Refugee Success Stories
Tales of Hope
from the St. Joseph ARC Refugee Program
Family Reunited after Dangerous Situation: The most recent refugee arrival has been one of not only great effort and tumult, but also great success and celebration. “M” (name shortened for privacy) arrived in South Bend from Iraq on November 10, greeted by excited family members and Red Cross volunteers.
M’s younger brother worked with the United States government and was consequently threatened. His immediate family, the only surviving support system he had, was in danger as well. The family received refugee status and prepared for the move to South Bend.
M’s parents and younger brother fled in early September, leaving him expecting to depart two weeks later. Though the family prepaid his rent in Iraq, the landlord evicted him, leaving him homeless in the middle of a war zone. The expected two weeks turned into a month and a half and the former doctor was left to struggle for his basic needs while maintaining the secrecy necessary to protect his life.
Through its international network and with the help of Indiana’s Congressional delegations, M’s case was located and travel plans arranged. Weeks of worry and stress for he and his family ended upon his arrival at South Bend Regional Airport at the family rejoiced and tears of happiness were welling in the eyes of all who were there to celebrate!
A Future of Hope, from Iraq to Indiana
In June 2010, the chapter began to resettle families who were affected by the war in Iraq; due to the continued danger that Iraqis face, particularly those who worked with the US or its partners, extra caution is taken to make sure the family is not identified.
A mother and her two young adult daughters fled Iraq and lived in very poor conditions in Syria for 4 years. Because the girls could not enroll in school, their mother taught them English on her own. Their approval to resettle in the US came in the spring, and they left for their new lives without the ability to tell anyone where they were going. Since arrival in St Joe County, all three have enrolled in English training and are progressing so well that they have all found employment.
From Genocide to American Dream:
In 1994, Elyse Gasigwa and his family lived in Kigali, Rwanda, and worked for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). They survived the genocide that occurred that year, ferrying aid and relief and saving lives through the protection of innocent families, while working under the direction of the only American who stayed in Rwanda during the horrible time. Once the war ended, life did not return to anything close to normal for the family, and due to many reasons they fled to Zimbabwe. While there, the family lived in a refugee camp, awaiting what eventually was an invitation by the U.S. government to relocate to St. Joseph County.
Since arriving in 2007, as the first client for the then-new Refugee Resettlement program, the family has made amazing progress. Red Cross volunteers placed the family in housing, and provided hours of help to get the family needed medical care, school enrollment, and other aid. Mr. Gasigwa has held steady employment, 3 of the 4 kids have graduated from high school and are college students (the youngest is only 10!), and from a referral provided by Red Cross, his family recently moved into its own home in Mishawaka, which they helped build with Habitat for Humanity.
From war to peace: Rwandan refugees find new start in South Bend
By Judy Bradford October 21, 2009 MomsMichiana.com
Imagine paying someone you barely know to take your child out of the country.
Now, imagine doing that three times.
That's what Alice Cyusa had to do nine years ago to get her children, then ages 2, 4 and 10, out of Rwanda .
“I had no choice,” the South Bend resident says of her family's flight from the Rwandan political turmoil that threatened their lives and well-being. “We had to go. My family wasn't safe anymore.
“I would find women who had passports or valid visas, and then pay them to bring my children here, saying that my children were their own. I didn't know for sure whether they would deliver my children to my husband, who was already in Atlanta .'' It took a lot of strength and courage, but it worked.
Alice, along with her husband, Jean Baptiste Cyusa, are both survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda . The reunification process that followed also proved to be a challenge for common citizens. Both Alice and her husband were targeted at their jobs.
In Rwanda both Alice and her husband, who have master's degrees, had good jobs in banks and owned property.
But when they came to America as refugees seeking political asylum, they had to start over.
“You need everything, from housing to clothing to a job,” Alice says. “I was well educated but I really didn't know how to interview for a job. ”
After living in Atlanta for about a year, they heard about the Notre Dame Legal Clinic and its work helping refugees gain political asylum. Alice packed her bags, bundled up her three children, and took a bus trip to South Bend in October 2002.
She and the children stayed with another Rwandan woman for about two weeks, and then went to live at the Center for the Homeless where Alice took classes in self-sufficiency: money and home management, résumé writing and job hunting. They lived at the center for six months.
They also learned about a refugee resettlement program working out of St. Joseph Catholic Church in downtown South Bend . That program helped them with simple needs like clothing and education.
Eventually, the children transferred from public school and attend classes at St. Joseph 's Grade School. Someone from the church even volunteered to pick them up each morning at the homeless shelter.
At the end of her self-sufficiency training, Alice decided to work as a nonpaid intern with the University of Notre Dame's human resource department doing routine office work. It was there that she learned about a job opening in the biology department.
“It was as though it had been written with me in mind,” says Alice . “They wanted someone with international experience with developing countries, who speaks French fluently (one of her two native languages) and who can be a financial manager.”
The job — working in a program that helps Haitians combat mosquito-born elephantiasis — was a perfect fit. She moved right into it.
By then, her husband had joined them in South Bend and they had all moved to a three-bedroom apartment in South Bend . A fourth child, Armand, was born in September of 2003.
She now works in a salaried position in the psychology department at Notre Dame which gives her the flexibility to make sure her children get to sports practices or doctor appointments.
She's also on the local board for the American Red Cross International Refugee Program, which needs sponsors who can help recent immigrants with basic needs like transportation to appointments and help with understanding English instructions. (The American Red Cross has taken over many of the responsibilities of Refugee Services, which, in combination with St. Joseph Catholic Church, helped Alice and her family.)
Alice says that the best part about living in America is the peace, safety and freedom that her family now enjoys. “You aren't threatened, or accused of doing this or that. My children are safe and they can go to school and have a future.”
About her refugee experience, she says that God works through it to teach everyone — refugees and non-refugees — that “you can help someone you've never met in your life, and you can trust someone you've never met in your life.”
'I would like to live here forever'
By Alicia Gallegos
June 21, 2009
South Bend Tribune
SOUTH BEND -- Masoud speaks of South Bend as if it's paradise.
The 29-year-old Iranian raves about all the advantages of living in the city, such as the freedom to go to school and the fact that he has family living here. Next to him sits his wife, Shahnaz, wearing a blue tank top with an embroidered American flag.
"I like South Bend . I am free," Masoud says. "I would like to live here forever."
Masoud and Shahnaz both participated in a local World Refugee Day celebration Saturday at the Notre Dame Downtown Design Center. The event was hosted by the St. Joseph County Chapter of the American Red Cross. Organizers said the celebration honored the courage of refugees and celebrate diversity. The event included ethnic foods from Iran, Liberia, Malawi, Kenya and more. Masoud and his wife have lived in South Bend for two months now after applying for political asylum from Iran less than a year ago. The couple asked that their last name not be used for fear of retaliation against family still living in Iran . Masoud says the couple lived in constant fear of practicing their Baha'i religion and of doing most daily activities in Iran .
"I was nervous in Iran ," Masoud said. "I couldn't go to work. I couldn't go to school."
Once, during a prayer meeting at his home, Masoud said, government officials raided the house, stopping the service and kicking everyone out. Shahnaz was always under pressure to remain covered, she said with help from translator Elizabeth Zahedi, who attended Saturday's event. Shahnaz has now embraced the American culture of dressing for the weather.
"I like to be comfortable," she said through Zahedi.
Masoud and Shahnaz join thousands of refugees who live in Michiana, says Emily Ball, project coordinator for International and English Services with the American Red Cross. Right now, the group serves about 300 refugees, but Ball says she knows of many more living in the community. The wave of refugees first started in South Bend 30 years ago, Ball added, with the first being Vietnamese.
Now, the population is primarily from Africa, including Rwanda, Liberia and Kenya .
One of those refugees is Esther "Mama" Winner, who arrived from Liberia almost three years ago.
War ravaged Liberia and cost the 34-year-old woman her mother, father and many brothers and sisters, she says, along with being separated from her daughter for 13 years. Life during that time was "unbearable," she says, and she remembers the horrific killings and atrocities committed. In her early 20s, Winner was raped. The woman was reunited with her teenage daughter at a Ghana refugee camp, and later the two were able to apply for refugee status.
Winner didn't choose to live in South Bend , and Ball explains that most refugees do not decide their location. Instead, U.N. officials ask if they know anyone in the United States or have any family here. Winner had happened to meet an American couple volunteering in Ghana, who lived in South Bend, which she told to the U.N. -- thus the two ended up in Indiana .
Since living in South Bend , Winner has learned English, received some education, and now has a housekeeping job at the University of Notre Dame. Masoud had a brother living in South Bend , also a refugee, which is how he and his wife settled here, too. Masoud and Shahnaz are both taking English lessons, and Masoud attends Indiana University South Bend.
Staff writer Alicia Gallegos: agallegos@sbtinfo.com
