"I was born and raised in Kenya, and I like to say that I came to the US because of love. I fell in love and got married to a man from Ethiopia; he was a refugee in Kenya. Up until that time I had no idea. I'd heard about refugees, but never really experienced what that journey felt like, having to leave your home and not being able to go back because of the very real fear that you could lose your life.
So we moved to the US through the Refugee Resettlement Program and we were initially resettled in New Hampshire. We were only there for 20 days; and those were the longest 20 days of my life. It was not a very welcoming community. My sister happened to be a student at Boise State at the time, and I would call her from a phone booth, and she would tell me, 'It's not supposed to be that difficult, there's supposed to be an agency that supports you.' She put us in touch with some agencies, and they told us if we could find our way here, then they would help us with the resettlement journey. So we moved here in the beginning of December 2004, and it was like night and day.”
~ Salome