By PAULA TRACY
New Hampshire Union Leader
22 Nov, 2010
LACONIA – Although better known for its sled dog races, bike week and access to the Big Lake, Laconia is also one of the four largest refugee centers in New Hampshire.
Small compared to Manchester, Concord and Nashua, with about 17,000 year-round residents, Laconia has accepted small groups of refugees from various war-torn countries since the 1980s. According to the Office of Energy and Planning, between 2002 and 2009, 260 refugees were resettled in Laconia.
By comparison, 1,807 have made their new home Manchester, 778 have gone to Concord and Nashua has 70.
Other communities with small refugee populations include Franklin, Boscawen, Hooksett, Hanover, Milford, Haverhill, Charlestown, Warner and Peterborough, according to OEP.
Those from Bhutan and Iraq now join those from Bosnia, Laos and Cambodia in settling in the Lakes Region as their first American experience.
►More information on the documentary "Uprooted."
Carol Pierce chairs the Laconia Human Relations Committee, begun in 2000 by former Laconia Police Chief Bill Baker, who saw the need for the public to get involved in the successful integration of refugee families.
Pierce saw the wave of Laotions in the 1980s and the Bosnians in the 1990s and decided to lend a hand. Since 2000, it has been mostly Africans who have been settled here by the United Nations, she said.
"You have to have fled your own country or are in a camp waiting," to become a refugee, Pierce explained.
For Laconia to be designated as a resettlement site, "you have to have enough infrastructure," Pierce said. Downtown, she said, there are plenty of apartments where people can find work within walking distance, visit social service, medical offices, stores and stay together.
Schools are within walking distance and now, with the addition of an immigrant community, Laconia High School handles the education of students from around the world.
Often the younger members of a family pick up the language first, and they help the elders.
Laconia police officers in uniform knock on every refugee door and spend an hour teaching them about things like calling 9-1-1 and basic safety and "they shake their hands and tell them 'I am your friend.' You have to remember these are people who are coming from places where (the police) are not necessarily their friend," Pierce said.
"They spend a good hour with them," at times with an interpreter, giving them the basic rules of the road.
Pierce said these meetings are part of the success of the refugee program here. The other is good neighbors.
"Every family has had someone who has paid special attention to them" and has volunteered, Pierce said.
Refugees have Medicaid for the first eight months, and Pierce said efforts are also made to have them use it to get proper preventative health screenings to avoid "the cost of the emergency room."
Lutheran Social Services of Concord has been involved in conveying the refugees to Laconia.
The organization, which began in Massachusetts primarily to help children, has been involved in the refugee resettlement, employment assistance, job training, language and citizenship education and handles foster placements for refugee minors.
Since the early 1980s, according to OEP, 6,000 refugees have made New Hampshire their home.
Pierce said this past September was the 10th year that the Laconia Multicultural Market Day was held. More than 2,000 attended to share food, crafts, music and culture.
A parade in which refugees and immigrants proudly carry the flags of their homeland this past summer included flags from 60 countries.
The annual market day is held in Rotary Park on the second Sunday in September.
A new documentary film about the experience of refugees in the state, "Uprooted: Heartache and Hope in New Hampshire" produced by the University of New Hampshire's Center for the Humanities, was presented last Tuesday in Laconia.
The documentary features Umija Gusinac, who was ripped from her home in war-torn Bosnia in the 1990s and has become a naturalized U.S. citizen and an active member of the Laconia community.
She said being sworn in as a citizen was the proudest moment of her life.
The film is the first in a series of documentaries based on oral histories of these new residents.
Pierce said that each year the U.S. president chooses how many refugees will be admitted to the country. Laconia can expect to see more refugees so long as there are wars and persecution, but she said because of the relatively small size of the community and its willingness to welcome them, the refugee resettlements have largely been a success.
She said refugees "have a great effect on our community" and have added considerably to the richness of life here.
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