For some Idaho refugees, a job search in the recession ends at Oregon dairy operation

For some refugees, job search ends at Oregon dairy

BOARDMAN, Ore. — On the road to Threemile Canyon Farms, 21-year-old Achut Shiwakoti stared out at the rows of corn and fields of mint, translating for his father as their new workplace came into view.

There is little the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement agency, can do to prepare its Third World clients for the sheer size of the operation that is Oregon’s largest dairy.

But the 93,000-acre complex has provided steady jobs in a recession that makes it difficult for even highly educated refugees fluent in English to get hired.

Shiwakoti and his father were among eight refugees currently being helped by the refugee agency to get jobs at Threemile Canyon Farms.

Since January 2009, the agency says about 45 refugees have done the same.