What Life Is Like for Syrian Family Seeking Refuge in Kentucky, After running away from everything they knew and everyone they loved in war-torn Syria in 2013, then living for two and a half years as refugees in Turkey, Shadi and Hanadi Antakli have begun building a new life for themselves in a city completely unknown to them until August 20: Louisville, Kentucky.
“We’re adjusting to the community,” mom Hanadi told WAVE 3 News on Tuesday via interpreter in an interview about the couple’s new stateside life with 9-year-old son, Hasan, and 4-year-old daughter, Tuqa. “[We’re] really trying to learn the language here.” Dad Shadi added, “We’re comfortable here.”
As is the hope of the more than seven million Syrians displaced by war (more than half of them children), Shadi says: “We do have a future.” Yet, he adds, “In the back of our minds are still our family and friends that are back in … Turkey [and] Jordan, that are unable to come here. And so while we’re comfortable and can see our future for ourselves, we can’t see the same for our family.”
Starting new in the Southern city significantly smaller (estimated population: a bit more than a quarter of a million people) than their native Aleppo, former population 2.3 million, the Antakli family has a lot to get used to. Matt Nickel, a pastor for congregational life and mission at Louisville’s Highland Presbyterian Church, tells Yahoo Parenting about all of the ways that the foursome are writing this new chapter of their lives — as will many more, now that President Obama has green-lighted resettling at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. by the end of next year.
“For this family, language is a barrier,” says Nickel, who has been working with the Arabic-speaking family — communicating via Google Translate — as the family settles into their new home on a tree-lined street in a community conveniently located walking distance away from amenities, including a grocery store and coffee shop, because the family cannot yet afford a car.
They’ve had neighbors come over and introduce themselves, which I told Shadi is very nice, because when I moved in, no one came to say hi to me for a month,” says Nickel. “He told me, ‘They came over instantly; I just can’t say hello back because I don’t know the language.’”
Luckily, fourth-grader Hasan has found a way to bond with kids in his class. “He’s really been able to embrace school easily,” says the pastor, noting that the kids have an ESL tutor as well. “He’s able to hang out with a crew of boys at school even though he doesn’t really speak the language yet. He says he can’t remember his teacher’s name because it’s so unusual for him. But he’s only been there for two weeks. He’s still really taking it in.”
“We’re adjusting to the community,” mom Hanadi told WAVE 3 News on Tuesday via interpreter in an interview about the couple’s new stateside life with 9-year-old son, Hasan, and 4-year-old daughter, Tuqa. “[We’re] really trying to learn the language here.” Dad Shadi added, “We’re comfortable here.”
As is the hope of the more than seven million Syrians displaced by war (more than half of them children), Shadi says: “We do have a future.” Yet, he adds, “In the back of our minds are still our family and friends that are back in … Turkey [and] Jordan, that are unable to come here. And so while we’re comfortable and can see our future for ourselves, we can’t see the same for our family.”
Starting new in the Southern city significantly smaller (estimated population: a bit more than a quarter of a million people) than their native Aleppo, former population 2.3 million, the Antakli family has a lot to get used to. Matt Nickel, a pastor for congregational life and mission at Louisville’s Highland Presbyterian Church, tells Yahoo Parenting about all of the ways that the foursome are writing this new chapter of their lives — as will many more, now that President Obama has green-lighted resettling at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. by the end of next year.
“For this family, language is a barrier,” says Nickel, who has been working with the Arabic-speaking family — communicating via Google Translate — as the family settles into their new home on a tree-lined street in a community conveniently located walking distance away from amenities, including a grocery store and coffee shop, because the family cannot yet afford a car.
They’ve had neighbors come over and introduce themselves, which I told Shadi is very nice, because when I moved in, no one came to say hi to me for a month,” says Nickel. “He told me, ‘They came over instantly; I just can’t say hello back because I don’t know the language.’”
Luckily, fourth-grader Hasan has found a way to bond with kids in his class. “He’s really been able to embrace school easily,” says the pastor, noting that the kids have an ESL tutor as well. “He’s able to hang out with a crew of boys at school even though he doesn’t really speak the language yet. He says he can’t remember his teacher’s name because it’s so unusual for him. But he’s only been there for two weeks. He’s still really taking it in.”
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