Helping others make a home here
2 state men who were refugees now working to resettle new arrivals
NEW HAVEN — The two young men, from two different continents, have traveled thousands of miles in their lifetimes.
What’s 3,000 more this month alone?
Anur Abdemma, who was born in Sudan, and Javid, an Afghan, arrived in the United States as refugees some two years ago, and now literally are doing the heavy lifting to help new arrivals resettle in Connecticut.
They are part of the paid staff of Marie’s Moving of Southbury, owned by Jim Anctil, who for four years volunteered to move goods into apartments for refugees throughout the state, but mainly in the New Haven and Bridgeport areas.
Anctil, whose father was an immigrant from Canada who spoke only French when he arrived, said he has a soft spot for immigrants.
He said he stepped up to help when former President Donald Trump instituted a ban on immigration from several mainly Muslim countries in 2017.
It was the last big influx of volunteers Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, the largest resettlement agency in Connecticut, headquartered in New Haven.
Anctil now is under
contract with IRIS, at a discounted rate, as it helped welcome some of the 214 refugees who arrived in Connecticut in the past month. More than 500 are expected over a year’s time, mainly from Afghanistan.
“Without a moving company they would
not be able to handle the volume,” Anctil said.
On Wednesday, they moved furniture into an apartment on Scranton Street in New Haven that was donated by Quinnipiac University.
Abdemma came here during the pandemic lockdown, while Javid
came in October 2019, learning English as part of the moving crew, one more language to the four he already knows — Dari, Farsi, Turkish and Uzbek — which has been helpful to the clients.
Anctil said they traveled some 3,000 miles around the state moving refugees into apartments this month.
Abdemma left his village in Sudan when he was 8, taking three months to cross the desert into Ethiopia to escape the violence in his country. He grew up in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.
He was able to bring his wife and three young children here. He said he did some teaching in Ethiopia and said he may look to pursue that here.
Javid, who is from Afghanistan, came to the U.S. from Turkey. He also was able to bring his wife and three children and now is settled in Waterbury after waiting five years to get refugee status.
“I’m happy here. I have a job. My children are going to school. My kids love it here, too,” Javid said.
Officials in Connecticut will help him apply for humanitarian parole for a brother left behind in Afghanistan, he said. Javid is only using his first name to make sure relatives back in his home country are not targeted.
The family of four who will be moving into the Scranton Street apartment in New Haven are doubling up with relatives at the moment, said Chris George, who heads IRIS.
They recently arrived from one of the military bases where the large influx of Afghans are being processed before being sent to homes across the country.
George made an appeal Wednesday for landlords to step forward with apartments for the families here and those set to arrive shortly. He said leases are co-signed by IRIS and there are federal and state resources to help the refugees.