“You need to experience being a refugee to understand,” said Bushra Faesal, a refugee from Baghdad and mother of three. “You may feel sympathetic but you don’t know what it is like.”
Her large green eyes capture attention and are hard not to understand. Her clothing covers her from head to toe and only reveals her face, allowing focus to shift to her and expressive eyes. She explained the complications of her new life in Tucson, Ariz., and why she left her home.
Overwhelmed by the danger imposed on Baghdad, Faesal applied to the United Nations to be a refugee. On June 30, 2008, she and her children, aged 15, 14 and 6 arrived in Tucson.
“Imagine you go to a place and you have no one,” Faesal said. She was assigned to the International Rescue Committee in Tucson, a global humanitarian aid organization that provides life-saving aid to individuals worldwide. In the United States, the IRC assists refugees in rebuilding their lives and becoming thriving new Americans. Faesal was asked to work as a promoter for the Well-Being Promotion Program that was designed for women refugees at the IRC.
Since 2009 the program has had 300 refugees from Iraq, Bhutan, Somalia, and Sudan. “We have designed this program after the Promotora Model which uses people of the same ethnicities to help each other,” said Lauren Schroeder, the Program Coordinator and graduate student at the University of Arizona’s College of Public Health.
Schroeder matches new women refugees with female promoters in the program who speak the same language and/or share the same experiences and culture. They came to the U.S. as refugees or immigrants, resettled in Tucson and reached a level of self-reliance, then completed an application process.
The promoters greet the new women refugees with welcome baskets filled with a calendar, bus map, medical document folder, library information, map of Tucson and hygiene products. They discuss emergency and safety topics such as dialing 911 and the promoters fill out service forms to evaluate their level of understanding of their new community and homes.
Faesal helps dozens of families, typically visiting each at their home one to two times per month. “When you see someone who speaks your language and I’m a refugee, they feel they can live a decent life. They see me as an example,” said Faesal.
Fortunately, Faesal and her children knew some English when they arrived. However, many of the refugees in the program don’t understand English or speak it, making it more challenging to adjust and immerse in the American culture.
Refugees at the IRC, including Faesal, accept assistance from the organization to find work. When refugees find a job and become more accustomed to their community, they separate from the IRC because they no longer need the agency.
After completing the program, an Iraqi client, Nagham submitted an evaluation form: “I was so happy to find someone who spoke my same language and guided me from my arrival; I now feel confident.”
To learn more, visit www.rescue.orgor support the IRC this Mother’s Day at www.fromharmtohome.org/?ms=ws_mthr_zzz_zzzz_lc_10zzzzwww.fromharmtohome.org.