Kateryna Poradluk
Communicator

Life is a challenge. It puts people down and overtakes them. But there is a hope.

Kharea Ahmed, 25, attends English classes in Adult Service Learning in Spokane. Ahmed was born and raised in Iraq. Her family came to America in April.

“In 2005, when Shia people killed my husband’s brother, we were scared to continue to live in Iraq,” Ahmed said. “There was a big chance that they could kill us too.”

Ahmed and her family moved to Syria because it was the only place that doesn’t require having a visa, she said.

“In Syria we weren’t allowed to work because they said Syrian people wouldn’t have enough jobs if Iraqis work on their land,” Ahmed said.

For two years and half years, Ahmed’s family lived in Syria, selling their furniture and the car they brought from Iraq. They received a refugee status and came to the United States.

“We found freedom in Spokane,” she said. “It is such a nice place where people don’t ask where we came from.”

Gina Bojar has lived in the U.S. for seven years. She was born in Bosnia when it was a part of Yugoslavia, went to school, got married, and had two children. When her younger son was four, the war started.

“72 days we were underground,” Bojar said. “They
destroyed bridges, hospitals and the fire was everywhere.”

Bojar came from a Christian family, the minority of Bosnian population. She said all of her neighbors were Muslims, but they didn’t have problems with
living together peacefully, then the war started between Muslim Bosnians and Christian Serbians.

“We lost everything, the house, and our jobs,” she said. “I took my two children, and we escaped to Serbia, otherwise we wouldn’t survive in Bosnia.”

Bojar and her family stayed in Serbia, for eight years, then they got a refugee status and came to
America.

“We have a perfect life now,” she said. “My daughter is getting married soon, my son is a successful student, and my husband and I work.”

Sang Lina was born and raised in Burma. He has lived in America as a refugee since July 2007, and currently rents an apartment and attends English
classes at night. He can’t go back to his country or he will be imprisoned or killed, Lina said. His life and his family were endangered when his brother
joined the Chin Army, which is the opposition party to the present Burma government.

“The people who rule the country don’t accept the
opposition side,” Lina said. “The police kidnap and kill civilians who are opposing the government.”

About four years ago, the police came to Lina’s village. The residents knew that this visit was a dangerous sign. The police were looking for Lina’s brother, who was hidden in India at the time. When the police couldn’t find Lina’s brother, they beat his family and took his father with them.

“They threw my father into prison, but he was there only a year,” Lina said with tears in his eyes. “Then, he died.

“My mother, sisters and I had to run away from our village because it was too dangerous to stay.”

Lina’s uncle lived in Malaysia, but he only
had enough money for Lina to come to Malaysia. Lina’s mother and sisters moved to another village in Burma. After three years of living in Malaysia, Lina went to International Organization of Migration, told them his story, and he got a refugee
status.

Lina calls himself one of the “lucky people,” one of the few to escape from Burma’s regime.
“Once Burmese people tried to escape on the boats to Malaysia, the police were shooting for their backs,” Lina said. “All people who were on the boats didn’t survive.”

These three refugees found a peace after struggling to survive for years. They fought for their lives and found freedom.

In 2007, Bojar and her family went to Bosnia, for the first time since they left, to visit her hometown.

“When I saw that there is nothing left from my house, I felt terrible,” she said. “They destroyed everything and then reconstructed it.”

“I left all of my relatives in Iraq and Syria,” said Ahmed. “I miss them so much, but about 20 years later maybe I would go back.”