Life as a Refugee

Life as a Refugee

        It was a cold night in November of 1996 when my family and I finally, after five months of traveling country to country, arrived at Kansas City International airport. I remember there was an Asian women in her mid-30’s, who had a poster with my last name written on it. We walked up to her recognizing our last name and just stood their staring at her because we didn’t speak English. She greeted us and made sure we were the Salih family and gestured us to follow her. We knew we could trust her, but we also knew this was the beginning of our new life in the United States. Could you imagine having to leave your life behind and migrate to another country, where you are expected to start a new one? Well, it’s imaginable and possible because it happened to me. I entered the United States as a refugee because my father was considered an enemy to the Iraqi government due to his involvement with the American government. I’d like to inform those who mistreat and under estimate refugees of the process they go through to have the “American Dream” even though their life is at risk, the everyday issues they face and also share my experience as a Refugee.

        Refugees do not flee their countries for fun, they flee because they are forced to escape war, persecution and/or natural disasters. No refugee can resettle without going through a process.  According to the U.S. Department of State applications are most referred by UNHCR, U.S. Embassy or a special trained non-governmental organization and are first processed by RSC (Resettlement Support Center). UNHCR is the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees that was established in 1950. Its primary purpose it to safe guard the rights and well-being of refugees. After referral, the applicants are interviewed at the U.S. embassy closest to them and will undergo a security screening. Once approved as a refugee a health screening must be done to make sure the refugee(s) does not have any serious diseases. Once the health screening is cleared a sponsorship assurance will be chosen from a U.S. based resettlement agency. The resettlement agency will than take over, purchase traveling tickets and inform the new refugees of when they will be traveling.

        Traveling seems exciting, but leaving everything you have behind just doesn’t seem very exciting. According to the U.S. Department of States titled “U.S. Refugee Admissions Program” the total processing time varies from place to place, but the average time from UNHCR referral to arrival in the U.S. is about 18-24 months. Upon arrival refugees receive the following assistance shelter, food, clothing, education and transportation from both the agency and the government. Refugees only receive assistance for three months, after that they are on their own and must start where they can. Refugees are types of people who will not give up and will provide for their families no matter what the sacrifice is.

        It’s a sacrifice to become a refugee and start a new life from scratch, but it’s also a sacrifice trying to figure out how to handle the daily issues that come across.  One of the daily issues that refugees face is discrimination. It shouldn’t matter what their appearance is, what they wear, what the color of their skin is or not being able to speak English, they are just human beings who grew up in a different culture and environment. A few other issues they face is not getting ripped off by the car dealer, if they can get a license or find a decent job that can pay for the bills because the only jobs they can find are minimum wage. The parents little by little resettle and adjust, but their children’s end up paying the price of resettling.

According to a YouTube video titled “Middle Eastern parents vs. American parents”, I saw that most Middle Eastern parents still go by their culture rules and their kids are stuck in between because they are Americanized. Once an individual grows up in a different environment they will adjust to that environment, but refugee parents don’t want that. They want to be in control and protect them like they’ve always have done. The teenagers have the “American Dream” and they want to live it, they don’t want to be asked the questions who, what, when, where and why all the time. The refugee kids become the accountant, the interpreter, and the scheduler of the family as they grow up. It’s nice to be able to help out but after a while as their life gets busy it’s tiring and time consuming. Now that you know what some of the issues are that refugee kids and parents face, I’d like to share my experience as a refugee.

According to a Personal Interview with Omar Said, my dad, titled “What brought you to America” I found that my father was working for an American Organization called OFDA fighting against Saddam Hussain. In 1996 word was out that Saddam Hussain had a list of those who he considered an enemy of his. The United States knew my dad was on that list, so in favor of my dad helping them and placing his life in danger, they decided to have us resettle in the United States. Our process to the U.S. was a little different than what I mentioned above because we were at extreme danger. I remember one evening, my dad came home and said to my mom, “pack some clothes for the kids, were leaving tonight”, without saying where to. We left that night without telling anyone because no one, not even our relatives, could know where we’re going. We were first taken to turkey along with 5,000 other Kurdish families. After a month in Turkey we were taken to Guam an Island that it is a U.S. territory. We stayed in Guam for four months until our processing was done than was to be resettled in Kansas City, Mo.