From Jordan to Joplin: Sudanese family finds safety and stability after resettlement to the USA

It’s early August 2023, and in a dark, humid, underground apartment in Amman, Asma Abdelkareem Abkar, a 39-year-old Sudanese refugee, is packing all her family’s belongings in a few bags. Her husband Mohammad Ali Alkhater, 61, is helping her fold clothes, while their three children are playing in the other room. After more than 13 years as refugees in Jordan, the family is soon being resettled to the United States.

This two-room apartment, with little furniture and just a couple of windows, has been their home. But with the challenges of making ends meet and the healthcare needs of her husband and eldest daughter, 10-year-old Muntaha, Asma is excited for this opportunity to rebuild their lives.

“If we hadn’t been resettled, our lives would have faced devastation”, says Asma. “We would have struggled to secure a livelihood, and the prospects for our children, especially Muntaha, who has specific speech needs, would have been severely compromised,” she says.

 

Asma and Mohammad came to Jordan because of the lack of safety and security in their home country Sudan. They registered with UNHCR as refugees. Ever since, securing a safe future for their children proved difficult, because Sudanese refugees in Jordan cannot be formally employed. “I’m driven to provide for my children. Even if it means facing detention, there’s no other choice,” said Mohammad who used to work as a daily labourer at parking garages. But after developing a chronic medical condition for which he was unable to get a diagnosis or treatment in Jordan, it was almost impossible for him to continue working.

Asma took on the responsibility, learned to work as a beautician and became the primary breadwinner for the family. “I love my profession; it’s my passion. It is also the main source of income that keeps the family standing,” she says, hoping she will be able to continue in the United States.

 

While Jordan continues to generously host hundreds of thousands of refugees, the prospects to rebuild a life here remain very limited or non-existent for some. As one of the few durable solutions for refugees in the country, resettlement is available to the most vulnerable. Asma’s family is one of the more than 10,000 refugees that have been resettled from Jordan so far in 2023. Together with the receiving countries, UNHCR works to facilitate and support the resettlement process. The US, having received more than 28,000 refugees from Jordan since 2014, has the largest resettlement programme in Jordan and the region.

Resettlement is an essential tool for providing support to and easing the pressure on host countries like Jordan, as highlighted in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). The GCR – a framework shared by governments, organizations, refugees and others – is dedicated to strengthening responsibility sharing and facilitating solutions for refugees. The Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in mid-December 2023, will offer an opportunity to showcase progress.

“Resettlement needs among refugees in Jordan have increased in recent years, as the general socio-economic situation remains fragile”

says Jenny Ghikas, UNHCR’s Senior Durable Solutions Officer in Amman. “Resettlement represents an essential expression of solidarity with the Government of Jordan and a life-changing opportunity for some of the most vulnerable refugees”.

Asma’s family’s resettlement process took almost two years, but eventually the big day came, and the family could travel to Joplin, Missouri in the heart of the US. The local resettlement agency, Refugee and Immigrant Services & Education or RAISE, received them and supported them through every step of their journey and helped them get settled in their new home.

When Asma and Mohammed flew into Joplin, RAISE had members of the host community met them at the airport, and then took them to have a meal prepared by the Sudanese community living in Joplin. “The local community continues to overwhelm us with their generosity and acceptance of refugee families,” says Mike Newman, the Executive Director of RAISE. “The schools are doing all they can to make them feel welcome”, he adds.

 

Fast forward two full months to mid-October 2023, Asma’s family was assigned a comfortable house in a friendly neighborhood, and they are excited about making it their home. The children have enrolled in school and are adapting smoothly, already doing well in their classes, and making friends with both local and other resettled Sudanese refugee children in the area.

 

 

Mohammad is receiving the medical treatment he needs, and is feeling much better, physically and psychologically. He and Asma have enrolled in English language courses, after which they will receive support in finding jobs.

Asma thinks back to Amman as a sort of hometown and has many good memories. But now, settling in Joplin, the family feels stable for the first time in so long. “The difference we feel now is that we have a future,” says Asma with a hope and sparkle in her voice about what’s to come.

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