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The Alameda Refugee Transition Facility's first residents

It's different when you'll look them in the eye.
alumino

    Today a group of students and I went down to the newly-minted Alameda Refugee Transition Facility to welcome the first of over 75,000 people who’s former home, the nation of Kiribati is in the process of being consumed by the South Pacific.  The whole facility is just a bunch of eco-fab structures deposited on the abandoned territory of the old Alameda Naval base, on the edge of San Francisco Bay.  At least the government is making sure to use solar systems, and using farms right in the camp to grow some food.  They even have their own little medical facility and store.  But this camp is only designed for around 10,000 people they tell us.  The refugees are to come in, get used to their new homeland, and be resettled in the bay area, just in time for the next load of people to come in.

    10 years ago, nobody had heard of Kiribati, or it’s neighbors Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.  Then in 2015 we all faced facts and the UN Climate Conference told everybody what they already new: these tiny nations in the South Pacific will be overtaken by rising sea levels or raging storms some time in the next 10 years.  If they didn’t leave, everybody was dead.  The UN wrote it out like that in plain science-speak; the obituaries for entire nations.

    It was decided that the populations would be relocated to various larger nations that could absorb their numbers, and happened to have governments feeling a little guilty about climate change.  The EU, Australia-New Zealand, and US stepped up.  It was decided that the US would absorb the nation of Kiribati, divided into the San Diego and San Francisco areas.  Keep them together, it was said, that will help their morale and help keep their culture alive.  These people are being told their homeland is about to drown, I don’t think having the same neighbors will make you feel that much better.

    We were there because some of the kids from this group will end up at our school.  The Refugee Affairs Office had designated us one of the communities that would serve as the new home of some refugees after they left the Transition Facility.  They had assigned us social workers, various liaisons, and thrown money and programs as us in order to make a place that could help these kids, their families, and “unique needs” as the workshops kept telling us.  They will have access to many resources, but we haven’t been told for how long.

    The one benefit is that many of the Refugees without skills are being trained in “green collar” jobs, so they will have skills ready to go as soon as they leave Alameda.  They will also be able to settle in places that have been prepared for them, at least a little bit.  Now there is all the grumbling about how they are “stealing our jobs”, and “why do they get special treatment.”  I think I have even heard “wet foot” coined as a new racial slur.

    I don’t want to think what it would be like to have to uproot my whole family.  I was born near here, my wife and our kids too.  It would be too hard to lose all this and go somewhere new to live.  And starting next year I will have children in my classes forcing me to face this new modern reality every day.

Oct 21
Climate change,refugees,refugees in North America,climate refugees,camps


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  • Zephyr40k
    Oct 22
    That sounds great. We are also re-purposing a former military base with the San Francisco Presidio. We have turned a significant part of the acerage of the Presidio into gardens, and have formed a co-op to manage it. One problem we're finding is that some areas of the base still have soil contamination leftover from the Cold War. Most commonly, we've found heavy metals, PCBs, and organic solvents. I would imagine the former Alameda NAS has these "hotspots" all over. Are you helping the refugees avoid planting their gardens in these areas?
  • alumino
    Nov 06
    Avoiding is only part of it. Another aspect is training the first group as Environmental Technicians so they can do some of the cleanup themselves. That way they get job skills, and it's much cheaper to do the clean-up.
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