We empower refugees by creating opportunities to use their knowledge and skills from their countries of origin to help their families and their own community and to better integrate with the larger Tucson community while gaining life skills that serve them in America.

Check out our Holiday Catalog!

Consider buying Iskashitaa's local food products and refugee-made crafts for your loved ones this holiday season. Your purchase not only assists Iskash*taa in continuing our mission to empower refugees and help them integrate into the Tucson community, but also provides supplemental income to our refugee crafters. Iskashitaa 2009 Holiday Catalog

A Quick Portrait of U.S. Refugees

Nearly 33 million people around the world are uprooted from their homes and communities by persecution and armed conflict. The Iskash*taa Refugee Harvesting Network empowers refugees by creating opportunities to use their knowledge and skills from Africa and Asia (i.e. harvesting, food preservation, sewing, and weaving) to help their families integrate with the larger Tucson community while gaining life skills that serve them in America.

US government allows a specified number of refugees from individual countries to resettle in the U.S. each year. The success of the refugees depends greatly on the welcome the refugees receive when they arrive. Our country is a nation of immigrants yet today refugees are often met with indifference, bureaucratic obstacles, and with suspicion. Refugees have traveled great distances under terrible circumstances and deserve to be treated with compassion. They come seeking what our forebears sought… life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Currently, less than one percent of the world’s refugees are resettled to a third country. Refugees are people without countries. Their loss is incalculable: loss of home, livelihood, safety, belonging, and sometimes family. Our hope is that awareness will inform caring, and that caring will inspire action.