08/24/2008
In his former life, 33-year-old Ammar Ibrahim was a fruit and vegetable merchant in Baghdad, where his family of five brothers and eight sisters owned their own business.
"We used to be a middle-class family," Ibrahim said. "Our life was very good."
He and his wife, 25-year-old Jihan Nouri, and their 4-year-old son came to Bowling Green three months ago through a refugee resettlement program. They are part of a group of 17 Iraqi refugees now living in the south-central Kentucky city and were among the first to be relocated here.
The 2003 U.S invasion in Iraq changed the family's life forever.
"The good thing was that Saddam was removed," Ibrahim said.
But as a Sunni Muslim living in a Shiite neighborhood, Ibrahim found himself caught up in the conflict between the two Islamic sects.
He was kidnapped twice by Shiite militias after the invasion, and one of his brothers was killed in the conflict.
Through the International Organization for Migration in Iraq, an intergovernmental organization set up at the beginning of 2003 to meet the humanitarian needs of Iraqis, Ibrahim and his wife and son were relocated to neighboring Syria. The agency later helped him move to the U.S.
James Robinson, director of the Bowling Green International Center, has helped introduce many new citizens to the area. In the past 12 months, Robinson has helped resettle 188 refugees from Myanmar, 37 from Burundi and 30 from Cuba.
"They look to see what agency has had the best luck in relocating people," Robinson said of how refugees find their way to Bowling Green. He said his agency is helped by having an Arabic-speaking population at Western Kentucky University.
The International Center is responsible for helping to locate an apartment, minimal furnishings and initial household items and groceries.
Adults are required to attend classes in English, economic literacy, orientation and employment.
"Hopefully, within 120 days, they have self-sufficiency," Robinson said.
Nouri, who is seven months pregnant with the family's second son, is learning English and hopes to find a job after she has her baby.
"My dream is to continue my education in America, though I don't think it's going to be very soon," she said.
Ibrahim said he worries constantly about the safety of his family still in Iraq and is rarely able to contact them.
"I have no hope of seeing an end to the civil war there," he said. "I think the full-scale war hasn't even started yet."