by Mary Shinn - May. 2, 2012 07:57 AM
Special for The Republic
Their story is about fear, obstacles, need, tenacity and assimilation.
It begins when refugees flee conflict in homelands, are accepted into the U.S. and land in Serrano Village, a Phoenix apartment complex near Interstate 17 and Camelback Road.
Croatian immigrant Georgia Sepic manages Serrano Village and coordinates 37 social services designed to build community and teach American customs and laws.
"We are just a steppingstone. The idea is you become independent," Sepic said.
Of the 119 families living in Serrano Village, almost all are refugees, people who flee persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political opinion.
Refugees are selected for resettlement by the United Nations. Arizona resettled the fifth-most refugees in the nation from 2008 to 2010, according to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. Most of these refugees live in Phoenix.
Phoenix offers affordable housing, entry-level jobs and community support, said Joanne Morales, the Phoenix director of refugee programs for Catholic Charities, a resettlement agency.
With a goal of refugee self-sufficiency, resettlement agencies like Catholic Charities find housing, furnish refugee apartments, connect refugees with outside services, such as English-language classes, and remove employment barriers, such as transportation.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement does not track long-term indicators of refugee self-reliance, integration or well being, according to a report by the Migration Policy Institute.
Resettlement agencies pay rent for Serrano Village refugees for three months. After that, Sepic said, some apply for public assistance. But about 100 former refugee tenants have purchased homes, she said.
In the past decade, Somalis have made up one of the largest refugee groups in the nation. The current crisis began with a revolt in 1991, said Abdullahi Gallab, an Arizona State University professor specializing in Islamist movements in Africa and the Middle East.
No functional government has been established since, he said. The United Islamic Courts, scholars who took power in 2006, were on the verge of creating a stable government, but an Ethiopian intervention sparked the creation of Al-Shabab, now a powerful terrorist organization, Gallab said. Al-Shabab, he said, prevents international aid from reaching the Somali people and enforces Sharia law that includes public stoning and amputations.
Aden Hilowle, 48, is a Somalian refugee who lives in Serrano Village. In 2006, the former sugar-factory engineer and currency-exchange worker fled Somalia when Al-Shabab invaded. For three years, Hilowle and his family lived in a Somali refugee camp.
In the camp, they built a makeshift theater that featured European soccer games and American movies. When Al-Shabab invaded the camp, he said, the group banned his theater and threatened to burn it.
Hilowle said his daughter, Maryan, confronted the soldiers and was shot and killed. The family decided Hilowle should escape to Ethiopia. Hilowle's father sent him $14,000 from the sale of his house, which funded a harrowing journey to the U.S. via Dubai, Moscow, Cuba, Ecuador, Columbia, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, he said.
In March 2010, Hilowle arrived in the border town of San Luis, and sought political asylum. He was sent to a federal immigration detention center and released in 2011 as a refugee, he said. Catholic Charities resettled him in Serrano Village.
He now clerks at a convenience store in central Phoenix. He said he earns about $1,000 a month. He sends $600 to his wife and 12 children. The family has moved to Uganda and he hopes it will one day join him at Serrano Village.
"I never pictured myself doing this. There is a lot of social work involved," Sepic said.
Before arriving in the U.S., she said, she received a university degree in economics and foreign trade in Croatia. The country broke off from the Yugoslav Federation in 1992, and bloody clashes between Serbians and Croatians ensued.
Sepic was already in the U.S., but developed empathy for refugees.
"They do deserve to come here. They do deserve a better living," she said.
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