{"id":44338,"date":"2016-10-19T13:01:28","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T18:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=44338"},"modified":"2016-10-19T13:08:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T18:08:47","slug":"resilient-syrians-could-use-community-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/resilient-syrians-could-use-community-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Resilient Syrians could use community support"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maryam Saleh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wadad Elaly likely has much in common with her classmates at Sullivan High School. Her favorite subject is math, and \u00a0least favorite class is gym. She likes to draw, and hopes to someday be a doctor. And like many Chicago residents, she doesn\u2019t much enjoy the weather.<\/p>\n

But unlike many of those around her, the 15-year-old girl represents a group that is the subject of a polarized national conversation about American immigration policy.<\/p>\n

She is a Syrian refugee.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The teenager spoke briefly about her transition to life in Chicago \u2013 where she was resettled nearly two years ago \u2013 at a panel discussion about Syrian refugees hosted by Chicago Ideas<\/a> on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

During a time of inflammatory political rhetoric, the event was meant to explain the \u201ccauses, realities and potential outcomes\u201d of the Syrian refugee crisis, organizers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure that the average American can explain exactly what the intricacies are of how refugees are vetted and resettled in the United States, but it seems that every American has an opinion on whether it\u2019s done correctly, or whether it\u2019s right,\u201d said Odette Yousef, a WBEZ reporter who moderated the \u201cState of the Syrian Refugee Crisis\u201d event.<\/p>\n

The American public has been engaged in a contentious debate about refugee resettlement for the last year. Governors of thirty states called for a halt to U.S. resettlement of Syrians last November, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to deport Syrian refugees if he is elected. A recent survey<\/a> by the Chicago Council of Global Affairs found that only 36 percent of Americans support accepting Syrian refugees into the United States.<\/p>\n

Wadad, who was resettled to Chicago in January 2015, did not discuss the public debate surrounding her existence \u2013 and that of others like her \u2013 in America. Instead, she focused on the positive aspects of her journey and life here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my school, I feel comfortable with teachers and talking to them. When Syrians are coming, and they don\u2019t know anything, I try to go help them to know the school and learn the language, to be comfortable with teachers,\u201d the soft-spoken teenager said.<\/p>\n

She sat alongside experts and advocates who denounced political rhetoric that demonizes refugees and applauded the resilience of those fleeing violence in Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the rhetoric in this campaign, there is a very quiet movement of Americans who want to resettle refugees, [who] have gone out of their way to volunteer, to take a stand,\u201d said Deborah Amos, a NPR correspondent who has been reporting on refugees in America since June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey understand that refugee resettlement has a grand tradition in the United States, that we have been doing this for decades, and it is part of the American fabric,\u201d added Amos, a veteran journalist in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The Syrian Community Network<\/a> is a Chicago-based organization that does exactly that. The grassroots group was founded as Syrian refugees began arriving in the area almost two years ago, said Founder and Executive Director Suzanne Akhras Sahloul.<\/p>\n

Refugee resettlement agencies receive federal funds to support refugees with necessities such as rent and job placement in their first three to six months. But Akhras Sahloul, a Syrian-American, said she quickly realized the government assistance was \u201cjust not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rallied the community so that we could support families, whether it\u2019s through rent, or through mentorship, or through sending volunteers to their homes so they can help them with integration and learning English and making new friendships,\u201d she said to the room packed with about 170 people.<\/p>\n

Akhras Sahloul\u2019s organization supports about 140 Syrian refugee families in the Chicago area, and she said she has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the local community and coming from people of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n

As of last month, the U.S. has resettled about 14,000 refugees in the last five years, according to the U.S. Department of State. That is just a fraction of the 5 million Syrians who have fled their country since 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Syrian
As the panelists spoke, an artist created a visualization of the many topics that came up during the discussion on Syrian refugees. Oct. 31, 2016. (Maryam Saleh\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Becca Heller, who is the director and co-founder of the New York-based International Refugee Assistance Project<\/a>, said she hopes to see America continue to expand its refugee resettlement program, regardless of who the next president is.<\/p>\n

She worries that Congress will cut funding for refugees, and said she and others are thinking of alternative ways of supporting resettled individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of us in the advocacy world are saying, \u2018What are the channels to bypass the people who are saying \u2018No,\u2019 [to refugee resettlement,]\u201d and get to the people who want to say \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d she said, suggesting that private sponsorship of refugees \u2013 as opposed to government support \u2013 might be an option.<\/p>\n

Akhras Sahloul is also concerned about the anti-refugee sentiment, she hopes that Americans\u2019 good-hearted nature will prevail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about Syrian refugees and we talk about deporting people who are of immigrant background, I just want you to take a look at Wadad,\u201d she said, turning to face the shy teenager seated beside her. \u201cTake a look at her face, her beautiful face. This is the face of a Syrian refugee, and one day she will be a doctor, or a teacher, or a counselor. We need to think about the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Four panelists speak at Chicago Ideas Week event \u201cThe State of the Syrian Refugee Crisis\u201d moderated by WBEZ reporter Odette Yousef, left, on Oct. 18, 2016. (Maryam Saleh\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maryam Saleh Wadad Elaly likely has much in common with her classmates at Sullivan High School. Her favorite subject is math, and \u00a0least favorite class is gym. She likes to draw, and hopes to someday be a doctor. And like many Chicago residents, she doesn\u2019t much enjoy the weather. But unlike many of those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":44340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2941,2951],"tags":[3119,3120,3121,3122,3118,1577,3018],"class_list":["post-44338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2016","category-politicsnational-security","tag-chicago-council-of-global-affairs","tag-chicago-ideas","tag-deborah-amos","tag-international-refugee-assistance-project","tag-odette-yousef","tag-syrian-community-network","tag-syrian-refugees-in-chicago"],"yoast_head":"\nResilient Syrians could use community support - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/resilient-syrians-could-use-community-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resilient Syrians could use community support - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maryam Saleh Wadad Elaly likely has much in common with her classmates at Sullivan High School. Her favorite subject is math, and \u00a0least favorite class is gym. She likes to draw, and hopes to someday be a doctor. And like many Chicago residents, she doesn\u2019t much enjoy the weather. 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