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Religious fervor
Comments: 0 Guillermo Castillo
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Iraqi Refugees in the United States
Iraqi Refugees in the United States |
Description: |
"Everything started in September 2006. I got a death threat, a letter that my father found in our garage. He told me it was demanding that I quit my job with the Americans. The problem, I could not quit right away, I needed to complete some paper work. It would only be a matter of two days, I said. It wouldn't be a big deal. I didn't want stay in my home, so I left right away to live with my uncle. On September 15, my brother was killed. He was driving my car and armed men followed and chased him. They shot him when he parked in front of our house. On November 20, I got a phone call from my uncle telling me that a group of armed people, a gang, had broken into his house. They were looking for me. I obtained a fake passport and I left Iraq on December 10, 2006. I arrived in Damascus and stayed there until April. Then I got a call from my mother telling me my father had been kidnapped and killed and that his body was at the morgue. In July, I got another call from my mom telling me they had received another threat, telling them: 'You are Shia. You need to leave your neighborhood because it's a Sunni neighborhood. You need to leave because you are traitors. If you stay here we will kidnap another member of your family unless you bring Firas from Syria. We need Firas. We want Firas'."
"It took a whole year of interviews and paperwork until we were accepted as official refugees by the United States. We were imagining that we would find a heaven here. But as you know, the grass is always greener on the other side." |
Keywords: |
Iraqi, immigrants, in, the, US, migrant, Iraq, diaspora |
Date: |
10.03.2011 12:41 |
Hits: |
14386 |
Downloads: |
0 |
Rating: |
0.00 (0
Vote(s)) |
File size: |
250.0 KB |
Added by: |
Gabriela Bulisova |
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IPTC Info |
Object name: |
Iraqi Refugees in the United States |
Byline: |
Gabriela Bulisova |
Caption: |
"Everything started in September 2006. I got a death threat, a letter that my father found in our garage. He told me it was demanding that I quit my job with the Americans. The problem, I could not quit right away, I needed to complete some paper work. It would only be a matter of two days, I said. It wouldnÕt be a big deal. I didnÕt want stay in my home, so I left right away to live with my uncle. On September 15, my brother was killed. He was driving my car and armed men followed and chased him. They shot him when he parked in front of our house. On November 20, I got a phone call from my uncle telling me that a group of armed people, a gang, had broken into his house. They were looking for me. I obtained a fake passport and I left Iraq on December 10, 2006. I arrived in Damascus and stayed there until April. Then I got a call from my mother telling me my father had been kidnapped and killed and that his body was at the morgue. In July, I got another call from my mom telling me they had received another threat, telling them: 'You are Shia. You need to leave your neighborhood because itÕs a Sunni neighborhood. You need to leave because you are traitors. If you stay here we will kidnap another member of your familyÑunless you bring Firas from Syria. We need Firas. We want Firas'."
"It took a whole year of interviews and paperwork until we were accepted as official refugees by the United States. We were imagining that we would find a heaven here. But as you know, the grass is always greener on the other side." |
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