, Laotian, and Mien languages. Families may receive these services from birth until the child is three years old.

Sokhom Tauch is the Executive Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), an agency that assists refugees, immigrants, and multi-ethnic communities to develop self-sufficiency and cultural awareness while affirming and preserving each culture within an ever-changing environment.
Before becoming executive director, he was IRCO’s fiscal manager for over 15 years. Under his leadership, IRCO has expanded its services in many areas including youth services, senior services, community development, folk arts, domestic violence services, citizenship, environmental justice, and volunteer programming. In 2001, Tauch worked with the IRCO staff and board to purchase its own building and community center for the Portland refugee and immigrant community.

Tauch has worked in refugee resettlement since coming to the United States. He has provided numerous fiscal management workshops to refugee self-help organizations in Oregon, Texas, and Florida.

Tauch is active in the Cambodian community both locally and nationally and helped the Oregon Cambodian community to find financing to build a traditional Buddhist temple. The temple, like those in Cambodia, has become the center for Oregon’s Cambodian community.

In his own words, he tells the story of his journey from Cambodia to his current leadership role.
——————————————————————————–
Leaving Cambodia

I came as a refugee from Cambodia in 1975. At the time, there was no such organization like IRCO. Refugees like me have to do everything on our own, with the help of the assistance from our sponsor.

I left Cambodia on April 17, 1975. I served on the Cambodian Navy. I didn’t know much about politics at the time, and didn’t even want to escape. We took a ship out – a transport ship. It was too slow, we were afraid the Khmer Rouge will catch us. We happened to come across a bigger Cambodian ship and joined them. I thought we were just going to be away for a couple of days, and if things calm down, we’ll come back in. The Khmer Rouger sent a message that they’ll kill us all if we came back.

The Malaysian government wouldn’t let us in. They didn’t know of the situation in Cambodia. We stayed on the ship form April 17 to May 1. We finally communicated with the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur. They sent a helicopter. After talking to our commander, they told us to go to Subic Bay.

On May 31, we were shipped to a military camp in Pennsylvania. We were prohibited from getting near the fence, because they were afraid that we will try to escape. After three months, I got a sponsor in Portland.

When I came to the Portland airport, I sat on the floor waiting for my sponsor. When my sponsor came, he brought with him a Vietnamese who can speak French. Because I too can speak French, we were able to communicate.

Life in Portland

I’m one of first Cambodians in Portland. I came to the IndoChina Center, which offered support for Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees. I got my first job there.

Back then, Asians have a lot of problems looking for vegetables, because there are not as many grocery stores. I didn’t even know where Chinatown was. But if you wanted rice, you go to Chinatown.

When I finally figured out where Chinatown was, I took the bus. I bought a 25-pound sack of rice. The bus refused to board me. The driver was afraid that if I put the bag of rice down, it could create an accident. I carried that sack of rice on my shoulder, crossed the steel bridge, and came to I-84. I stuck with the bus route and followed the freeway. If I deviate, I will only get lost. I carried the sack of rice about 10 miles. To me, as a young man, it was nothing. I thought, we used to walk further than that in Cambodia.

I did all kinds of jobs: dishwasher, janitor, busboy. When Oregon Employment Services sent me to a busboy job, I misunderstood what it meant. I thought it was about working in a bus and collecting people’s fare. I was excited because I thought I was going to do a lot of sightseeing in Portland. But they sent me to a restaurant where I cleaned the tables. It was a lot of work, but it was a job.
I was very flexible about the jobs I had. I made the most out of every situation. That’s the way I still am now.

Working for the Community

In 1977, I started my first job at IRCO. They needed a Cambodian translator to do typing, immigration adjustment status, because the refugee status is temporary. Refugees have to apply for permanent status to stay in the U.S., and a lot of people have trouble understanding the process.

I had an education in bookkeeping from Northwestern College of Business. My former boss asked me if I wanted to be a bookkeeper.

After all these years, I’m still doing the same job.

Sokhom Tauch with instructors and students at an English language class offered at IRCO. The agency empowers refugee communities, families, and individuals so they can become self-sufficient and contributing members of U.S. society.

Back then, we only had eight people working at IRCO. If something needs to be done, one of us has to do it. We didn’t care about job titles, we just wanted to get the job done. Our work was about the community, not about one’s self.

Community is my big thing. IRCO started out serving refugees from southeast Asia, but it has evolved to help a lot of different communities. We serve different ethnic groups, languages, cultures – we all work together here. We are trying to build one immigrant and refugee community. It doesn’t matter where you come from. Each one is encouraged to preserve traditions, if we come together, we’ll be a bigger voice.

Many newcomers are difficult to work with. They don’t speak language, or come from cultures with no written language. I remember when we placed a group of women to work in a hotel. That afternoon, the owner of the hotel called to tell us they didn’t have any clean rooms. The women couldn’t read the numbers, so didn’t clean the right rooms.

We established a literacy class to work with people and teach them how to read and write in English. When I first came here, everytime I went on the bus, I had to save my address in my shirt pocket. I didn’t know where to stop, or how to stop the bus.

Now, we have mass transit training with TriMet. Have a bus that drives new arrivals around town: show

them how to put the money, how to stop the bus.

A New Start for IRCO

When I took on the leadership role at IRCO, we had operated at a loss for four years in a row. We were losing about $60,000 to $100,000 per year. Right away, I knew that my first job was to find the hole in the pot – why are we losing money? We were able to stop all the leaks, and turned the agency around financially in about a year.

Financial control is critical. If there’s a problem with programs, it takes a few years for an organization to get in trouble. But money problems take only months to bring an organization down. People won’t trust you if you mishandle money. If people don’t trust you, you can’t establish relationships. It would be hard to raise money and get grants. You can’t have services unless you have donors.

By 1999, we started a capital campaign to buy a building. We felt that it was the best move into the right direction. Just like a family that owns a house, you and your children become stable in a neighborhood. It was the same for IRCO. Because we have a building for our services, people now view us as a more stable organization. There’s more accountability.

We started fund-raising. Former clients who now have jobs donated $5 to $10. They worked for minimum wage, and that’s the best way they can give back.

The different community groups also helped: the Hmongs, Laotians, and Vietnamese communities. Our staff began working the concession stands at the Rose Quarter. As a nonprofit, our staff volunteered to serve hotdogs at events, usually after work. We raised money that way.

We took all that we raised and approached the Meyer Trust. We showed them that the community wants to buy the building for IRCO. They gave us $400,000 in grant money. Smaller foundations soon followed and we raised more money.

We were able to raise $2 million – a good-enough downpayment for our new home.

We moved here in 2001, a few weeks before 9/11. The community didn’t understand who we were. People complained about parking and driving. We didn’t look like the mainstream, so at first, they saw that as a negative to the community.

We went to community groups to raise awareness about IRCO. We wanted for people to understand that we are good people, that we help the community. After they got to know us, they became more accepting.

Lessons learned

I used to be a Buddhist monk before I was in the military. Being a Buddhist monk is a Cambodian tradition for young men. We learn how to be a good man, to know right from wrong, to truly care for other people.

I practice servant leadership. Characteristically, I don’t order people to do something. It’s a little contradictory to Western management style. I believe that if you do the work, then you inspire others to join you.

Our people are our biggest asset here at IRCO. We don’t have enough money to pay our staff for all the work they do. They volunteer their time to work extra hours, to go the extra mile. They truly respect and believe in what we do for the community.

Our staff have strong relationships within their own communities. They come to work during the day, and in the evening they go back and serve their community.

Looking ahead

I can’t get away from the community. At my age, I should be looking for place to retire, but now I have a new idea: low-income housing for seniors.

New immigrants that come as seniors don’t speak the language. They can’t even understand what’s on TV. They end up babysitting their grandchildren, and they get bored. Our senior program brings them here twice a week to have lunch, exercise, and attend workshops on Medicare, nutrition, and how to take care of themselves.

We have dances here too. Asian, African, Russian seniors dance together with one music. You feel differently when you see them all dance together, enjoying themselves.

We want to look at low-income housing for seniors. We’ll do research about how to connect services to housing.
Summer 2007