While the efforts like the List Project to get Iraqi allies through the red tape and into the country are important, those that do make it through often face difficult times. In a story in the Washington Post today, Omar Fekeiki describes life for 34 of the 1600 refugees that were accepted in the US last year. After being resettled in Tuscon (“This is not America that I’ve seen in the movies,” said Bushra Abdulatif, 32, who arrived with her husband and two sons. “I want lots of mountains and snow.” ), many Iraqis are finding life here difficult, if not as dangerous, as before:
Like the Cuban, Vietnamese, Laotian and Sudanese refugees before them, some
of the Iraqis are going through a difficult adjustment period, feeling
disoriented, alone and even abandoned by the social service agency that is
supposed to serve them. They do acknowledge that, whatever their travails, they
would not trade them for the difficulties of life in Iraq itself.
According to the article, the State Department has asked local non profits to ease the transition, but the organizations can only offer three months of rent, and little to no help finding jobs or other means of support.
Read the whole article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110702658_2.html?sid=ST2007110702820