I AM A REFUGEE: Global refugees share their stories

Global Citizen recently traveled to Buffalo, NY, a refugee resettlement hub, to meet refugees from over 10 countries. Some are recent arrivals. Others have been in the US for most of their lives. Together, their stories form an intimate portrait of what it means to be a refugee.

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I remember it was at night.

I was in the city named Mosul about 7pm.

One day my son go to the school.

I just heard some gunshots and everything

and people came and
knocked the door,

broke the door and took everybody outside.

And after a while he come back
because he say,

"There is a man. He's dead, on the glass."

People in the street, they stopped me.

They were killing people around me.

They tried to kidnap me from the car.

They are shooting the people
in front of my house.

And we start to run,
and once they turn back

they see us running away,
they start to shout at us.

They gonna ask my family for money
and they gonna kill me after that.

I was young but I could see
what was going on

and it was hard to see.

It was so, so horrible.

It was so dangerous to stay more.

So, I decided to move.

I AM A REFUGEE

Life in Bosnia before was awesome.

We were living, like, peacefully.

I grew up a good life because
my mom's family were good financially.

I had small business,
my restaurant over there.

We have some problems,
we have some good.

You know, it's normal.

But eventually,

like, without, you know, any warning or anything,
it just started one day.

We were outside when bombing started.

So yeah, that was kind of unexpected.

I left when I was 11 years old.

Eight years old.

I think I was 16.

Our parents said that,
"OK, we need to do a bus ride."

We were told we're going to the city
for the amusement park.

We didn't know that we are leaving
for forever.

Almost all the Iraqi people,
they can't live in camp.

We were never in a refugee camp.

We were living in refugee camp.

About two years in the refugee camp.

I grew up in the refugee camp.

You don't know where you're gonna end up.

I think at one point we were gonna end up
in Finland,

and then, another point, we were gonna
end up in Sweden.

It was a whole process, actually

and screening before we get approval.

Finally, they told us,

"You're gonna end up in Buffalo,
New York."

We thought it was New York City
but it wasn't.

Coming to the United States

is also one of the challenging things.

That's a very strange transition,
180 degrees.

Everything was hard.

For three days we didn't even leave our home.

English was

completely out of my mind.

My English was, like, zero.

I couldn't talk to anybody.

In school I was just by myself,
sitting there.

I remember being asked,
"What's your name?"

And my answer was, "Yes."

Everything was different.

First of all, the weather.

It was my first time seeing big buildings.

This the first time in my life

I sleep on mattress.

We went into the bus and we were circling
for like three hours

because I didn't know there is a string
you should pull down

if you want to get out.

And then finally my dad decided,

"You know what? I'm gonna leave."

"I see a corner store that people
are coming in and out,"

"I'm gonna walk there." And

My mom and I remember
looking out of the window making--

to see if he makes it back safely.

And then he came back all happy
because the owner of the

corner store was Yemenese,
so he speaks Arabic.

That made my dad's day.

We thought that there is
only one kind of people,

but when we arrived here
and there is like

white people

Asian people
African people

Lot of people, so,
"Oh, OK, so maybe we are good too."

I start looking for job
just after couple months.

My first job is mechanic.

I work in medical billing.

It's my first year of college.

Right now I work as interpreter,

and I love that job.

When you start job,
you feel proud for yourself.

My salary start with $8.50.
I was so happy.

I help other people who were in my shoes.

Every day I call my dad,
"Are you proud now?"

I'm just looking to be here and

go back to school as
every kid's supposed to do.

I feel that this community

make me feel very welcome.

I decided, only one way to pay back
to those people.

I'm not rich, so I'm not gonna pay back financially.

I decided to join the armed forces.

Until today, I'm serving here
about 13 years.

[Interviewer:] What do you feel like
you've left behind,

or what do you miss the most
about life there?

I miss my whole life.

It's not easy to leave the people
that you love.

I miss...

you had a sense of connection,
you had a sense of belonging.

I'm still searching for that.

I like how everything goes here,
but it doesn't change me much

'cause I still have this sense of
where I came from.

To be honest with you,
I don't miss my country.

Because here I found what I missed.

I want to be more, I want to be better,
you know?

What is my dream?

Oh, there are a lot of dreams.

My dream was to go to school

which I went for, like, eight years.

That feeling when I graduated,

it's like something
no one can pay you for.

Like, when they call your name.

One dream come true,
that I buy a home for the first time.

What's your dream for the future?

I wish that I could be a singer.

It's done. It happened.

When I saw my kids, they grow up
in safety place

and they study what they want

and they don't need to do something
they don't like it

that's the dream. What I need more?

My name is Immaculee.

I'm Nadeen Yousef.

Felix Madgi.

Hi, my name is Masarra Faek.

I'm from Iraq.

Bhutan.

Burundi.

Burma.

I am a refugee, and I am global citizen.

I'm a global citizen.

I am a global citizen.

I AM A REFUGEE

I AM A MOTHER

I AM A DAUGHTER

I AM A HUSBAND

I AM A BROTHER

I AM A FRIEND

I AM A NEIGHBOR

I AM A STUDENT

I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR

I AM A GLOBAL CITIZEN