Loading ...Far away, so close: anguish of Syrian Americans for family left back home
Steve Badour is not used to feeling helpless.
In 2014, Badour ran a relay across the US to raise funds for the 2013 Boston Marathon victims. In doing so, he qualified for the Boston Marathon, so he raced that as well – another act of support for the city a year after the terror bombings.
During the recession, he got a degree in criminology, became a policeman (despite his wife’s reservations), and served as a terrorism liaison officer. Now, in addition to maintaining the car dealerships he owns, he works as a reserve officer for the Upland police department.
And yet, though he lives with his family in the comfortable southern California enclave of Palos Verdes, Badour is haunted by the conflicts unfolding in his home country, Syria.
The 48-year-old Syrian American immigrated to the US in 1987. As a Sunni Muslim in an Alawite-dominated regime, his options were limited. He dreamed of being a pilot, but in Syria, he said, that would require family connections. His older brothers had already immigrated to the US and established themselves, so at 19, he followed them. In Syria, places in universities were few and the number of applicants surging, but in the US he could immediately enroll in community college. The possibilities for anyone to get what they wanted astonished him.
Badour then started out in the car business, where he met his wife, a Chinese-Brazilian flight attendant: she came in to buy a car and left with the beginnings of Badour’s future life in the US. They had three children, and Badour became a citizen in 2001.
Now all Badour wants is for his family back in Syria to remain safe. “It is sad that I put on my uniform to go out to work, serve and protect innocent victims, and I cannot help my own family,” he said.
The numbers do not provide much hope. Despite a significant Arab American population, it’s only in the past 60 to 90 days that Los Angeles started receiving Syrian refugees through the official US resettlement programs, according to the director of one of the resettlement agencies who spoke anonymously (the government recently asked for those involved not to discuss details).
The first wave consisted of 19 people, although he says the number may have reached 25 by today. This is the total number of Syrian refugees who have landed in Los Angeles since the conflict started.
Source: www.theguardian.com