On Sunday August 9, 2009, I took the train to Chelsea, Massachusetts, to visit members of The List Project to Resettle Iraqis Allies. Ben Dunay hosted the social gathering with a potluck meal. Two brothers, one daughter, and mother of one Iraqi family attended. The father of another family attended. Single Iraqi men and women were there with their American family hosts. Finding employment in the Boston area was the main topic of discussion.
Iraqi interpreters who worked for the U.S. government and military in Iraq left after their ties to the U.S. put their lives and their families in danger. After waiting years for special immigrant visas to take refuge in the U.S., they arrive without any social support. One Iraqi family, father K. and mother R. and their seventeen year old son Y., arrived to Ben's house straight from the Logan airport. They had no place to go until an American photographer volunteered to host them for the night.
Former US government interpreter in Iraq Mr. Ihsan Yaqoob Attisha described the challenges of settling his family--wife, daughter, and son--in Chelsea, Massachusetts, with the Boston Globe. Yaqoob spoke out at this gathering, too.
"We prefer to go to Germany or Europe in general. We risk our lives to be smuggled there. We risk our lives because we know what we can gain. I've been through so much in my life the last two years," he said. "Why accept me? I put my life, my family's life, all in danger. What do I get? Almost nothing."
The U.S. government gives his family around $950 a month for eight months, but the month's rent costs $850. That leaves only $100 a month for "tissue paper, electricity, TV, transportation" not to mention food.
Why give out special immigrant visas but no support, Yaqoob asks during his visits to welfare offices: "I ask them what shall I do. Who shall I ask? I am a foreigner here. Who is going to help me? Who is going to help those guys?"
In addition to finding jobs, learning English emerged in conversations as a goal. Karemah wants to work at a hair salon but must first learn more English to pass the cosmetology exam.
Saying goodbye, guests expressed their thanks to the host and took leftovers of hummus with pita and homemade baclava home.
Iraqi interpreters who worked for the U.S. government and military in Iraq left after their ties to the U.S. put their lives and their families in danger. After waiting years for special immigrant visas to take refuge in the U.S., they arrive without any social support. One Iraqi family, father K. and mother R. and their seventeen year old son Y., arrived to Ben's house straight from the Logan airport. They had no place to go until an American photographer volunteered to host them for the night.
Former US government interpreter in Iraq Mr. Ihsan Yaqoob Attisha described the challenges of settling his family--wife, daughter, and son--in Chelsea, Massachusetts, with the Boston Globe. Yaqoob spoke out at this gathering, too.
"We prefer to go to Germany or Europe in general. We risk our lives to be smuggled there. We risk our lives because we know what we can gain. I've been through so much in my life the last two years," he said. "Why accept me? I put my life, my family's life, all in danger. What do I get? Almost nothing."
The U.S. government gives his family around $950 a month for eight months, but the month's rent costs $850. That leaves only $100 a month for "tissue paper, electricity, TV, transportation" not to mention food.
Why give out special immigrant visas but no support, Yaqoob asks during his visits to welfare offices: "I ask them what shall I do. Who shall I ask? I am a foreigner here. Who is going to help me? Who is going to help those guys?"
In addition to finding jobs, learning English emerged in conversations as a goal. Karemah wants to work at a hair salon but must first learn more English to pass the cosmetology exam.
Saying goodbye, guests expressed their thanks to the host and took leftovers of hummus with pita and homemade baclava home.