New beginnings: Refugees tell their story as they hope for a new life in the U.S.Display at the bottom of :
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LEBANON, 3 December 2013 (ICMC) – Many refugees cannot return home because of continued persecution. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimated that resettlement would be the best protective measure for over 181,000 persons in 2013 – a 5 per cent increase over the projection< for last year. For more than 30 years, the ICMC-managed Resettlement Support Center for Turkey and Middle East (RSC TuME) has provided tens of thousands of refugees a chance to begin their lives anew as permanent residents of the United States, the world’s top resettlement country< In partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM), RSC TuME, has worked on behalf of refugees of more than 30 nationalities through its offices in Istanbul and Beirut and regular missions to Kuwait, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. In fiscal year 2013, the U.S. <brought 69,930 refugees to safety and new lives. The top five nationalities – Iraqi, Burmese, Bhutanese, Somali and Cuban – resettled in 186 communities within 49 states of the country. A team of ICMC caseworkers in Istanbul and Beirut conducts pre-screening interviews of refugees referred by the UNHCR to the U.S. and processes the application files for their resettlement there. This process involves collecting basic data and compiling refugee accounts of persecution and violence, including why they are seeking protection. ICMC staff also facilitated refugees’ pre-departure requirements such as medical examinations, and ease integration into the new country through cultural orientation classes that provide useful information about such practicalities as what to carry with them or how to look for a job. These are the stories of two women, whose applications were handled by ICMC, who are hoping that the U.S. will offer them a new beginning.
Q&A with an Iraqi refugee woman of Armenian descent who, at the time of the interview, had applied for resettlement to the U.S. She and her family resettled to the U.S. on 22 October. Rita was born in Basra, in the south of Iraq, in 1965. She and her husband lived in Baghdad but left for Syria in 2007. After the civil war started in Syria, she moved to Lebanon in September 2012 with her parents and three girls while her husband went to Morocco to keep supporting them financially. “I want to go somewhere where I will be free to practice my religion. I want to feel free, and I want stability. My family and I have been moving for so long.” Tell me about you why you left Iraq – like the last time you were in the country? We left on 4 July 2007. My husband used to work in the United Nations in Iraq. In 2003, a bomb went off at the UN and my husband was injured. His entire right side was covered in broken glass. My sister called me and asked me where is my husband, and I told her she’s working at the United Nations now. And she said, that you have to go now the United Nations – there’s been a bomb. We went – my parents and I – and there was dust and destruction everywhere. We saw so many injured people. Helicopters were everywhere and people were crowding around, searching for loved ones. I asked where is my husband was taking to the hospitals because he had been injured. At the same time BBC news was filming what had happened. They asked me ‘what are you doing?’ I told them that my husband got injured, and they took them to the hospital. There are many hospitals in Baghdad, so this information was useless to me. I asked the cameramen where they had taken my husband; I said: ‘I need your help.’ Finally, I found my husband. He was sent to an area for broken bones (orthopedic hospital). By the time I saw him, the doctors had stitched him up. The injury was mainly from the shattered glass that went to his body. After my husband had recovered from his injuries he began working as a security officer in the Green Zone. Yet this area was dangerous – it was an Al-Qaeda area. One day while working in the Green Zone, my husband noticed that strangers were taking pictures of him with their mobile phones. He informed the Americans, and thank god the Americans successfully captured the photographers. After that incident, my husband always used a different route to go to the Green Zone. It was a bad time. A lot of people were being kidnapped and held for ransom. Everyone who worked with Americans were called “disbelievers” and targeted by anti-American forces. For this reason, we finally decided to leave in 2007. So you moved to Syria after that point? What happened then? We decided to go to Aleppo. My eldest daughter started studying communications at the University of Aleppo. We lived peacefully for a while, but eventually things started to deteriorate. Protests against the regime started at the University. Other students forced my daughter to join. The government forces used teargas against the protesters, and my daughter would come home crying and scared. And finally, the last straw, someone wrote on the wall of our house: ‘your time has come, you Armenians.’ We decided it was time to leave again. Can you explain the Armenian reference? We are ethnically Armenian, but born in Iraq. My grandparents were born in Armenia. We are minorities and this has always been an issue. In Iraq, we couldn’t go to church. Basra is a small conservative city; I was fined when I went out uncovered. I didn’t feel this same pressure in Aleppo. It was a bigger city; I could walk freely and practice my religion, as I wanted. The civil war, however, reignited certain tensions. After the outbreak of civil war in Syria, how did you decide to go to Beirut? We applied for resettlement at UNHCR Syria. But after the war started, they advised us to continue our case in Lebanon. So we decided to come to Lebanon to continue our resettlement process. Did you ever consider settling permanently in Lebanon? I like Lebanon. I feel comfortable here and can practice my religion freely. Yet, I’m only allowed to stay here because my daughters are in University and have student permits. But once they are done studying, my status will become irregular. But more than that I truly want to go to the United States. We have been moving so much and persecuted because our religion. I want to go somewhere where I will be free to practice my religion. I want to feel free, and I want stability. My family and I have been moving for so long. Do you think it will be easy to live in the United States? No I do not think it will be easy. It is never easy to move to a new country and start a new life. You have to work hard in the United States, to provide education for my daughters and offer solid emotional and financial support. Yet I know that if I go to the United States, I will be so physically and emotionally relieved. Will your husband be able to join you in the United States? My husband has a United Nations passport – so he will continue working in Morocco to support us – but I hope he will be able to come visit us.
Q&A with an Iraqi refugee woman about to fly away to resettle in the U.S. At the time of the interview, Maureen*, 39, and her brother had applied for resettlement to the United States more than two years and three months before then. In five days’ time, she was to leave and start a new life in Michigan. “Yes I hope to God I will start a new life. I will never forget my past, or my husband. But I will try to start a new life, without looking back too much.” Where are you going? I’m leaving Lebanon in five days, and I’m being resettled to Michigan. I don’t know anything about the area, but ICMC tells me that a caseworker will pick me up at the airport and get me settled. My brother and I are going together, so I’m happy I won’t be alone. Why did you leave Iraq? My husband worked for the Americans, but he never talked about it. One day, he just didn’t return from work and I received a threat letter. I talked to my uncle about what to do, and he advised me to leave at once. I went to a remote area in Iraq to do my documentation, and then travelled to Lebanon. I haven’t heard from my husband since 2010. I think of a lot of different possibilities, but I have no idea if he is alive or dead. There are so many cases like this in Iraq; there are many different families who suffer the same uncertainty as me. Many people never hear from their family members again. How did the resettlement process work for you and are you hoping to start a new life in the United States? Yes I hope to God I will start a new life. I will never forget my past, or my husband. But I will try to start a new life, without looking back too much. I didn’t work in Iraq because I was a housewife, but since moving to Lebanon, I’ve started working in a boutique. You have to work to live, and I understand this. I originally wanted to go to Canada – my other brother lives in Canada, and I wanted to be with him. But I was told that I would be resettled to Michigan. My brother put me in contact with a woman who lives there. She promised to sponsor me. But I lost contact with her. I’m now moving to Michigan with my other brother. Will you miss Lebanon? Do you think it will be more difficult to adapt in the United States? Of course, I will miss Lebanon. I’ve lived here for several years and have many friends. I’m scared to move to the United States, but I think it’s normal to be scared in the beginning. What have you done to prepare for your move? I took cultural orientation classes offered by ICMC. The classes made it clear the different steps and phases of cultural immersion. They gave us basic information about living in the states, and highlighted that we should ask for help in case of difficulties. The classes were from 8 am to 3 pm, and they taught us a lot. But this, I think, is still not as good as personal experience. I think my experience in Lebanon will help me. As I said, in Iraq I was a housewife. But when I moved to Lebanon, I got a job, I made friends, and I started going out with these friends. I understand that Lebanon was easier because of the language – but Lebanese Arabic is still very different, and there were many words I didn’t know. But I learned. Moving to Lebanon gave me the skills to move to another country. I want to learn English, and I understand that if you don’t learn, you can’t live. I will learn, but it will be difficult for me because I don’t read or write. I was never educated in Iraq. But in the U.S., I will learn English and support myself. It will be a new beginning.
Credits: *Who prefered not to be filmed during the interview. |