A Syrian Seamstress Finds Safety and Success in White Plains
Westchester resident Amina Ahmad is originally from Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Aleppo was once renowned for its ancient citadel and mosque, as well as various madrasas, palaces, caravanserais and hammams. Aleppo had been a multicultural city for millenia, and was home to 2.5 million people, a complex mix of Arabs, Kurds, Iranians, Turkmen, Armenians and Circassians. The city is now known for the destruction which has ravaged its streets.
Amina and her family are Kurds, a population which has faced routine discrimination in Syria. Her husband Salam was in politics before the war, and imprisoned from 2004 to 2007. Upon his release from jail, Salam abandoned politics and ran a mini-mart. Amina stayed home with their three young children.
In 2012, conflict broke out in Aleppo.
“I tell my husband we should go. My husband wanted to go alone, before us but I said no, I cannot stay alone with three kids. I didn’t have gas, no food -it was very hard to stay. One day I was at home, it was almost 11 at night. My sister was with me. People were shooting guns outside my apartment. When I heard that, my kids started crying. We were all crying. I called my husband, but he didn’t answer. We thought they’d come kill me. After an hour, my husband came home. I told him I will leave everything in Syria, I don’t want to stay here. Where the government was bombing was very close to my home, and my building was shaking. It was very hard to stay.”
Amina, Salam and their children packed their bags and fled the country. They headed to Malaysia, one of the few countries which does not require a visa for Syrian citizens.
“At the beginning it was good. People helped me because I’m a Muslim. My husband rented an area and sold kebabs, sandwiches. Then Ramadan started and people fasted. We lost all our money. We didn’t know anyone in this country. I didn’t know English, and I was scared to go outside.”
Amina and her family had registered with the UN Refugee Agency right when they arrived in Malaysia, and after two or three months they were granted an appointment. While the UN processed their case, Salam and Amina worked different jobs - for a while in a restaurant, and eventually Amina was hired as a seamstress for piecemeal work. At one point they lived with two other families - eight children in total - in a small three-room apartment.
“We had little help in Malaysia and life was very hard, but we were glad to be alive.”
Click here to see a newsclip (in Arabic) from Al Jazeera about Syrian refugees in Malaysia that features Amina and Salam. (The clip is in Arabic, but Amina and Salam appear in the opening section.)
After two years, their case was approved by the UN. It took another three years for their case to be processed and approved by the United States.
“It felt unbelievable when we were accepted. Until the last minute, I didn’t believe it would happen. Until I got to the airport and took the airplane to Istanbul.
When we arrived in the U.S., they took our fingerprints at the airport, they took our passports. I was still scared, I still couldn’t believe I’m in America. When they stamped my visa, I said now I’m in America, I’m ok. Then we left the office.”
Representatives from HIAS and from the White Plains-Scarsdale Refugee Resettlement Group were at the airport to welcome them.
Amina and her family arrived to White Plains, New York in June 2017. Salam soon found employment and currently works in a factory in Tuckahoe. Amina started out with a part-time position at the local Target, but soon got back to her sewing work, doing alterations for local businesses. She has now launched her own successful business, Amina’s Alterations.
Although the financial support from her community sponsorship group ended after a year, Amina and her family remain connected to many across our network. Hearts & Homes continues to support Amina, connecting her with volunteers for English tutoring as well as assistance as needed navigating American bureaucratic systems, the housing market, etcetera. Amina helps others as well - she recently helped organize a potluck for local refugees, helping to build community, and she is a network Ambassador, helping to spread the word about refugees and resettlement.
“I want to say how important it is to find someone who helps you in a new country, to start a new life, after many years of suffering. Can you imagine how lucky we are?
Yes, we are lucky to be in this country with great organizations and individuals helping us. These people have become like our family in this country, how nice is that? While we had lost everything in our country, it is great to find someone who stands beside you and helps you to have a better life and to live in peace.”
To learn more about the situation in Syria, including the slow rebuilding of Aleppo, see:
What ‘Victory’ Looks Like: A Journey Through Shattered Syria, by Vivian Yee for the New York Times, August 20, 2019