BYUH students share their experience of working with Project Alaska to create a safe haven in Alaska for Ukrainian parolees
A collaboration with local Alaskan companies.
An active recruitment of parolees, more commonly known as refugees.
A resettlement for a better life.
Project Alaska said its mission is to support parolees and provide them opportunities for new beginnings. Four BYU–Hawaii students who participated in an internship with Project Alaska said it is more than just a project.
Akesiu Fukofuka Ngalu shared, “I feel like it’s not just a project to us. I feel like this is a part of our life.” Ngalu, a sophomore from Tonga majoring in biochemistry, said international students can relate to refugees because they know what it feels like to be in a new country, but she recognized that refugees have a different side to their story because of the traumatic violence they have experienced.
Rishan Prasad, a senior from Fiji majoring in political science and team leader over the BYUH Project Alaska interns, said the Ukrainians they worked with are called parolees, not refugees, because the word “refugee” refers to people who have lost their country, and Ukrainian parolees have not lost their country.
A greater work
Prasad said he became a part of Project Alaska through the on-campus internship class led by Elder James Mason, an experiential learning supervisor in Career Services. Prasad explained, “In this project, we’re looking at providing [Ukrainian parolees] a safe space to start.” He also said Project Alaska provides essential education to parolees to help them adapt to the systems of the United States.
Oliva Damanu, a recent graduate in business management from Fiji, said Project Alaska is a new organization. “It does not have the resources like an employment database and resume database. So we took the initiative not only to do research but also to create a database using Microsoft Excel.” Damanu said the interns worked with their sponsors, Tatiana and Mike Robbins.
Damanu said the Ukrainian refugees they worked with came from a tough environment. “We are going to provide them a safe haven, more of a mental help for them so they can adjust to the environment of the U.S., especially in Alaska,” he said.
After joining the internship, Yuen Miu Yee, a sophomore majoring in intercultural peacebuilding from Hong Kong, said she almost gave up. But she said recalling an experience from her service as a full-time missionary in England encouraged her to stay on the team. Yee said, “One time, I saw a woman who seemed lost and had no idea where to go. I approached her, and she told me that she was from Ukraine.” Yee said the woman asked her to bring her to any church so she could pray. Yee said remembering this experience fueled her desire to contribute as much as she could to help parolees through Project Alaska.
Refugees to parolees
After working and collaborating with other organizations in the United State that have had experience working with refugees, Prasad said the Project Alaska team discovered they had been using the term “refugee” incorrectly. “The media may call them refugees, but in reality, if we take fact into account, they are not refugees, they are parolees… because they have not lost their country,” said Prasad. He said parolees come to the United States looking for a safe haven to bypass the conflict in their country and plan to go back home after the war.
“I feel like the media plays a huge role in addressing [refugees and parolees],” said Prasad. He said the arguments people see on social media between nations about refugees and parolees are very complex, and the information can often be contradictory. He shared, “The media has the power to change people’s minds and [delineate] between information that is true and [false].”
Damanu explained the term “refugee” is a public relations term the media uses to hook people’s attention. “It is such an abused term in our society that people pay more attention to it,” he said.
Encountering challenges
Prasad shared, “The biggest complexity of this parolee status is that it is only for two years.” According to Ngalu, their team is trying to research more about parolee restrictions while also finding ways to allow parolees to extend their time in the United States. She said, “There’s always a way if we try to fight for it, especially for these people’s lives.”
In the past, the U.S. government would allow an extension for parolees when major conflicts threatened people's security and well-being, Prasad said. He also said they do not know what the two-year parolee restriction will look like in the future, but Project Alaska hopes the government will extend the two years, “just to give them ample time [to heal] from what the war has [taken] away.”
Being the change
“These people are not just refugees or parolees,” Damanu said. “I see them as sons and daughters of God.” He said parolees deserve every right to live comfortably in the world the Lord created.
Ngalu agreed, saying, “Personally, I feel like [God] trusted us to help out these parolees.” She said this was her first time doing a project that worked with the federal government and with sponsors. “It’s so scary but very fun. You learn a lot from them,” said Ngalu. She also said she learned how she can improve in future workplaces and contribute in organizations.
Since he started taking political science classes, Prasad said he has realized human rights is a complex issue. He said his experiences at BYUH, the leadership positions he has had and the research he has done has helped him understand that human rights is unfortunately not a privilege for all people. He said, “We might have human rights, but in other countries, they don’t have freedom of speech or freedom of expressing their own opinions.”
While working on this project, Prasad said he felt a great desire to use all the skills he has to impact in other people’s lives. He said he did not care if it only impacted 0.1 percent of people, as long as there was something he could contribute in helping the Ukrainian parolees find a home.
Damanu also shared, “It’s hard to control anything in this world, but if you can help 0.1 percent and make things better, I feel like you can change the world by starting with a small number.”
Promoting peace
Prasad said if he was asked to give an invitation to others, he would invite people to address Ukrainians coming to the United States as parolees. He said, “Hope and prosperity play a huge role in how we address [parolees].” He explained that calling someone a refugee is a psychological attack because it is like telling parolees they have lost their countries and there is nothing they can do about it. He said addressing parolees correctly gives them hope that their country will be free again.
Yee said people should never think their contribution to making the world a better place is small. She said, “Even the very little tiny thing you contribute can make a difference.” Damanu agreed, adding, “In the hearts and minds of the people you are helping, you are actually a miracle to them.”
Ngalu said her invitation for everyone would be to be kind. She said people may talk about refugees or parolees as removed from them, but everybody goes through their own refugee or parolee stage. She explained, “You may have a home, but sometimes you feel like you don’t because of how people are treating you.” Ngalu said we may never know what a person is going through and said, “Just do something that would make people feel God’s love and make them feel that they are worth it.”