Syrian refugees trickle into Southern Nevada

Twenty-eight-year-old Syrian refugee Rasha doesn't know when she'll see her mother again.

Her 63-year-old parent is alone in Damascus, the capital of war-torn Syria. Her father died years ago and her only other sibling, a brother, is in France pursuing a higher education degree.

In 2013 as the violence in Syria worsened, Rasha, who asked that her last name not be published, made the difficult decision to seek asylum in the United States. She was 20 months into an internal medicine residency. Her mother chose to stay in Syria.

"It's not safe, even at home," said Rasha on Wednesday. "You can be at home and catch a bomb."

It is estimated that about 4 million Syrians have fled their country since civil war erupted in 2011 and violence on the part of Islamic militants escalated. Most have gone to neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Hundreds of thousands more have sought asylum in the European Union while many others have died while on their journeys.

Rasha ended up in Southern Nevada, where she has relatives, before the Syrian refugee situation became a crisis. She was granted asylum last year.

Others from her country are also finding shelter in Southern Nevada — a Syrian refugee family of seven who arrived about six months ago, and a single Syrian refugee who arrived last month. They were resettled here through Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada.

Answering the call

Even before Pope Francis' recent call for Catholics and people of all religions to aid the suffering refugees, Southern Nevada communities were already coming together to help new Syrian arrivals.

As soon as Syrian-American Reem Sanadiki found out the refugees had arrived in Southern Nevada, she reached out to them. She and other families have been helping them get furniture and other basic necessities.

The recently arrived refugee family has five children — two girls and three boys.

"People are in need. They left everything," said Sanadiki on Tuesday. "We are originally from there ... I know how people suffer. They are fleeing war."

The family of seven left Homs, a city in western Syria, which was also Sanadiki's home before she left in 2002 to come to the United States for college opportunities. Her parents are now here as well, and one of her brothers fled to Greece on Aug. 25 and is now in Germany.

"There's no 'back home,' " said Sanadiki, a mother and a pharmacist.

Dr. Syed Rahman, co-founder of the nonprofit Imagine Foundation, organized a fundraising event in September at Origin India Restaurant to raise money for the recent Syrian arrivals and for those who have fled to Greece. The organization also placed collection boxes at the Las Vegas Valley's five mosques.

The efforts raised about $30,000, Rahman said. Imagine Foundation plans to organize more fundraisers in the near future.

"This problem is not going to go anywhere," he said on Thursday of the refugee crisis.

Charitable efforts

The Syrian community in Southern Nevada is fairly small, consisting of about 15 to 20 families maximum, said Aslam Abdullah, director of the Islamic Society of Nevada. That includes Muslim and Christian families.

The Muslim community in the area is estimated to be over 30,000, Abdullah said. About 30 percent of the $30,000 raised came from the boxes placed at the mosques.

"The Muslim community, by and large, supported extensively the efforts," he said.

President Barack Obama's administration has pledged to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees.

But a total of 18 cities across the country are pushing to raise that number and have offered to take Syrian refugees in need. Abdullah said he and others plan to meet with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman to discuss the possibility of Las Vegas joining that list.

"We have a very philanthropic mayor," he said, adding the Muslim community plans to open its heart and wallet for the Syrian refugees.

Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada has taken the lead in the state for the refugee resettlement program. For the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, the federal government raised the bar to accept 85,000 refugees from around the world, up from a cap of 70,000 last year, said Carisa Lopez-Ramirez, vice president of migration and immigration services for Catholic Charities.

"Agencies are still waiting to hear what number they've been designated," she said on Tuesday.

In fiscal year 2015, Catholic Charities resettled a total of 2,214 refugees that came from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan, said Leslie Carmine, spokeswoman for Catholic Charities.

Abdullah said those stepping up to help would like to focus on raising more funds for new Syrian refugee arrivals in Southern Nevada, making sure they learn English and ensuring they receive training for jobs.

Rasha has already taken two out of three tests to become licensed to be able to do a medical residency in the United States. Success is almost on the horizon for her, but there's one thing that continues to bother her every day: not seeing her mother.

She talks to her every day on the phone and hopes that one day they will be reunited.

"This is the main thing I think about," she said. "Everything else is going fine."

Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3843. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro