Cover Image: In Search of Safety: Voices of Refugees

In Search of Safety: Voices of Refugees

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Member Reviews

IN SEARCH OF SAFETY: VOICES OF REFUGEES by Susan Kuklin, an award winning author and photographer, who often uses her work to raise awareness about social issues. I had previously read and favorably reviewed Kuklin's We Are Here To Stay so I was looking forward to this title, also. However, I mis-recorded the publication date and lost access to the book before spending much time with it. Sadly, I am therefore giving a neutral rating of three stars. However, I will point out that Kuklin's previous work was accessible and thought-provoking for my students and I anticipate that this one will be, also. The publisher says it includes the stories of five refugees who "originally from Afghanistan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Iraq, and Burundi, give gripping first-person testimonies about what it is like to flee war, face violent threats, grow up in a refugee camp, be sold into slavery, and resettle in America." Given the ongoing debates on immigration and refugees, plus the likelihood of an imminent Supreme Court ruling on DACA, this text seems highly relevant. IN SEARCH OF SAFETY received a starred review from Kirkus.

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I received this ARC ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book told the amazing true stories of refugees who came to America and now they were helped along the way. So encouraging and eye opening!

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In Search of Safety: Voices of Refugees by Susan Kuklin tells the stories of five refugees from Afghanistan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Iraq, and Burundi in their own first person testimonies interlaced with occasional explanatory remarks as needed. These refugees wound up in Nebraska with several references to Lutheran Family Services who helped them in their resettlement. Photographs are included along with their stories. I give just one quote from each refugee to give a taste of the book.

Fraidoon from Afghanistan: “From 1984, when I was born, until July 16, 2017, when I arrived in the United States, I never lived in a place where there was no war.”

Nathan from Myanmar after his family’s camp was burned down: “The new camp, the place where I lived much of my life, was surrounded by barbed wire. We were not allowed to go outside the barbed wire camp without a Thai ID.”

Nyarout from South Sudan: “I still love my culture. I love my people. But I love my American independence too. I would say I’ve become a Sudanese American.”

Shireen from Northern Iraq: “I asked my cousin Khairy to write my name on my arm in English letters with a needle, like a tattoo. If I was able to commit suicide, I wanted my family to know it was me.”

Dieudonne from Burundi, caught in the ethnic war because he is the son of a Tutsi mother and a Hutu father: “A child is a child no matter where he lives. We lived in Block A, Second Street. In the evenings, the kids played tag and ran around.”

The backmatter, almost as interesting as the book itself, notes that fifty-seven percent of refugees come from Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Syria with over half of them under the age of eighteen. The author’s personal reason for writing is included with a heritage of grandparents with similar stories who fled Russia and the Ukraine. Her account of how she chose Nebraska adds to the narrative.

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In Search of Safety: Voices of Refugees is a collection of 5 distinct stories of people forced to flee their countries of origin because of death threats, persecution, foreign invasion, and who finally end up calling Nebraska, USA their home. It is the story of immense struggles, heartbreaking sadness, hope, family, and love, and also of luck: behind these 5 stories are so many more who never make it to the US, despite years of trying.

Collected, edited, and assembled by Susan Kuklin, each subject narrates their personal story, telling us their life stories, the before and then the after. There is Fraidoon, the Afghan interpreter who worked with the US Army and other private US security firms in his homeland of Afghanistan. There is Nyarout, born in a village in South Sudan, who had to flee with nothing and survived in Ethiopian refugee camps for most of her young life, and then having to learn how to live for herself in the US. There is the story of Nathan, born in a refugee camp in Thailand, his family from the persecuted Karen ethnic group in Myanmar. And there is also Shireen, Yazidi, captured, enslaved, and tortured by ISIS, transported from Iraq to Syria, finally escaping and making her way to the US. And finally there is Dieudonné, who escaped genocide in Burundi with just the clothes on his back, and spent years in refugee camps.

These stories are so important for us to read and hear: the US government continues to reduce immigration and refugee quotas, while the number of displaced people in the world continues to grow. There is so much room in this country, and so many resources to help those who need them the most, that we should be fighting to help people rather than pushing them away. The refugee vetting process can take years and years, and so many people are rejected for no real reason. As an immigrant myself I went through many years of uncertainty, rejection of applications, and threats of deportation, but I was lucky enough to come from a country where I was safe to go back to. Many refugees do not have that choice or safety.

This book is written in such a way that it can be read by adults and children, and provides a lot of learning material that I think would be helpful to many US citizens who are unaware of how difficult the refugee application process is to navigate.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

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This is an important collection of stories from 5 different refugees from five different places and situations. The common thread is that they were all forced to flee their native lands for their safety and sought refuge. The process to remove them from unsafe and then less than ideal conditions in refugee camps was long and daunting, but they all succeeded. As one refugee wrote though, while they got a chance at a more peaceful live, many others did not. It is so important to never forget the blessing we have to live in a place were we are, for the most part, secure and privileged. I hope that these refugees and all others who find themselves granted asylum are able to live their lives here in peace and security.

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