WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY & HOW

WHO
Friends of Daniel is a non-profit group affiliated with the Denver–based Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church, whose treasurer helps the group with its finances. The head of the group is Nancy Vorkink. She formed Friends of Daniel in 2002 to support the survival, and eventual relocation, of Daniel Poawalio and his family when they became refugees in the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana in 2002, after they fled political persecution in Liberia.
 
 
WHAT
Nancy has known Daniel since she was a Peace Corps teacher in Liberia in the early 1970’s. The Friends have been supporting the family while they have been in the refugee camp, on about $300/month. Now the family faces repatriation to Liberia, where they fear for their future—and their lives. Nancy’s goal has changed and expanded. She wants to find Daniel a job, so he can make use of his B.Sc. in economics and his in-depth experience in management, finance, government and religious institutions.
 

 
WHERE
Nancy and the Friends of Daniel’s mission is to get Daniel and his family, including his wife and two children, relocated out of Africa and preferably to the United States.
 

 
WHEN
In order for Daniel to be considered for entry to the U.S. under the H1B visa program, an employer has to be found who is willing to hire Daniel for a temporary, professional job. All the necessary documents must be filed with the federal government, with April 1, 2005 as the first date for application. This is Daniel’s sole opportunity to be considered for the 2005 H1B visa. (Please go to the How You Can Help page of this site for more information.)
 


WHY
Over the past decades, Nancy and Daniel have come to regard each other as American mom and African son. Knowing that less than 1% of the world’s refugees ever actually manage to relocate and improve their lives, Nancy is determined to help Daniel and his family achieve their dreams of living in freedom, without fear, being able to support themselves, and continuing their educations.
 


HOW
Nancy Vorkink has mounted an all-out effort to find Daniel a job, preferably in the US, by launching a website and a media campaign. She wants to greatly enlarge Daniel’s base of support. She is soliciting job offers, financial support and hopes that her dream of helping one family at a time to escape poverty and persecution in Africa will inspire others to join her cause.

 
NEWS RELEASES

Friends of Daniel
c/o Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church
1100 Fillmore
Denver, Colorado 80206

FEBRUARY 1, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact Nancy Vorkink:
nancy@friendsofdaniel.org
www.friendsofdaniel.org

Time is running out for a Liberian refugee and his family. Can you find a job for Daniel?

DENVER—Unless Daniel F. Poawalio can find a U.S. employer by April 1 of this year, this college–educated, English–speaking Liberian economics specialist and his family face a grim future.

At best, the Poawalio family will continue its hand-to-mouth existence among 52,000 other refugees at the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. At worst, they will be repatriated to nearby Liberia, where the family endured life–threatening ethnic and political discrimination, as well as employment discrimination. Although the civil war is over, the outlook is grim for the future security of repatriated Liberians.

“I have known Daniel for more than 25 years,” said Nancy Vorkink, a Denver educator who served as Poawalio’s teacher in the Peace Corps in a rural area of Liberia from 1977 to 1979. “He was my best student, anxious to make a life for himself beyond subsistence farming. After I returned to the United States, I paid for Daniel’s college education; he worked very hard, graduating in 1989 with a Bsc. degree in economics.”

Unfortunately, this was the same year that Liberia entered 14 years of civil war.

In time, members of the Poawalio family began to fear for their safety. Daniel began to be personally targeted with tribally–based discrimination and violence. Vorkink and a dozen other members of the Denver–based Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church created a non–profit organization, Friends of Daniel, to move the family out of harm’s way. Money raised by the group helped the Poawalio family escape immediate danger by fleeing Liberia and relocating to Ghana in 2002.

They have existed in professional and personal limbo there for the past three years.

“Daniel has a degree in economics and his wife is an accountant,” said Vorkink. “They are caring, determined people who both dream of leading a ‘normal’ life and continuing their educations. But because of their refugee status, they are not allowed to work in Ghana. Friends of Daniel sends the family some money each month. Daniel helps to support his family by making mud bricks. He also purchases hand–woven Kente cloth from local artisans in Ghana, and sends this cloth to me for resale in Denver.” The sale of the Kente cloth contributes to the support of the Friends of Daniel.

Poawalio wants to resettle in the United States. He dreams of work, study, and reuniting with Vorkink, his “American mom”. “To do this, he needs an H1B Specialty Occupation Visa,” said Vorkink. “To get the visa, he must have a secured job offer paying the prevailing wage from a U.S. employer in a professional-level position. The job can be part-time.

“Daniel is fluent in English and has worked in civil service in finance and human resources capacities, and as a church administrator,” said Vorkink. “He has demonstrated entrepreneurial zeal with his Kente cloth venture. He would be a good match for an institution of higher education, a private business, a religious institution or a non-profit.”

As a result, Friends of Daniel has launched a web site and is increasing its efforts to find Paowalio the job that would allow him to emigrate to the United States. For more information, see www.friendsofdaniel.org, or contact Nancy Vorkink at nancy@friendsofdaniel.org.

The filing date for the competitive H1B visa for Daniel is April 1, 2005. He must have established a place of work in the United States before the visa can be validated.

Give thought to whether a man like Daniel could find a place in your organization!

 
MEDIA COVERAGE
 
• Diane Carman, “Loyal Friend Best Hope for War Refugees”, Denver Post (July 6, 2003)