Sunday, August 12, 2007
LINDA CONNER LAMBECK [email protected]
Sunday, August 12, 2007
On this day, however, Yahye is more interested in clinging to his mom's hijab as they sit in their living room, talking to guests.
It's only been two weeks, after all, that Yahye arrived in the United States — and two years since he last saw his parents.
"The day he came, he was very skinny. Already he looks all right. Come back, he'll be fat," said Abdi Monem, cracking a smile.
The family is one more than 200 refugees from the eastern African nation of Somalia to be resettled in the Bridgeport area in recent years by the International Institute in Bridgeport.
Two years ago Abdi Monem and his wife, Mariam Ali Mohamad, fled Somalia for Syria to escape persecution. Somalia has no formalized government and is beset by warlords and constant turmoil and fighting.
The institute has handled about 77 refugee cases in the last seven weeks, aiding families from the Congo, Somalia, Burma and elsewhere to resettle to the Bridgeport and Waterbury areas.
What makes Abdi Monem's story different is that until he and his wife got to the United States, no one outside of Somalia knew their son existed. With no birth certificate, no data and only sketchy details of where the child was, the institute managed to cut through State Department red tape and collect the child in less than three months.
"That's very quick," said Myra Oliver, executive director of the International Institute.
The discovery of the child's existence came during a routine intake interview upon the parents' arrival in Bridgeport.
"We usually say, is there anybody left behind? The parents broke down in tears. They said, 'We left our baby,' " Oliver said.
The speed with which the International Institute was able to reunite the family was the result of a lot of hard work and meetings, Oliver said.
"When refugees flee, they don't take documents with them," she said.
Instead, the institute gathered data on the family through the State Department out of Syria, where some basic intake was done. Officials took what is called "attestments" from the family.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accepted the family's attestments. The case was filed on May 31 and approved by immigration on June 10. The child arrived on July 19.
Abdi Monem said he left because one of his kidneys was failing; he needed dialysis and there was none to be had in Somalia. He also had diabetes and was losing his eyesight. He didn't have the money to take his then 3-year-old son with him.
Yahye was left with a neighbor, who later ended up fleeing with the child to the neighboring country of Djibouti as fighting in Mogadishu escalated.
In Syria, the couple lived in a refugee camp. There, Abdi Monem was able to get some dialysis treatments, but he needed more advanced medical care as his condition worsened.
They were able to communicate sporadically by phone with their son. Often, the lines were cut and they couldn't get through.
While some refugees stay for years in refugee camps, Abdi Monem and his wife's case was expedited, and he was able to come to the United States in just two years. They arrived in March.
"America is thousand time better than Syria," said Abdi Monem, stretching his arms out as far as they would go. "Actually, I don't have the words to describe."
Abdi Monem, now 52, learned English as a child in school, before the fighting began in his country. He was a businessman and once ran a clothing store. He loved to read and to write. He remembers as a small boy thinking it would be nice to one day see America. He never imagined he would.
His wife, Mariam, 39, is learning English at classes run by the International Institute.
After his operations, Abdi Monem hopes to get a part-time job.
The couple are permanent residents. In a year, they can apply for a green card and after five years, citizenship.
"Bridgeport, I think is a very nice place. A very nice city," said Abdi Monem. "The International Institute, I cannot say more than thanks. They are very good human beings."
All summer, the family has had visits from Lieselot Whitbeck, 21, of Monroe. An anthropology and immigration studies major from Washington University in St. Louis, Whitbeck is interning for the institute.
She is assigned to 10 families, including Abdi Monem's, and helps them with transportation, shopping, job placement and just about anything else they need. "They were my first home visit this summer," she said.
Abdi Monem gets dialysis treatments three times a week at Bridgeport Hospital. He wears plastic shields over his eyes. He can see shadows, but hopes his eyesight will improve with operations.
"I'm very all right. I'm very, very happy. I'm better than a healthy person in Africa," he said.
Now that he has his son, Abdi Monem says there is nothing left behind in Africa he misses.
He feels safe living in the Hollow section of city.
"Here, it's very secure. In Somalia today, there is no money. If someone knows you have $100, they kill you and take the money," he said.
In the fall, Yahye will start kindergarten. In Somalia, his father said, there would be no school, there would be no playing. Young boys in Somalia are taught how to kill people, he said.
Source: ConnPost, Aug 12, 2007