« The day ice fell from the sky -- in June | Today | Man struck by lightning while fishing in Bristol »

June 24, 2008

Iraqi refugee brings her story to Providence City Hall

Journal photo / Kris Craig
Iraqi refugee Ghaydaa Ghalum tells her personal story today to the audience during the International Institute of Rhode Island program at Providence City Hall.

PROVIDENCE -- Two years ago, a U.S. jetfighter dropped a bomb into Ghaydaa Ghalum’s kitchen in Baghdad.

“I covered up my children and saw my house fall apart,” Ghalum said. “My daughter was shaking all night and my son kept crying and wouldn’t open his eyes. All night we saw dust coming down from the ceiling. The next morning my entire family came to our house to see if we were dead or alive.”

That was the last in a series of cataclysmic events that pushed the family into exile, said Ghalum at a World Refugee Day ceremony today at Providence City Hall that was hosted by the International Institute of Rhode Island. The day was established in 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

In 2003, her husband, Adel, then working for the U.S. Army as a carpenter, “was kidnapped and tortured by the terrorists and almost died,” she said. “… Like many other Iraqis, we left Iraq because we didn’t feel safe there anymore. Everybody lives in fear; there were gunfights in the streets. My children saw dead bodies on the streets.”

Last December, Ghalum, her husband and their children, Miriam and Ahmed, were resettled by the International Institute of Rhode Island. The children attend school, Adel works, and Ghalum said she hopes to earn a nursing degree.

Today, Ghalum told an audience that she feels “like a newborn,” and thanked both the Rhode Island community and the Institute “for helping us make Providence our new home.”

-- Journal staff writer Karen Lee Ziner

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:33 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)