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\nCal Hilsman, clinical case manager at Carolina Survivor Clinic, feels mainstream media can fail to humanize refugees. “At one extreme it says that they are terrorists and the other is that they are helpless,” he said.<\/p>\n
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By\u00a0T. Michael Boddie<\/a> and Reema Vaidya<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n At 15, Saleh Sumili fled his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and took refuge in Tanzania. He made it to the United States about two months ago.<\/p>\n Now 34, Sumili lives in Columbia with his wife and two children and is granted official refugee status by the United States.<\/strong> He is just one of about 900 other people in the city who have sought refuge from their home countries and been granted asylum due to persecution.<\/p>\n Recently, Sumili held a folder close to his body of his own writings. He is still learning to read and write English.\u00a0He is determined to do so for one reason.<\/p>\n \u201cEducation the key. When you are educate, you can help kids, but if you are a parent who is no educate,\u201d he said, speaking in halting English.\u00a0\u201cThey can go to school, and when they come back there is no one who can help them to discuss about their homework.\u201d<\/p>\n The number of refugees like Sumili who are allowed in the United States was capped at 30,000 earlier this month by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n When he announced the new cap,<\/a> Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new numbers shouldn\u2019t be considered a measurement of the United States’ humanitarian efforts and that the focus would be on protecting refugees who are already in the country, CNN reports.<\/p>\n Dr. Rajeev Bais with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine said he is still concerned for refugees who need to come to a new place like the states.<\/p>\n “Truthfully, it makes me wonder what America really stands for. When the majority of America thinks refugees shouldn’t be here, is that right or wrong?” he said.<\/p>\n In 2015, Bais channeled that concern into founding the Carolina Survivor Clinic.<\/p>\n For refugees living in South Carolina, the clinic dedicates itself to providing that protection. In partnership with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and the Palmetto Health USC Medical Group, the goal is to help refugees who have survived the unthinkable get the care and sense of community they seek.<\/p>\n Cal Hilsman, CSC’s clinical case and program manager, works with refugees to make sure they are adjusting mentally and physically to their new life in the United States. <\/strong>The clinic runs daily programs, recruiting volunteers to tutor refugee children and help them participate in sports.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Hilsman could be seen helping volunteers tutor children in classrooms at St. Andrews Park and recreation center. While the clinic doesn’t have a specific physical setting, most programs like the tutoring sessions and recreational soccer games take place at the center.<\/p>\n Unsure of what the recent cap on refugee numbers means for the clinic, Hilsman said he is worried for his patients and their kids.<\/p>\n \u201cWith me being so invested with this population, I love and care about them. It’s mostly scary for them\u2026these people will not have the opportunity to grow in life,\u201d Hilsman said. \u201cWe will see what happens to this clinic and my job, but it is definitely not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Clinical visits with Hilsman or Bais are free to all clients, Hilsman said. Palmetto Health and the USC School of Medicine partner to fund the use of hospital rooms and equipment, and other CSC programs are funded with donations and small grants.<\/p>\n The clinic welcomes refugees from countries that are dealing with oppression and persecution. Most of the refugees who use the clinic’s services are from Myanmar, about 30 percent of the refugees are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by about 10 percent from Eritrea in northeast Africa.<\/p>\n The major difference between a refugee and an immigrant is the reason why they leave home.<\/p>\n In the U.S., people are considered refugees when they have to flee their homelands due to oppression or persecution. In contrast, immigrants choose to leave their country and move to the United States, whereas someone who leaves their country based on a \u201cwell-founded fear of returning\u201d is given the status of refugee upon entering the states.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s their home. Of course, they want to go back,\u201d Laura Rudisell, a fourth-year global studies student at USC and a volunteer with the clinic, said Tuesday.\u00a0\u201cDo you realize how terrible that is to have to see your home amidst conflict or amidst persecution of a certain people?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n