Starting Life Over: A Syrian Refugee Story by Lisa Eaton

Starting Life Over A Syrian Refugee Story

Written & Illustrated by Lisa Eaton

Starting Life Over A Syrian Refugee Story

Written & Illustrated by Lisa Eaton

TURKEY

Tigr e

r ph Eu

Mediterranean

s

JO RD AN

Damascus

es at

SYRIA

Q IRA

My name is Yara and I am 13 years old. This was my

home in Damascus, Syria, before the war came. My father, Nadim, was a butcher in a local butcher’s shop and my mother, Rima, took care of my younger brothers Hassan, Jamal and me. They were six and three at the time. I was 10. Life was normal for us and we were very happy.

We would walk to our mosque every day for morning prayer and return home for a meal of lamb, vegetables and pita bread before school.

My siblings and I went to school.

I was in 4th grade, Hassan was in Kindergarten, and Jamal in pre-primary school.

When not in school neighborhood kids would meet to play soccer in a nearby field. There was no grass, only dirt and sand, but it was really a lot of fun.

One day when we were playing, we heard loud banging noises. Men in trucks that we had never seen before came into our town. It was scary.

We ran inside.

A freedom fighter came to our door and said if we wanted to save our lives we should stay inside and not come out. What he stood for was not really freedom. He and his army wanted to overthrow our government. My father only went out for necessary items like food and water, but he was risking his life and soon those items became scarce. We did not have a lot to eat. We did not come out for weeks.

We were starving and living in fear.

We were trying to survive in our home in our war torn village, but it was very hard. We slept together on the floor of our main room, never letting light in through the windows.

We needed a sign of hope.

One evening my father came home from finding food and said he heard from other villagers that we can escape in the morning to a refugee camp . He said it was hope but it would be a long journey. We walked all day.

We finally crossed the border into Jordan and reached our refugee camp. My family and I lived in a tent among many other tents for 6 months. It was not as nice as our home in Damascus. At least we did not hear the sound of war all around us. We also had clean water to drink and a ration of bread and vegetables every day to eat. There was word of an opportunity for refugees to come to the United States. My father was desperate and found the people in charge of the program. He applied.

Four months later our family got word from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) that we were approved! We boarded a plane in Amman and after several flights we made it to California.

We brought very little with us.

OREGON

IFOR CA L

NEVADA

NIA

Pacific Ocean

IDAHO

ARIZONA San Francisco Turlock

We were resettled in a town called Turlock about 90 miles east of San Francisco. My father was given a job in a grocery store butcher shop. He is able to pay rent for a modest house and purchase a used car for our family. IRC helped with providing clothes, getting into school, and registering for classes to learn English. One of the first things we did when arriving in the States was to see a doctor. We were all malnourished, but the American doctor gave us information on how to build up our health by eating the right things. We also had to take some medicine for infections.

After a year in Turlock, my family and I are adjusting nicely. We play soccer at school, but now on green grass. My brothers are learning English well in school, but my parents still struggle with it a little. We have an English tutor come to the house once a week. There are other Syrian families who have settled here in our town.

We have a nice network of friends who all support each other emotionally. We don’t have a mosque here, but we can meet for worship at a school. We even got bikes that my brothers and I learned how to ride. Most importantly we have good water and food to eat. It was a hard adjustment, but I am very grateful to be living in the United States where I feel safe.

Thank you, America!

Number of Resettled Syrian Refugees 0 1-99 100-499 500-999 >=1,000

Between October 1, 2011 and December 31, 2016, California, Illinois, and Michigan resettled the most Syrians of all major U.S, cities, with six percent, four percent, and three percent respectively.

These three states represented 13 percent of overall Syrian refugee settlement.

Source: Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation of data from the U.S. Department of State Refugee Processing Center, “Admissions & Arrivals” database.

The End

Sources researched for content and images used in the making of this book: www.nytimes.com www.unicef.org www.sfweekly.com www.alamy.com www.asylumaccess.org www.npr.org www.middleeastmonitor.com

Copyright © 2020 Lisa Eaton