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Pastor Bill Bigger of Hope Valley Baptist Church shares his personal experience of welcoming an Afghan SIV family to the Triangle

Given the political rhetoric of recent days and weeks, I am dealing with a variety of emotions and want to share an experience I recently had. I spent some time visiting with a young man who came with his family to be our guests at Hope House less than 48 hours before. Hope House is brick ranch home on our church property that we renovated to temporary shelter to refugees when they first arrive in the country through World Relief.

Though our new guest, his wife, and 3 preschoolers are still adjusting to a country and time zone very different than their own, he saw me in the church parking lot and invited me to come sit down in the house and offered me some tea. We had met briefly the day before, and he seemed eager to talk and to express his gratitude for a nice place to stay for several weeks while more permanent housing is being found. He told me that this transition is “very difficult,” but his spirit so impressed me. While his wife speaks almost no English, she sat with us and was very gracious as well. One of the young children was asleep on the couch, another was asleep in a bedroom, and a 4-year old fell asleep on her father’s lap while we talked (though it was 10:45 am in Durham, it would have been 8:45 pm back in their homeland). When I commented on how cute and precious the children are, he translated for his wife, and they both broke out into huge smiles that resembled the joyful smiles of every other proud parent I have ever met. I certainly grinned as I watched him pat his daughter’s back as she dozed off on his lap and wondered how many times I had done the same thing with one of my children when they were young. I didn’t see a “refugee.” I saw a husband and father and new friend who loves his wife and his children.

This husband/father spent some years as a translator for the US Special Forces and knows 5 languages, but when I asked him what kind of work he would be seeking, he noted that he is not ashamed to take any job and simply wanted to work to provide for his family. I was almost tearful as I listened to him talk about some of his experiences and as I sensed his kind heart and warm spirit. Though I think that he and his family are Muslim, I felt like I was beginning a friendship and recognized that we share much in common as husbands and fathers. I look forward to spending more time getting to know him, listening to his stories, and seeing how he and his wife love their precious children. I was blessed by this short visit.

I generally avoid sharing political thoughts or opinions on social media and am glad that I get to serve a church which has members from all across the political spectrum. I don’t always agree with the social media posts by my fellow church members and friends, and not everyone will agree with what I say. Still, though, we are brothers and sisters who belong to each other and need each other. We are called to love others as we have been loved by God.

In light of recent news stories, however, I want to speak my heart and say that regardless of our varying opinions on immigration and refugee resettlement and how it should be done, I was reminded again during this visit that amidst the labels and acronyms being tossed about so casually, we are talking about individuals and families who simply want to make the best life they can for their loved ones. As Christians, and frankly as people in general, we must not accept attempts to label people negatively based on their nationality, their ethnicity, their language, or their socio-economic background. The more time I get to spend with refugees and recent immigrants, the more impressed I am by their courage, their determination, and their commitment to seek freedom and a better life in order to take care of those who are precious to them. Most are still concerned about loved ones back in their home countries where it is often far from safe. I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk in their shoes.

Amidst the rhetoric and news coverage, please remember that every one of these people whose futures are being tossed about as pawns in a political game are beloved by God and are created in the image of God. They are individuals with hopes and dreams who deserve our love, our compassion, our care, and our warm hospitality. I still have a lot of learning and growing to do and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I am praying that I will be the kind of person who loves and advocates for the marginalized, the vulnerable, and those too easily overlooked and dismissed.

Special thanks to Pastor Bill Bigger of Hope Valley Baptist Church for this guest column. We need you and your church to join us in welcome like Hope Valley! Learn how – click here.

Ornella credits World Relief’s Mentorship Program for help in overcoming challenges of life in a new country

Ornella fled Cameroon with her family due to war and resettled in Durham, NC with the help of World Relief in 2017, when she was just 17 years old. Her mother and many family members tragically died prior to her arrival. Ornella had little English, but she held – and maintains – a firm belief that God has a purpose for her here in the U.S. 

Within just a few years, Ornella has become fluent in English, a graduate of Jordan High School, a student at Durham Technical Community College, a camp counselor, a trusted and beloved friend, and a valued member of All Saints Church in Durham. Ornella acknowledges that the road to community integration had many challenges. “It wasn’t easy for me to come to a new country not knowing the language. But I like to be around people who talk a lot, and I learned English faster that way!” 

She particularly credits World Relief Durham’s mentorship program with providing meaningful social interaction, health and wellness education, and support for her efforts to learn English, get a driver’s licence, find a job, and more. Mentorship Coordinator Selina Máté has provided consistent and compassionate mentoring to Ornella through high school and beyond. “Selina changed my life. She said that things would get better, she told me to keep going. I used to think I was alone, but I took Selina’s advice and moved forward with my life. Selina is like a sister to me!” 

Selina feels the same about her relationship with this remarkable young woman. “Working with Ornella has been one of the biggest joys of my time at World Relief. Our journey together has encapsulated what a true mentorship journey looks like – growth, difficulties, celebrations, and togetherness. Ornella has turned to the World Relief Durham team with every hardship she has faced over the last year. While some have been especially tough situations, it has been an honor to be entrusted with that role.

Alongside the challenges, Ornella has shared every celebration with us. We’ve had the opportunity to watch her graduate high school, begin her first job, and start college. Meeting Ornella has been nothing but a blessing and I am thankful to have spent the last year mentoring her while she begins to navigate adult life.”

Ornella radiates joy: she is truly unforgettable and has a bright future ahead of her. Her ability to find the positive, to create a new life for herself in a different country, to become a successful scholar and employee, and to inspire her friends at World Relief Durham and throughout her new hometown is beyond admirable. Though COVID-19 is changing her plans and limiting her interactions, this resilient woman is undeterred: “The virus can stop me from going out, but it won’t stop me from continuing my education. Life keeps going on, and I have all the support I need. Why would I complain? I am so thankful to God.”

Learn more about our Children & Youth Support Programs, including the Mentorship Program, here.

Clients Aumonae and Siafa share their journey of love and faith while awaiting reunification

U.S. citizen Aumonae Johnson met her fiancé, Siafa, in 2016 during one of her annual mission trips to Liberia, where she was born. She describes how their “souls connnected” when they met. Aumonae and Siafa quickly entered into a relationship and have been together in their “journey of love and faith.” They stay connected through technology, especially Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, but cherish their time together during Aumonae’s annual trips to Liberia.

Two years ago, on July 26, 2019, Siafa asked Aumonae to marry him while she was visiting Liberia and she said yes! After returning to the United States, she filed a fiancé visa petition for Siafa that was approved in April 2020. Aumonae was hoping that the processing at the U.S. Embassy would happen quickly, as is typical with fiancé visa cases, and she would be able to return to the United States from Liberia with Siafa in August 2020.

Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, Siafa’s visa has been delayed indefinitely, causing the couple emotional, mental, and financial strain: 

“Being apart has no way been easy. Our strong communication and our faith have kept us going…a process that usually takes nine months has taken almost two years from start to finish. It has been very stressful and it has taken a serious toll on us mentally, financially, and health wise. Families are supposed to be together, not apart. We cannot even plan a wedding because we do not know what to expect. My prayer and hope is that all families are reconnected. (The separation) is very frustrating and I hope something is done soon. I want to continue to make beautiful and lasting memories with my husband-to-be. We have been patiently waiting. I know that it is God’s will for me and Siafa to be together.”

Aumonae Johnson

Aumonae is a client with our Immigration Legal Services Clinic. Her story is one that illustrates the but one of the challenges immigrants can face when trying to reunify with family and loved ones.

Your support of World Relief Durham has made our clinic’s work possible, even during a time of reduced refugee arrivals and massive challenges to visas and citizenship pathways. Thank you for helping us keep the faith with clients like Aumonae and Siafa. 

Learn how to support our Immigration Legal Services work here.

Youth tutor Fehmi Neffati reminisces about his experiences volunteering with our students.

As a tutor with World Relief, the summer was full of surprises. I really enjoyed working with a group of amazing people who were highly driven, extremely smart, and very organized. With me being fresh out of high school and them being upperclassmen and graduate school students, every day was a learning experience for me. I had formidable supervisors that made sure we were comfortable and were not being ‘Zoom fatigued.’ They treated us to a lovely DoorDash meal and were there for us whenever we needed anything.

I remember the day when Will, a colleague of mine, wore his Tunisia Shirt to meetings. That drew a smile on my face. I also remember how smart and resilient the kids we worked with were, I still recall a student of mine talking to us about global warming and how nature is angry at us. I remember how were having a talk with Peire Cruz and Advaita from UNC Refugee Wellness about racism and they asked the kids what did they think would happen if we were all the same, and someone’s reply was: ‘Life would be boring.’ I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this kid is definitely going to be a leader!’

Of course, there are the funny moments when students kick me out of my own Zoom room or call me ‘Uncle’ Fehmi. I loved every day of the whole experience and how eye-opening it was. I loved how respected I felt even though I was way younger than everyone else on the team. I loved how I had a direct positive effect on people’s lives. There are, of course, more fun instances than I can list. Simply: thank you World Relief for offering me that opportunity.

Our youth tutors were flexible, consistent, and dedicated throughout the transition to online learning, and even as we start to have more in-person opportunities for students and educators, we are grateful to volunteers like Fehmi who bridged the gap with such energy and devotion. Consider joining us as a volunteer! Click Here.

Soulmates Meet in a Refugee Camp

Nurul Ali Ahmed is a new US citizen whose forced migration journey began in a small town in Burma, Southeast Asia. Born Rohingya, a minority stateless ethnic group long persecuted by the Myanmar government, Nurul fled from targeted violence and persecution with his family at the age of 14, ending up in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. 

It’s there that Nurul met and married his beloved wife and began their life together. Soulmates, they lived together in the refugee camp for 13 years, welcoming three beautiful children. Unable to return to Burma due to tremendous persecution of the Rohingya, and with no end in sight to living in the refugee camp, Nurul knew he needed to seek additional work in his field of tailoring to provide for his growing family. Because of his experience and accomplishment as a master tailor, Nurul was invited to join a tailoring firm in Malaysia, an opportunity that provided much greater financial stability – and hopefully a future of moving out of the refugee camp – for his wife and three children. 

Tragedy in Malaysia
While Nurul and his family were saddened by his move to Malaysia, they were grateful for the additional financial support, with dreams of being resettled as refugees together in the near future. For two years, Nurul was steadfast in his work, with apprentices learning under his tutelage. He worked hard and faithfully sent his income to support them.

In the early hours of an otherwise unusual morning on his way to work, Nurul had a motorcycle accident that left him hospitalized with a minor injury to his leg. “I was in such severe pain after I got out of the hospital a month later that I didn’t think I would live even through the week. But I think God wanted me to live since I’m still alive.”

In a series of tragic medical missteps and neglect, Nurul underwent six surgeries over the following 15 months, having his leg amputated little by little due to an untreated infection that continued to spread up his leg. Constantly in severe pain, he begged the medical staff for medicine but they refused, threatening to kill him and leave his body where no one would find it. 

After his life was threatened by the people tasked with caring for him, Nurul contacted the local UN office, whose staff came to the hospital and started questioning how a minor injury led to full leg amputation. After investigating the tragic series of events, they determined that severe medical malpractice resulting from hateful discrimination of Rohingya people led to Nurul’s leg amputation. 

Over the course of a year, the UN worked with Nurul to process extensive paperwork to be approved for refugee resettlement. He was overjoyed when he got news that he would be resettled as a refugee in Durham in 2015! While it meant he would be half a world away from his family, he was deeply hopeful that he’d receive better medical care and that his family would be resettled as refugees in Durham before long.

A Day to Remember
Nurul vividly recalls September 25, 2015, the day he arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, thick with hope and promise for the future. World Relief Durham met him at the airport and drove him to his new home, a furnished apartment with a stocked fridge, homey touches, and a Burmese welcome meal.

The next weeks and months were a blur of caseworker meetings to get him enrolled in social services, establish a bank account, and all else that goes into rebuilding your life in a new country. He was deeply grateful to have his mobility significantly improved after being fitted for a prosthetic leg at Duke University Hospital. Nurul says that between the intensive case management support, excellent medical care, and kind volunteers, “I just knew my life was going to be much better here. World Relief helped me in every way, only for my welfare. But I missed my family terribly and longed for us to be all together.”

Hope for Reunification
With over eight years since seeing his wife and children, Nurul wants nothing more than to be reunited with his wife and children – now 15, 14, and 9 years old – and the hope of their arrival is what keeps him going most days as he manages the deeply painful reality of living alone with a disability.

Beginning in 2017, Nurul filed a petition for his family to be reunited with him in Durham. Sadly, his family is still waiting to be approved for refugee resettlement. Their case has remained pending for multiple years due to immigration policies in recent years that have kept refugee families apart. World Relief Durham has recently assisted him with writing advocacy letters to bring attention to his case.

This past year, Nurul participated in World Relief Durham’s Tech Literacy Group and Rohingya Men’s Support Group. He received a new laptop and weekly training on utilizing technology to connect to the broader world through Zoom, email, Microsoft Office, and online banking. The Rohingya men’s group enabled him to deeply connect with people from the same language group and receive training on wellness, the importance of mental health, and strategies for incorporating wellness into daily life. 

“I try to think positively and stay hopeful that my family will be here soon. But I can’t work without my wife here to help with transportation because I use a wheelchair, and I can’t do all the things I imagined I’d be able to do in the US. I am very hopeful that the new President will make things much better for refugees like my family who are waiting to be together again.”

Nurul recalls the extreme pride he felt on December 7, 2020 when he became a US citizen. “I was very happy that day and I really want to thank the people of this country. I came to this country as a disabled person and then I became a citizen. I still can’t believe it.” 

Now the soulmates wait to be reunited. “My life will get better when my family arrives. Please pray that it happens soon. I hope my story reaches you and many others.” 

We are so grateful to Nurul for sharing his story. We need you to help us reunite families like Nurul’s, and stick with them as they rebuild. Click this link to find out how to join us as we help refugees and other immigrants [Re]Build their lives in the U.S.