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Essays: Strange Shore

Strange Shore: African refugees on Chicago's north side

We have all heard stories about war, displaced people, and refugees throughout the world. As outsiders it is easy to think that once these people have been removed from immediate harm, all their problems are solved.

Tucked away on Chicago's far north side amid university students and professors lies a growing community of African refugees. The new residents hail from all of Africa's war-torn corners and struggle to make new and better lives in a foreign city.

Each member of this new community faces different challenges in their new lives in Chicago--poverty, a dramatic shift in climate, adjusting to a new diet, finding a job and sifting through a complicated system to ensure that children are educated. Despite these daunting challenges, more and more refugee families are calling Chicago their home and finding open arms to welcome them.

Asiya came home too exhausted from work to even do much around the house. She and her family will be leaving for Fort Wayne, Indiana soon because it is less expensive.
   
Kidan's kids play in the living room before Kidan goes to work.
   
Asiya and Aline watch as their bed is dismantled in order to take it downstairs. Aline is upset at her mother for moving the family to Indiana because her friends are in Chicago. The family is moving because rent is less expensive and public aid is easier to receive in Indiana.
     
  
Getahun, a refugee from Ethiopia hugs his sister-in-law and holds the daughter he had never met until arriving at O'Hare International airport in Chicago.
   
Papay Fahnbulleh, left, plays on the floor of his oldest sisters' room at the home in Wilmette, Illinois. Papay's siblings often pick on him throughout the day, but he does not seem to mind.
   
Sawson hold up the baby clothes that her new baby girl, Amma, will wear when they leave the hospital. "She's beautiful," said Sawson. "I am happy."
     
  
Lamin and Victoria discuss their impending move amid all their boxes.
   
Kidan's daughter dances around her Chicago apartment during the afternoon.
   
The children stayed indoors through most of the spring because Asiya was too busy with chores, job searches, and classes to take them outside to play. Asiya brought the children to her English classes so they could play with other kids while she studied.
     
  
Omnia, Sawson's oldest daughter plays with the blinds in their new suburban home. Sawson and her family left the city because the rent was too high.
   
The Mambo family's apartment in Chicago was full of cockroaches and the walls were marked from past tenants. "The bugs are everywhere," said Aline. "We could sometimes feel them in the bed."
   
Kidan's oldest daughter helps her brother with his math homework at their apartment in Chicago.
     
  
A young Burmese girl stops to look a UNHCR Refugee Children poster in the offices of Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries on May 1, 2008.
   
Asiya brushes Lelia’s teeth before heading to her English class. Asiya and her family came to the United States in February 2006 and are still learning the language, the school system, and the daily routine of living in Chicago.
   
Haja Fahnbulleh, left, has her hair braided by her older sister Darbah. The family of 15 spent many of their first days in the United States with little to do while they waited for their paperwork to be processed so they could attend school and look for jobs.
     
  
Everlyn Sesay spends another afternoon at home waiting for her life to start in America. The family has been put in a holding pattern because they are waiting for papers and documents to allow them to work and go to school.
   
Vote and Asiya Mambo play with a balloon while folding laundry at their apartment. Asiya, the mother of four children, recently started working at a hotel in Evanston.
   
Matenneh and Jebbeh Fahnbulleh moved to Wilmette, Illinois in February 2007. Originally from Liberia, the Fahnbulleh family lived in refugee camps in Sierra Leone for five years before coming to the United States.
     
  
An Iraqi familywaits to welcome their relatives in Ohare International Airport.
   
An Iraqi familywelcomes their relatives in Ohare International Airport.
   
An Iraqi familywelcomes their relatives in Ohare International Airport.
     
  
Women's Day at Interfaith Immigration and Refugee Ministries
   
Women's Day at Interfaith Immigration and Refugee Ministries