Cover Story

By Trudy Helmsing

Lagniappe staff

Five years ago, Jamila Ali never thought she would be where she is today. She sits with her family in their comfortable living room, sipping Coke and snacking on Doritos. They are watching a soap opera with a plotline involving evil twins, secret babies and forbidden marriages. She laughs at her youngest brother as he claims to hate the show, but somehow knows exactly what’s going on with every character. Although, this might sound like a typical American living room, for these refugees from Afghanistan, the journey to get here was anything but typical.

Refugees, like the Alis, differ from immigrants who choose to leave their countries. Refugees are forced to flee because of a well-founded fear of persecution. Usually the country they are leaving is either at war or under some other bad condition.

Although they escaped the hardships endured in their country, the adjustment to a new country was also arduous for the Alis.

“When we first got here, it was really difficult. We were crying all the time,” Jamila Ali said. “Being in a new country with a new language, all we could do was try really hard to learn.”

When the family first arrived, they were still wearing typical Muslim scarves and were getting harassed because of it, so much so they actually had to move to a new apartment at one point. After six months, they stopped wearing them, opting for jeans and T-shirts.

“It’s not really necessary to cover your face to show that you are a Muslim,” Jamila’s oldest brother, Ali, said. “You just have to feel it in your heart.”

Although Jamila and her family have had some bad experiences with prejudices, her attitude remains very positive.

“Every place can have a good person and a bad person,” she said. “In my country, it is the same way.”

Jamila came to Mobile with her mom, her two brothers and sister in March 2002. Originally from Afghanistan, they relocated to Iran and had been forced to move a few times.

Although the family knew some English before they came, what they had learned in school varied greatly from the language that is actually spoken here.

“I wasn’t talking at all the first year. I would just point at things I needed,” Jamila said. “But, if I’m never gonna say anything, I’m never gonna learn.”

And, she certainly has learned. Jamila now loves to talk so much, her sister teases her about giving people a headache with her chatter.

Once a refugee leaves the country, there are basically three choices as to what to do next. They can either repatriate, resettle in the country they have fled to or go to another country.

According to Jana Curran, resettlement director of the Refugee Resettlement Program of Catholic Social Services of Mobile, the third choice is often the only real option.

“Sometimes things get better in their country, but that is often not the case,” she said. “They are also usually going from one troubled country to another. They can’t really settle there because usually they will be in refugee camps. It’s not a solution.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State allow them to be legally admitted to the United States. Once here, the Office of Refugee Resettlement will refer them to one of ten voluntary agencies that resettle refugees, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The voluntary agency then distributes the refugees to its affiliates, like the Refugee Resettlement Program of Catholic Social Services here in Mobile.

The Mobile CSS program is currently the only federally funded voluntary refugee resettlement program in Alabama.

Before a refugee can be allowed to move to our country, he or she must go through a very strict screening process, in which a legitimate fear of persecution must be proved. Only a very small percentage actually get to resettle in a third country.

Along with the United States, a number of other countries resettle refugees, including Canada, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands as well as other European countries.

After the screening process, refugees can then be admitted to our country.

“They come with refugee status. They are legal and authorized to work. They are eligible to apply for green cards after one year of residence here,” Curran said.

Through a variety of services, the RRP assists in getting the refugees settled and integrated into American society. Programs like these are based on the premise that, when given opportunities, refugees have inherent capabilities.

The first service provided is to find them housing. According to Curran, the program has very strict guidelines for where they can and cannot live.

“They have to be decent, safe, sanitary and affordable,” she said, adding that such requirements can be almost impossible to find sometimes. The houses are furnished with donated items from the community.

Next, arrangements are made for them to be picked up at the airport and taken to their new home. Once there, necessary paperwork is filled out, like applying for Social Security cards and benefits like food stamps. Then the refugees go through health screenings and medical follow-ups, if necessary.

Once they are settled in their new home, RRP workers assist children in registering for school and adults in finding jobs. An employment developer finds them jobs based on skill, availability and language abilities of the refugees.

“The refugees have it really hard because they have to compete with people who have lived here all their lives. They aren’t just given something. They work hard to try to make it. It’s the only option they have,” Curran said.

Oftentimes, before they had to leave their countries, refugees may have held jobs of high prestige, such as a doctor or a lawyer. However, professional degrees are typically not transferable. The refugee has no choice but to seek other forms of employment, usually in manufacturing, landscaping, construction, hospitality or food industries.

One of the things Jamila is the most thankful for from CSS, is that they gave her a car once she got her license and learned to drive. Before she got it, she was forced to walk to work. Because she was working such long hours trying to get make enough to get by, it was often dark when she was both going to work and coming home.

Jamila and her mom had a few bad experiences with people following them and harassing them about the way they looked. Once they got the car, Jamila was much more comfortable.

“I was really happy because I could got to work and come home and not feel scared,” she said.

In many cases, with refugees, they will have to work extremely long hours or more than one job to get by.

Osman and Mirjana Ademovic came to Mobile in 1997 as refugees from Bosnia. With the help of CSS, they both got jobs and started working right away.

“I worked two jobs for three years, just to make a living,” Osman said. That hard work paid off. In 2000, they opened Osman’s restaurant, which has earned awards from Mobile Bay Monthly and Lagniappe.

Curran, who worked with the Ademovic family through RRP, stressed how hard-working they are.

“What they built, they can really thank themselves,” she said.

With language barriers frequently being one of the biggest issues, the RRP works to provide interpreters to help with the employment process.

“Some of them are actually employed with very little or no English,” Curran said.

Jamila and her mom were two such cases. They both started working at the Mobile Marriot as housekeepers, knowing very little of the language. They relied on pointing at things and other immigrants or refugees to help them communicate. Jamila was determined to learn, however, and her progress is remarkable.

“Now in my job, I try to help people. My manager says that I am the best worker. I can’t believe I went from that person to this person,” she said.

Refugees are also encouraged to take English as a Second Language classes provided by the RRP or to work with a tutor as necessary. Typically, the children will pick up on the language much quicker, allowing them to substantially help the family adjust.

In Jamila’s family, her youngest brother, Umaid, seems to have the best grasp of the English language. He was only 4 when the family arrived and started pre-school in America. Now 10-years-old, he is actually starting to forget their native language, Persian.

“I can’t believe how hard he was crying when they tried to take him to day care. Now he doesn’t want to miss one day of school,” Jamila said of her brother.

Every child in the family stressed that they really love learning and want to continue with their education. Jamila, who was 18 when she came to America, had completed her basic education before she arrived. Since she’s been here, she has gone to a technical school to learn about airplane mechanics and worked for some time at Mobile Air and Space.

“I want to try to get more and more education, as much as I can,” Jamila said. Her younger sister, Khatira, now a junior in high school, hopes to attend college one day, too.

As for Jamila’s mom, she has the hardest time speaking English, although she understands a good deal of what is being said. She wants to try to get back into the ESL classes, but finds it hard working so much and taking care of the family.

The final service provided by the RRP is acculturation services to help them to understand the differences in their old culture and the one they have just entered in to.

As they become more and more a part of American society, certain parts of their culture may be diminishing. But, they still hold on to other aspects. They have examples of the traditional native embroidery all over their house. Khatira explained that in Afghanistan, before a young woman was to get married, she would have to know how to sew like that, and it’s something they learn how to do at a very young age. The family still tries to do it whenever they have the time.

Curran is optimistic that, with hard work, any refugee can make it in America. She has seen it happen over and over again.

“To me, every story is a success. For the most part, they really make it,” she said. “You realize that however hard it seems in the beginning, you just know it will work out in the end.”

As Jamila and her family continue to work hard, learning English and continuing their education, they are starting to see their dreams come true.

“A lot of changes have come to our life since the first year here. It’s like we’re dreaming we’re in the United States, but we really are here,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine that one day we could buy a house, one day we could buy a car. I’m sure if I was back home, maybe I couldn’t do all that and have this opportunity.”

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