wfn.org | NCCCUSA ON IRAQI REFUGEES AS "60 MINUTES" PLANS SEGMENT

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

General Contact: Jane Lowicki, CWS/IRP, 212-870-3153

NCC3/24/97

IRAQI REFUGEE STORY #1: LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

 Beginning last fall, widespread media attention 
was paid to the story of an Iraqi refugee father who 
married his 13 and 14 year-old daughters to men ages 
28 and 34, and was charged with child abuse.  Among 
others, CBS' "60 Minutes" visited Nebraska to follow 
up on the story.  

"When they came, I don't think they found the 
story they were looking for," said Bill Eddy, co-
chair of the Refugee Resettlement Program Council 
for Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska, a Church 
World Service Immigration and Refugee Program 
(CWS/IRP) local affiliate.  

"Instead of public outrage mixed with negative 
images of Iraqi or Islamic culture, they found the 
community really came together to discuss cultural 
differences, and the need for better orientation for 
all refugees who are resettled," he said. 

There were articles, including an editorial, in 
the Lincoln Journal Star about the facts of the 
case, highlighting a variety of differing, often 
humorous, cultural practices and calling for good 
education for new immigrants to help build vital 
bridges across cultural gaps. 

"I think the most important thing we can say 
about the Iraqi incident is that it is very, very 
isolated," Mr. Eddy said.  "Of the thousands of 
refugees who have been resettled in Lincoln through 
our agency and others these past 30 years, an 
extremely small number have wound up in legal 
trouble.  

"That's a credit, first to the families 
themselves, who make an effort to know right from 
wrong, whether here or in their homeland; and to the 
community itself, which has been receptive to 
refugee families and encouraged their assimilation 
into the city; and to the churches and individuals 
who have worked to resettle people from all over the 
world."

 "An important aspect of the way we approach 
resettlement," Mr. Eddy continued, "is the use of 
church sponsorships, which allow for continuing 
relationships to develop between refugees and people 
in the community.  We make it a point to urge 
sponsors to help new arrivals understand American 
laws and culture.  If they have questions, they have 
several persons to whom they can turn.  

"After this Iraqi situation occurred, our 
agency reiterated to council members, sponsors, 
etc., the necessity of new arrivals understanding -- 
and heeding -- U.S. laws, while at the same time 
trying to understand the cultural differences they 
may bring to Lincoln."

While the controversy stirred over the case of 
the father and his daughters in Nebraska, members of 
Antelope Park Church of the Brethren in Lincoln 
greeted an arriving Kurdish family with smiles and 
hugs.  The family members fled its native homeland 
in Iraq fearing they would be killed and found a 
community of support in Nebraska to help them begin 
life anew.  

George Eisele, an active member of the church, 
told the Lincoln Journal Star for an article at the 
time, "Ours is a church that happens to be big on 
peace and justice issues.  There's the satisfaction 
of helping somebody else get out of a bad situation 
into a better situation and helping them to be 
comfortable and safe."  

Another church member John Doran, told the 
paper he enjoys visiting the family and learning 
about their culture.  He and the kids have fun 
teaching each other Kurdish and English words, aided 
by lots of pointing and gestures.  The inevitable 
mistakes in pronunciation, he said, are a source of 
joy and laughter.

-end-

This story was written by Jane Lowicki, Public 
Information Officer for the Church World Service 
Immigration and Refugee Program of the National 
Council of Churches.  She worked closely with IRP's 
affiliate Ecumenical Refugee Resettlement and 
Sponsorship Services (ERRSS) offices and 
denominational sponsors in preparing this report.

For more information about this particular story, 
contact: Bill Eddy, Lincoln, Nebraska, 402-489-0439.

* * * *

IRAQI REFUGEE STORY #2: INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

"Our work with Iraqi single men began three or 
four years ago after the end of the Gulf War," said 
Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program 
(CWS/IRP) affiliate Director Sylvia Robles at Exodus 
Refugee/Immigration Inc. in Indianapolis, Ind.  

"I've really enjoyed working with the Iraqis," 
she said.  "They've never been a problem.  The 
sponsors have loved them, and they've been very 
successful, from some of the first cases taken in by 
Diane Novak and her family in Michigan City in 1992, 
(see story below), to the many more families who 
have been resettled throughout Indiana since.  

"There's certainly no reason that the rest of 
the people in Rafa (Refugee Camp) should not be 
processed for resettlement," she said.

As a member of the 82nd Airborne serving in 
Operation Desert Storm, Paul Novak, then 19, made 
friends with Rahim, 21, a young Iraqi man who helped 
his unit as an interpreter and guide during the war.  
When the war was over, arrangements were made to 
resettle "Roman," as he was known to the soldiers in 
the U.S.  While waiting to be moved out by the 
military in Saudi Arabia, he was picked up by Saudi 
police, placed in jail and was tortured.  

"I have six kids, and I don't usually open my 
children's mail," said Paul's mother, Diane Novak, 
"but when this letter arrived, something told me I'd 
better have a look.  It was from Rahim.  He had 
spent seven months in prison and was afraid to go 
back to Iraq because he and his brothers had 
participated in the uprising against Saddam Hussein.  
He needed help to get out.  

"I asked Paul who he was, and he said, `He's 
great, do it!'  Our family has always been the type 
to have people coming and going - foster kids, many 
friends, extended family, etc. - so, we decided to 
call the American Embassy to try to find him. 

 "After a couple of days, they called us and 
said they found him in Rafa Refugee Camp.  It turned 
out they also found his two brothers, Abdul-Aleem, 
two years older and Wisam, two years younger, in 
another camp, and they asked us if we'd like to take 
three instead of one.  We said okay.  That was March 
or April of 1992 and by August Rahim's brothers were 
due to arrive before him.

"When Aleem and Wisam arrived at the airport 
with other refugees, there was one who went 
unaccounted for-Majed.  He didn't speak any English 
and had a sticker on him with a 1-800 number to 
dial.  We couldn't leave him there, so we took him 
home too," Diane Novak said.  

"It ended up that he had the same name as 
another refugee and had been misrouted.  After a few 
days of trying to work that out, my husband said, 
`Tell them to forget it.  He's so nice, we're 
keeping him too,'" Diane laughs as she recounts the 
story.

"That was nearly five years ago.  Over the 
years, they worked their way through English classes 
and to better jobs in Elkart in the trailer 
industry.  Two of the brothers are married now to 
Americans and each has a baby girl born a week 
apart.  All three brothers live in Chicago, where 
one of their wives had found a good job with a stock 
brokerage, and they operate their own limousine 
business and one also goes to school.  They still 
call me mom, and since then my family has helped 
more than 50 other Iraqis in our area, and we 
haven't regretted a single minute.

"I can assure you," Diane Novak said, "the 
bigger reward has been to me and my husband.  Our 
biggest problem with them has been stressing the 
importance of getting car insurance.  In taking them 
here and there, we got to know and became active in 
the Islamic community here, learned many recipes, 
and where to buy Halal meats!  I would like to think 
that if one of my children was somewhere in the 
Middle East that some family would take him in and 
teach him what to do and how to get along."  

-end-

This story was written by Jane Lowicki, Public 
Information Officer for the Church World Service 
Immigration and Refugee Program of the National 
Council of Churches.  She worked closely with IRP's 
affiliate Ecumenical Refugee Resettlement and 
Sponsorship Services (ERRSS) offices and 
denominational sponsors in preparing this report.

For more information about this particular story, 
contact: Sylvia Robles, Exodus Refugee Immigration, 
Inc. 701 N. Delaware Street, Indianaoplis, IN 46204; 
Tel: 317-238-0836; Fax: 317-238-0837; Diane Novak, 
Michigan City, IN, 219-874-7857.

* * * *

IRAQI REFUGEE STORY #3: COLUMBUS, OHIO

Columbus, Ohio - "I grew up in the south of 
Iraq in a town with 200,000 people," said Riyad, a 
25-year-old Iraqi refugee resettled by Church World 
Service Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) 
affiliate Interfaith Refugee Services of Ohio in 
September 1992.  

"I was in high school when I was 18 and 
couldn't finish because I had to join the army," he 
said.  "When Saddam was weak after he lost in 
Kuwait, we tried to join together to fight against 
him.  We couldn't do it. I don't think the [U.S.] 
helped us very much when we were fighting against 
Saddam.  Many of my friends died.  

"When I saw the border open up, I went to Saudi 
Arabia to escape.  I don't like Saddam, I don't 
believe in him.  When I was very young, he made my 
whole family move to the south.  Because of this, I 
wasn't able to grow up in my Kurdish community.  I 
can't speak Kurdish because I had to be part of the 
Iraqi culture because of Saddam.

"I was in Saudi Arabia for one year and two 
months," Riyad went on.  "It was terrible.  I was 
lucky to have my name picked to be one of the first 
to come to the U.S.  First they sent me to Maryland 
for two days and then to Ohio.  

"The CWS agency there, Interfaith Refugee 
Services, helped me a lot.  I went to English 
classes and then as soon as I could speak some 
English, I asked if they could help me find a job, 
and they did.  Now I'm working at a factory, and I 
like it.  I'm grateful to America and to be here.  

"There aren't any human rights over there [in 
Iraq].  Here you have a constitution, but there they 
don't.  When I'm at work, the people treat me just 
like anyone else.  I have a lot of friends at work, 
and sometimes they joke with me because I'm Iraqi, 
but these aren't any bad feelings.  I miss my family 
in Iraq, but I'm afraid to write them because they 
read everyone's mail.  I hope it will get better, 
but I don't know."

-end-

This story was written by Jane Lowicki, Public 
Information Officer for the Church World Service 
Immigration and Refugee Program of the National 
Council of Churches.  She worked closely with IRP's 
affiliate Ecumenical Refugee Resettlement and 
Sponsorship Services (ERRSS) offices and 
denominational sponsors in preparing this report.

For more information on Riyad's story, contact: 
Ulrike Martin, Case Manager, Interfaith Refugee 
Services of Ohio, 5303 N. High Street, Suite D, 
Columbus, OH 43214; Tel: 614-841-4975; Fax: 614-841-
5256.

* * *

IRAQI REFUGEE STORY #4: LOUISVILLE, K.Y.

Louisville, KY - "When a Somali Benadir family 
arrived in Louisville," said Donna Straus, Director 
of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, the CWS/IRP local 
affiliate, "the local Methodist Church that 
sponsored them wanted to remodel the low rent house 
they had found for them and asked if some refugees 
who weren't yet working would help out.  We asked, 
and the Iraqis and Cubans wanted to help this 
Benadir family.  

"We had refreshments, jokes going back and 
forth, church people hammering next to Iraqis, 
hammering next to Cubans, and the Somalis pitching 
in.  It was wonderful!," Donna marveled.  "It was a 
great expression of the many themes of our 
program.".  

-end-

This story was written by Jane Lowicki, Public 
Information Officer for the Church World Service 
Immigration and Refugee Program of the National 
Council of Churches.  She worked closely with IRP's 
affiliate Ecumenical Refugee Resettlement and 
Sponsorship Services (ERRSS) offices and 
denominational sponsors in preparing this report.

To reach Donna Straus, contact Kentucky Refugee 
Ministries, Inc., 1011 Cherokee Road, Louisville, KY 
40204; Tel: 502-452-9055; Fax: 502-458-1420.
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