Sara
Sara is a 55 year old mother of two with a chemical engineering degree. She fled to Cairo after her life was threatened due to her work as a consultant with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq.
"I am a very determined woman and I have a great intention and determination to make it in a way or another. I have to find a solution to myself and my family. This is my attitude and this is my hope. So, I will not give up. I will stay working and working. And as long as I'm serious, as long as I'm honest, as long as I'm faithful in my life and believe in God, I think I can make. God will help me, will provide good people to support me in this case in a way or another. Somehow I can make if. I feel I can make it. I just need assistance from God and people around."
Yasmina
Yasmina is a 23 year old dentistry student from Baghdad who came to Cairo in 2006 with her sister and father.
"I think every person even who isn't a refugee have a chance to have a good life. Being a refugee makes it like an intense need for that thing. We need a chance and we deserve it, like, to be, to have a good life. There is no difference between any human and another based on their nationality. But I guess that when we get the new nationality and we get resettlement, that will open a closed door to us in the future. There is a difference between this nationality and that nationality. but as a human I think we are all equal of getting a new life, of getting a good life."
Fatima
Fatima is a retired high school economics teacher. She now works as a cook in Cairo. She left Iraq in 2005 and went to Syria before arriving in Cairo.
"I am very serious in work. I am an optimistic person. And now I am proud that I am brave in facing difficulties. I discovered that lately. I have strong belief that one day we will go back to Baghdad because the responsible people in Iraq, they are doing their best to make Iraq more peaceful and more settled. And now, it is better than three, five years ago. So, I am optimistic. I am sure, I am sure one day we will go. I hope it is not so long time."
Iman
Iman is a computer engineer but has not found work since arriving in Cairo, even as a maid. She shares a two bedroom apartment in Cairo with her two sisters, brother-in-law and three children.
"I can't think about anything because I can't planning for the future. There is no future, I don't know what will happen tomorrow. So how can I plan for myself? I can't come back to Iraq and I can't still here, what can I do?"
Farah
Farah fled Baghdad with her husband and three children in 2005. She gave birth to her fourth child, a baby girl, in the spring of 2008.
Of course we are not comfortable we are in exile, this is the first thing. We miss a lot of things for example we miss the place. We have every thing there, our house, with our money with our efforts. Here, there are a lot of things we miss. I mean simple things, especially for our children. A lot of things we cannot provide for them. For example, toys, tourist places, we used to have a car. If I had to list all of them it would never end.
The money we have, we brought, that we fled with here. It is almost finished.
The KPFA Morning Show
The Morning Show - Thursday, June 19, 2008
Iraqis in Egypt filmmaker Joshua van Praag and Amnesty International’s Refugee Program director Sarnata Reynolds discuss the refugee crisis on public radio in the US.
