Hawa and Omar’s kids celebrated Aweis’s graduation party at Meksi’s house in Aurora.
Words by Hayley Meksi
Twenty years ago, my friends Omar and Hawa were forced to flee their home in rural Somalia with their infant daughter. They escaped by foot over long distances, facing incredible challenges. Their resolve and resiliency grew stronger as they spent the next decade moving from one refugee camp to another looking for a safe place for their family. On an August day in 2004, they arrived in Aurora as refugees, by then a close-knit family of eight.
My husband and I have known and walked alongside Omar and Hawa since then. We’ve seen them courageously confront the normal challenges of raising a large family while working low paying jobs. We’ve been deeply impressed that, despite financial pressures, cultural expectations, and their own lack of formal education, they’ve remained unwavering in their commitment to the education of all their children. As we started our own family, we looked up to them as an inspiring model of loving and sacrificial parenting.
Today, their children are successful, well integrated kids. My five-year-old son loves seeing their youngest, Hilde, at Hill Elementary. He’s in awe of Mohamud’s mad soccer skills (and I’m in awe of his patience and kindness toward his young fan). Diney and Aweis, the second and third oldest, graduated from West Aurora High School and are both doing well in university. I have no doubt that the others will follow close behind.
I’ve been involved in the lives of refugees resettled in our town for almost 15 years and I’m a better person because of the friendships built, meals shared, and stories heard. My family is stronger. Refugees fleeing war and persecution have found a new home here over the past two decades and our community has risen to the accompanying challenges and I contend that Aurora, too, is better.
Recently, we’ve been inundated with hurtful, fear-based and misinformed rhetoric about Muslim refugees fleeing the Middle East. Many of us understand (history would agree and my personal faith mandates): it is vital that we firmly reject knee-jerk responses that are rooted in fear.
Recent events have also raised thoughtful and sincere questions about the resettlement process. News about refugees, migrants and asylum seekers crossing borders into Europe created confusion and concern about the US’s vetting process.
Consequently, I’ve had new opportunities to share information about the multi-step, 18 – 36 month security clearance process for refugees. And mixed reports about the number of Syrian refugees the US is aiming to resettle this year have left some concerned. (It’s 10,000, by the way, not 250,000 or even 100,000 as some have stated.) This dialogue is important and we need more of it.
Continuing the US’s long, foundational tradition of welcoming people fleeing war and persecution is the right thing. It’s the right thing for those like Hawa and Omar, and it’s the right thing for our nation, our community, and even our own families.
I invite you to get involved. Maybe you’ll partner with World Relief to collect pots and pans and other household items that refugees need when they arrive. Or volunteer with the local schools to help with reading groups. Or connect with Emmanuel House to help some of these families and others take steps to become permanent homeowners in our community. Maybe you want to become an English tutor or you just have questions about the whole process and want to learn more.
Contact someone who can help get you connected: www.worldreliefaurora.org , www.wewelcomerefugees.org, www.emmanuelhouse.org
For a photo essay on Syrian refugees settling in Aurora, click here.
Welcoming refugees has made Aurora better, Meksi said.
Hayley Meksi is the executive director of Emmanuel House and lives in Aurora with her husband and son. Before working at Emmanuel House, Meksi worked at World Relief for nine years. For almost the last 15 years, Meksi has worked with many refugee families (Somali Bantu, Bosnian, Afghan, Congolese, Rwandan, Iraqi, and others) in her professional roles and as a neighbor and community member.
