Posted on Tue, Jan 1, 2008, New Haven Register

IRIS offers hopeful immigrants a second start

 By Abbe Smith, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Mohamed Ali Ahmed was in hiding when his home in Somalia was attacked by rebels loyal to warlords in Mogadishu.

His father and twin brother were brutally murdered in the attack. His wife’s mother was slain. A week later, the rebels came back looking for Ahmed, but instead shot his first-born son to death.

The killings were revenge for Ahmed’s vocal support of democracy, peace and human rights in his own country.

"We will never go back," Ahmed says now, sitting recently in his living room in New Haven with his wife, Saadio Hassan.

Ahmed, Hassan and their children fled to neighboring Kenya where the family spent six years living in a crowded refugee camp. In March 2006, they arrived in the United States, displaced, and with almost nothing.

Their story is similar to many at Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization on Nicoll Street.

"Very few people in New Haven know about (IRIS)," Executive Director Chris George said. "This is one of the best things our country does."

The United States brings in about 50,000 refugees a year as part of the U.S. State Department’s refugee resettlement program. Refugees are people living in other countries who had to flee their homelands to avoid persecution, torture or death. Those who enter the United States without refugee status can apply for political asylum. The federal government relies on help from nonprofit resettlement organizations to provide services for refugees and asylum seekers.

In an average year, IRIS assists about 200 refugees.

The problem, George said, is lack of funding. He says the federal government provides a one-time grant of about $850 for each refugee it accepts — a good start, but not enough.

Advertisement "In a place like Connecticut, it doesn’t really go far. I’d like to see the state step in," he says.

The money pays for rent, medical bills, job training, food, clothing and other necessities. But underfunding can result in refugees being placed in second-rate apartments in dangerous neighborhoods. George said IRIS does its best to find safe housing for its people.

One goal is to make a new, strange land feel like home. The government requires refugees who enter the country be provided with a culturally appropriate hot meal within two hours of their arrival.

Many of the refugees come from Africa and the Middle East. Most in the New Haven area hail from Cuba, Afghanistan and Somalia. Coming to America is a godsend for most, but it’s not an easy journey.

"They don’t get a free ride. They have to pay their own way. Many take out loans for airfare," George says.

Staff and volunteers at IRIS work hard to help refugees rise above the poverty level.

Formerly the Interfaith Refugee Ministry, IRIS started 25 years ago as a branch of the Episcopal Social Service. Under George’s direction, IRIS has expanded in recent years to include services for immigrants as well as refugees.

A recent grant from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven allowed IRIS to double the size of its after-school program and include more children who need help learning English.

For refugees who have family members living in camps overseas, IRIS has a new program to help them come to the U.S.

FLED SUDAN

Gamal Kuwa fled his home country of Sudan in 2004, years after his parents and eldest brother were murdered by Janjaweed militia in violence-stricken Darfur.

"It is kill or be killed," he says, reflecting on the struggle U.S. leaders have labeled genocide.

Kuwa, 46, spent about three years working in Malaysia before coming to the U.S. less than two months ago as a refugee.

He is a polite, well-spoken man who lives in a small apartment and is looking for work. He attended college in Iraq in the 1980s, where he learned to be an electrician. Now, far from the bloodshed and fighting of his homeland, Kuwa’s life is headed in a new direction.

One thing stands in the way of happiness for Kuwa: His wife remains in Darfur.

"She is beautiful," he says. "Truly, without her, I am nothing here."

For Kuwa, being given a chance to start a new life in New Haven is a blessing. But in some ways, pain from his homeland has followed him all the way here.

"I miss my land. I miss my tribe, my family, my sister. I miss my wife," he says. "Many people do not know what is going on in my country. I hope to get my people peace."

Kuwa also hopes he can find a way to bring his wife to New Haven.

The process of reuniting torn refugee families is not an easy one. It requires mounds of paperwork and dogged patience. And it’s not a certain solution. In many cases, refugees must be able to provide a marriage certificate and photo of their spouse to be considered.

Linda Bronstein, a case manager for IRIS, has worked with refugees in New Haven for 12 years. She helps them find housing, get food, fill out government paperwork and find jobs. IRIS also provides English language classes and child care. They help others enroll in adult education courses and children in public schools. After five years living here, refugees can apply for citizenship.

Bronstein meets refugees with a wide variety of skills. One Iraq man was an oncologist. Others come from villages where their main work was sustenance farming.

She says people who make it all the way to the United States are the strong ones.

"These are people who can add so much to our community if we just give them a little help from the start," she says.

‘FELL BY THE WAYSIDE’

There are many others from these countries who "fell by the wayside somewhere along the way," Bronstein says.

"The ones who get here are the ones who had enough resilience, resourcefulness and determination to not only survive, but to get through a long and arduous selection process," she adds.

Bashir, a friendly and talkative refugee from Somalia, came a long way to find his home in New Haven. He was disabled after a soldier struck his shoulder with a rifle. After escaping, he spent 10 years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States, where IRIS is helping him start a new life.

George has seen first hand what many refugees he helps in New Haven suffered through overseas.

He joined the Peace Corps in 1977 and spent two years in Oman, an experience that laid the foundation for a lifelong dedication to help those in poor or struggling countries. Over time, George worked for various humanitarian organizations overseas and visited refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa. He’s been to Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey. He describes the camps as tent cities with no plumbing, where raw sewage runs down streets into open ditches. Every winter, everyone in the camps gets sick, he says. Coughing starts and rashes appear. Health care is insufficient. Education is on hold and there are virtually no jobs.

"People waiting in these camps become depressed, frustrated," he says. "But they are very excited and motivated when they come here. They want to become self-sufficient."

Ahmed and his family have finally reached that goal of self-sufficiency and he says they are deeply grateful for the second chance that IRIS and the New Haven community have given them.

The former director of foreign affairs for the ruling party under the government of Mohamed Siad Barre, Ahmed advocated for democracy in Somalia and was eventually ousted for his opposition. For the decade that followed, Ahmed and his family struggled to live a peaceful life outside of Mogadishu, but were repeatedly persecuted until the murders of their family members and constant life on the run forced them to flee.

Ahmed now has a steady job at Oxygen Electronics in Branford. His wife attends English as a Second Language classes. Their four children are enrolled in school. Ahmed has dreams of them earning college degrees.

"They treat us well here — in a human way and with respect," he says. "We do not feel like refugees."

Though they never plan to go back to Somalia, Ahmed and Hassan strongly hope for peace for good people they left behind in their homeland. No more invasions. No more civil war. No more innocent bloodshed.

"I feel when I come here my hope is restored. I do not fear the past when I come here and start a new life," Hassan says.

For more information or to make a donation, go to IRIS’ Web site at www.irisct.org or call 562-1798.

Abbe Smith can be reached at asmith@nhregister.com or 789-5615.