Resettled: Stories of Loss, Home, and Solid Ground from America's Refugee Resettlement Program
Resettled is a creative nonfiction, work in progress born from my time working in a Phoenix-based refugee resettlement agency. It was shortlisted for the Sutherland House Nonfiction Prize in 2022.
Resettled
What does it mean to be a refugee brought to the United States?
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In 2024, the number of people "forcibly displaced" from their homes is believed to exceed 120 million.
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120 million.
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A number on a scale typically used to measure the size of the world's most populated cities is now how we quantify individuals who live somewhere other than their home because to stay would have meant near certain death at the hands of other people - in some cases, their own government.
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Each year, a tiny fraction of those individuals that crossed international borders in search of safety - the refugees - will be chosen to legally resettle in another country. And a fraction of those entering resettlement programs will come to the United States.
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Resettled introduces readers to three former refugees brought to Phoenix, AZ as adolescents from Afghanistan, Burma, and South Sudan through the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. Follow their stories of flight and severance from their parents' homeland, to spending their youths as refugees making the best of each new home, and finally, a rarely articulated insight into the ongoing legacy of America's once monumental refugee resettlement program.
This project was born of the friendships I made with my coworkers at Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, all former victims of war or persecution, all advocates for those still on the path toward security.
01
Amir
Amir's family goes into hiding in a basement with 50 other people when the Taliban unexpectedly seize Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998. They lean on family connections, patience, and luck to escape Afghanistan and live under the protection of neighboring Turkmenistan, but life within the tenuous confines of indefinite refugee status, unable to work or own a car, means trading safety for freedom.
Once again defying the odds, the family received approval for resettlement to the United States, though it means the end of Amir's stellar trajectory as a scholarship student in their host country.
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02
Sarah
Nine year-old Sarah is scared when her entire village leaves everything behind to run from invading Burmese soldiers. She is confused when the forest seems full of faces from all the neighboring villages, too. They are all headed towards Tham Hin camp.
Life is volatile for Sarah's family, constantly moving when forced to, never allowed to stay put and just - belong.
After a failed attempt to follow her grandparents to Australia, her family finally receives the good news that they will be relocated to a place called Phoenix in the United States. Sarah dreams of finally calling a place home among the glittering sky scrapers and fancy cars of her new American city.
03
Bandak
Bandak doesn't remember the night soldiers entered his village and his family began their long trek to Ethiopia. He was 8 months old. His home is Dima camp and he speaks the local Amharic as if it is Nuer, his mother tongue. Losing a chance at resettlement means little to Bandak until his friend is kidnapped from the camp and the reality of his surroundings becomes a little more clear.
Now a young man, he sets his sights on the greater, promising world beyond the camp. His determination pays off when his resettlement case, together with his 18-year-old sister as legal guardian, is approved. He has never heard of Phoenix, but it sounds full of promise.
