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Those pointers on your dashboard may "point to refugees"
Abraham Deng and Mary Majak inspect pointers.
Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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By Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
From the day I first started to drive, I have paid conscientious attention to the speedometer, fuel gauge, and other pointers on the dashboard to avoid going too fast or running out of gas.
But before my recent visit to Monroe LLC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I didn’t give the pointers themselves a second thought. Now every time I drive or ride in a car, I wonder whether Mary Majak, Abraham Deng, or another of the many former refugees working at Monroe LLC had a hand in making those pointers.
Monroe LLC manufactures between 35 and 40 percent of the world's needles and gauges for vehicles – and it employs many refugees from Bosnia, Vietnam, Burma, Sudan, and other countries who have resettled to Grand Rapids.
PARA Refugee Services, the Church World Service resettlement affiliate in Grand Rapids, considers Monroe LLC to be an exemplary employer of refugees. Monroe LLC offers a wide range of entry-level and skilled jobs. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week to turn out more than a million pointers every week.
A walk through the facility finds employees monitoring computerized plastic injection molding machines; hot-stamping, clipping, and inspecting parts, and assembling pointers. Many jobs require attention to detail and manual dexterity; others, knowledge of computers and robotics.
 Gary Wainwright Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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Gary Wainwright, Monroe LLC's human resources manager, said his experience hiring refugees has been positive. "I know when PARA sends me someone, the person is legally authorized to work," he said. "I have hired lots, and generally it works out well. Two ladies on the third shift are among our best employees.
"Many of the former refugees we employ fled with just the clothes on their backs," he observed. "They know what it is like not to be able to feed their families. They are motivated to work."
Their numbers include Mary Majak and Abraham Deng, refugees from southern Sudan. Both have worked at Monroe LLC as parts inspectors for more than a year.
Majak, a mother of four, lost her husband in the war. She fled Sudan for Egypt in 1997, and was resettled to the United States in 1999. "I like working here," she said. "The people are good, and they are training us." She works three or four 12-hour shifts each week and receives a weekly paycheck and competitive benefits.
Majak spoke proudly of her children: a daughter, who recently married; a son, who has joined the U.S. Marines, and two children at home – one in high school, the other in middle school. Now a U.S. citizen, she bought a house six years ago. Monroe LLC is her third U.S. employer.
Deng is newer to the United States. He fled Sudan in 2002, and spent four years in Egypt before resettling to the United States with his wife. Monroe LLC is his first U.S. employer. "The job is good," he said. "It's enough to pay the bills. I like it. They are training me for everything."
When Deng started working at Monroe LLC, he didn't speak much English, so Wainwright paired him with Majak, who has learned English and could interpret for Deng.
"We like to put the new employee on the same shift as someone else who speaks his or her language," Wainwright said. Occasionally, an interpreter is needed, and PARA Refugee Services will send someone over.
Former Bosnian refugees and their friends and family members constitute a significant segment of Monroe LLC's workforce – fully half of the first shift. As Muslims, "they don't eat pork, so for company picnics, we now buy beef products," Wainwright said.
Monroe LLC also accommodates requests from former refugees who, once they become U.S. citizens and home country conditions allow, "want time off to go back home; for example, to Bosnia or Vietnam. We give up to four weeks' time off without pay, along with any earned vacation time," he said.
Earlier this year, Wainwright's involvement with refugee resettlement increased when his congregation, Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church, cosponsored its first refugee family, from Burundi.
"I'm learning more about all that goes into refugee resettlement," he commented. For his part, Wainwright is helping orient the family to what things cost, and how to budget.
Fourth in a series of articles featuring enterprises identified by CWS affiliates as exemplary employers of refugees.
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