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Technorati“It’s absolutely disheartening,” said Petty. “We’re just praying that the cloud will lift.”
Similarly, another Iraqi refugee, Safaa, who was a pastor in Iraq and persecuted for his faith in Christ, says he and his wife have no idea how they will pay their January’s rent. They have lived in Florida since the summer and Safaa has been unable to find work. His wife, Elham, has a part-time job, but her income is not enough to cover their housing rent and other living expenses. Moreover, her hours recently were cut.
The couple managed to pay their December rent, but are unsure how they will pay next month.
“One couple from Myanmar was very upset … in floods of tears,” case manager Petty recalled. “An Iraqi family told me: ‘We will just have to go back to Iraq.’
“They see no hope,” she reported.
Petty also noted the refugee families are eager to work to support their families in the United States.
“They’re not leeching off the system,” she said. “They just need a hand up and then they can go on.”
But she acknowledges the job market is saturated and believes the “real hope” lies in the community coming together to help those in need.
In 2008, more than 60,000 refugees were admitted to the United States and World Relief helped resettle nearly 5,700.
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