RefugePoint

“Tesfaye* and his family, including his wife and six children, are refugees in Kenya. Tesfaye has been a refugee for 20 years, having escaped persecution in his home country of Ethiopia. In December 2016, the family was elated to be informed that their resettlement case processing was finally coming to an end and that they would be resettled to the U.S. in a period of less than 2 months.

After 20 years of struggle, and surviving torture that left him with permanent physical injuries, Tesfaye could finally see the hope of a new beginning for his family – an opportunity to live in safety and dignity.

Tesfaye’s journey as a refugee has been extremely difficult. He originally fled to Kenya in 1997, began his family, and lived in Kenya until 2010, when he was deported back to Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, Tesfaye was detained for nearly one year in a prison where he was tortured. Relatives contributed money for Tesfaye’s release from prison and for the treatment of his torture wounds. In 2011 Tesfaye returned to Kenya, and to his wife and children, but surviving has not been easy. Despite working hard, and running a small food stand with the help of a business grant, the family continues to live in very poor living conditions.

Talking with Tesfaye on January 30, he was vaguely aware of a new presidency in the U.S., but did not know how the new policy would affect his travel plans. Tesfaye and his family will undoubtedly need to wait longer to travel, or may lose their chance altogether to be resettled. This will certainly come as a heavy blow to a family who has already endured so much hardship.”

This story was shared with us by a RefugePoint Livelihoods Associate who has worked one-on-one with Tesfaye and his family, and with many other refugee families that are impacted by the recent executive order.

*Name changed for anonymity. 

Image: 4-year old Mushkaad is finally reunited with her mother Samira in the U.S., after two years of separation.

 

“How do you explain to the little girl that she will no longer be going to see her mother? How do you explain to the mother who anxiously has been waiting for her child that she will no longer see her 4-year old daughter?”

During the past few days we have been sharing stories of refugee families impacted by the recent executive order suspending the U.S. resettlement program, as told by RefugePoint Resettlement Experts. Many things have developed since Friday, when a federal judge from Washington state temporarily blocked enforcement of the travel ban, which allowed people who had been previously banned from travelling to board planes bound for the U.S.

Today, we share with you a special story of Mushkaad, A 4-year old Somali girl, as told to us by a RefugePoint Kenya board member, Sheikha Ali, who served as Mushkaad’s travel companion as she attempted and re-attempted her journey to reunite with her family in the U.S. after two years of separation.

Flight Cancelled

On January 27, Mushkaad, A 4-year old Somali girl wearing a beautiful white dress, and with her hair specially done up, was ready to finally board a plane and fly to Minnesota where she would reunite with her mother after two years of separation.

Sheikha Ali, a RefugePoint board member who is an employee of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), met the little girl in Kampala, Uganda, on the day of the flight. But the executive order had just gone into effect and Sheikha had to tell the girl that her flight had been cancelled.

“How do you explain to the little girl that she will no longer be going to see her mother?” said Sheikha, “How do you explain to the mother who anxiously has been waiting for her child that she will no longer see her 4-year old daughter?”

A Terrible Decision
Mushkaad’s mom, Samira, had to make a terrible decision years earlier. Samira and her two young daughters had been approved for resettlement before Mushkaad was born. When they were ready to travel Mushkaad was almost a year old, but the mom was told that since Mushkaad was not part of the original family composition when they were approved for resettlement, there would be delays to add Mushkaad. The mom left Mushkaad in the hands of a close friend, traveled to Minnesota with her two young daughters, and immediately filed paperwork to bring Mushkaad to join her.

Minnesota Senators Get Involved
When Sheikha told Mushkaad she couldn’t get on the plane last week, her response was, “are you going to undo my hair now that I’m not going?”

Sheikha contacted the US Refugee Coordinator who relayed the information to the State Department. At the same time Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota had known about the case and contacted the new Secretary for Homeland Security, John Kelly, when they learned Mushkaad was stopped from traveling.

When Mushkaad finally got clearance to travel, Sheikha didn’t waste a moment, knowing the uncertainty of the situation. “I didn’t even have time to pack or prepare, I just went and got Mushkaad and brought her to the airport and we both got on the plane.”

Preparing for a Fight
Sheikha worried about US immigration officials in Abu Dhabi, the country through which she and Mushkaad were transiting. Would they try to send Mushkaad back like so many others who had been turned away at US borders? Sheikha said she started preparing herself for a fight.

When Sheikha and Mushkaad stepped up to the immigration desk, the officer asked Sheikha who the little girl was. When Sheikha explained the story, the officer was touched. Sheikha said, “He stepped out from behind his desk. He removed his US flag pin from his uniform and asked if he could pin it on Mushkaad. He apologized for what was going on. He said knowing that this little girl was going to reunite with her mother made his day.” Sheikha went on to say, “that man reaffirmed my faith in America and in humanity.”

Arrival
On Friday, February 3, Sheikha arrived in Minnesota where Mushkaad finally reunited with her mom and two older sisters.

RefugePoint has worked for more than a decade now to help the U.S. resettlement program become as robust as possible so that mothers and their daughters and families can find safety here in the U.S., and elsewhere. Thanks in part to our efforts, as well as those of many others, there are tens of thousands of refugees who were ready to travel when the executive order was signed temporarily suspending the program. We hope that stories like this one can help sway our new administration to continue the U.S. resettlement program with the strength and vision it has always had.

 

Cover:  RefugePoint Kenya board member Sheikha Ali serves as a travel companion for Mushkaad during her journey from Uganda to the U.S.

We continue with Part Three of our blog series (go back to Part One, go to Part Two), in which RefugePoint Resettlement Experts, who work across Africa to help refugees through the process resettlement, tell stories about how the recent executive order impacts the refugees whom they work with.

Today’s story chronicles a refugee family from Somalia who fled to Kenya, as told by one of our Resettlement Experts:

“I interviewed several families whom will now be blocked from entry to the United States. I interviewed a family headed by a Somali woman in her 60’s, her son, and several nieces and nephews whom had fled with her from Somalia. 

The female head of the household, who was the main applicant had been diagnosed with multiple severe medical issues. Within the camp, this woman relied on each of her nieces and nephews to feed and bathe her, to cook and clean, to accompany/carry her to the hospital, particularly when she fell unconscious, and to collect her medications. 

However, in the camp, she did not have access to sufficient medications or treatment. On the day of our interview, she struggled to even reach the office as two of her nephews carried her. We had received medical referrals declaring that treatment was not accessible for her within Kenya as a refugee.  However, such medical referrals were out of date, making emergency submission to the United States unlikely without an updated medical examination. 

Despite consistent requests, we were unable to attain an urgent and updated medical exam through the local medical staff. As such, I was advised to send the case on an urgent needs basis, so that the woman may attain medical attention within the shortest time possible. I met with this woman again at a later date, and it was quite clear that her condition had worsened.”

In urgent medical cases, like this one, where treatment is not available in the country of first asylum, resettlement can mean the difference between life and death. The recent executive order makes it less likely that people in need of urgent resettlement for medical reasons will be able to access the medical care that they need to survive. 

Learn more about the executive order and how it impacts refugees and RefugePoint here.

 

Imagine being violently chased from your home and losing everything – your home, business, friends and family members. And then, you are unable to return home, you are a refugee for 14 years, and you go through an 8 year vetting process to be resettled to the U.S. Finally, after 8 years of waiting, you are approved for resettlement to the U.S. on a specific date in February 2017. Finally, you and your family will be safe in the U.S. and able to begin life again. And then suddenly, with the stroke of a pen on January 27, an executive order banning refugees on refugees signed, and all of that is lost…

Today, we continue Part Two of our series (go back to Part One), in which RefugePoint Resettlement Experts, who work across Africa to help refugees through the process resettlement, tell stories about how the recent executive order impacts the refugees whom they work with.

The story above is not a hypothetical situation. It is a true story. Here is more about this story, which is of a family from Darfur that fled to Chad, as told by one of our Resettlement Experts:

“Twenty refugees were expected to reach the United States in February. Out of the 20, five were women and girls, nine were children below 15. All of the children were born and raised as refugees. The parents have been living as refugees for the last 14 years since they fled from Darfur region of Sudan in 2003.

Darfur is a region where there’s an ongoing conflict and displacement of civilians due to ethnic conflict. The refugees were chased out of their homes by the Janjaweed militia who attacked the village, killed several civilians and took away their property and land. The parents managed to escape the violence and found refuge in a neighboring country – Chad (one of the many African nations which is among the world’s largest hosts of refugees).

The refugees were not able to return to Darfur due to the ongoing attack in their village. They would be subjected to serious violations of their fundamental human rights if they returned to Darfur. As a result, they were identified for resettlement in 2009 in order to find a lasting solution to their protracted refugee situation. The relevant US agencies, including the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), vetted and approved the refugees for resettlement. They passed their medical screening, and attended cultural orientation. The vetting process took eight years and the refugees were finally notified of their scheduled departure which was supposed to be next month, in February 2017.”

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, that scheduled departure has now been cancelled due to the executive order that has halted refugee resettlement to the U.S. for at least 4 months, and the future for those 20 refugees, and thousands of others, is uncertain. It may seem as simple as, “the ban is only for 4 months, they can just wait and be resettled in May or June.” But the reality is that we don’t know what policy will be in place in 4 months, and by that time, many of the requirements for the vetting process will have expired, like for example, security screenings and medical exams.

Learn more about the executive order and how it impacts refugees and RefugePoint here.