美国国家公共电台 NPR For Syrian Refugees In Connecticut, A Helping Hand From Private Volunteers

For Syrian Refugees In Connecticut, A Helping¹ Hand From Private Volunteers

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As people fleeing war make their way to this country, they're finding a welcome home in Connecticut. About 85,000 refugees came to the U.S. in the last year. Private citizens in Connecticut have come together to raise money and support the newcomers. NPR's Deborah Amos met two such groups and the Syrians they're helping.

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE³: I'm about to dig into a cake at the City Steam Brewery⁴ Cafe in downtown Hartford. I came to meet the pastry⁵ chef, Fadi Al Asmi. He's a Syrian refugee, a pastry chef from Damascus, who fled the war with his family. He got this job two months ago after he arrived in May. With the help of the people sampling his latest confection, he's learning about American tastes.

FADI AL ASMI: America chocolate.

(LAUGHTER)

AMOS: And that's not all he's learned about America. There's a beautiful system here compared to Syria, he explains through an interpreter with the group.

AL ASMI: (Through interpreter) I felt over there that the big guys eat the little guys. And over here, I feel that the little guys have a chance to rise up and become a big guy without eating the little guy.

AMOS: In America, he says, I have the same chance as everyone else.

AL ASMI: (Through interpreter) That's the thing that surprised me most. The things that we heard about America did not include this idea.

AMOS: Al Asmi has come a long way quickly, and that's mostly because of the people at the table - private citizens who co-sponsor his resettlement with a local refugee agency. We'll get to that part in a moment. But first, meet the team leaders.

MARSHA LEWIS: I'm Marsha Lewis.

RICHARD GROOTHUIS: Richard Groothuis.

BARBARA HOWE: Barbara Howe.

DAVID HAGER: David Hager.

AMOS: What professions are you from?

HAGER: I'm a retired⁶ cardiologist.

HOWE: Retired culinary instructor⁷.

GROOTHUIS: Retired attorney.

LEWIS: Semi-retired educator.

AMOS: They organized a year ago. They shared a religious belief in charity. They were spurred by the state of Indiana's opposition⁸ to resettlement, which caused a Syrian family to be rerouted to Connecticut.

HAGER: The officials in Indianapolis said, no, you will not come here. I think that probably did more for the refugee resettlement program in Connecticut than anything the people - the official people in Indiana can imagine.

AMOS: That's David Hager. He signed up to help refugees soon after. The group raised donations, researched schools and bus routes, found translators and English teachers, says Barbara Howe.

HOWE: You need to have people in housing. You need to have people in finance. You need to have a meal when they get there. You have to have these very specific things.

AMOS: Before you started working on this project, none of you knew each other.

HAGER: Correct for me.

AMOS: Now, he says, the group is close-knit and has grown close to refugee Fadi Al Asmi, the pastry chef, and his family.

HAGER: Fadi said the other day, why am I doing this, essentially⁹? And his answer is we did it for the kids. That's what he really said - it's for the kids. And the kids are seven months, two years and eight years.

AMOS: These Connecticut groups have resettled 28 Syrian families and a few from other countries over the past year. Chris George launched the program. He heads IRIS¹⁰, Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services, a local nonprofit that works with the State Department.

CHRIS GEORGE: The controversy¹¹ around Syrian refugees has stimulated¹² interest on the part of these community groups to step forward and say we want a Syrian refugee family living in our neighborhood.

AMOS: Churches, even a car dealership¹³ signed on. The State Department says it's cutting-edge and plans to launch a national pilot program next year. It's a tough program, says George, a lot of work. Groups must raise around $10,000 per family, attend intense training sessions. They learn how to help refugees adapt to American culture quickly.

GEORGE: For example, understanding that women have equal rights in this country. I mean, that's a big one. And is the checking account going to be just in the man's name? No.

AMOS: And they ask questions about new and, for them, strange American customs.

GEORGE: And why do so many Americans run all the time? Why are all these people running down the street? I mean, they come from places where if someone is running, they're running from danger.

AMOS: We're driving out to Old Lyme, Conn. to meet another Syrian refugee family resettled by a trained church group. We're introduced at an upscale waterfront restaurant because this is where refugee Hani Hamou has an entry-level job.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey, everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Arabic).

AMOS: (Speaking Arabic).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (Unintelligible).

AMOS: Hamou, a middle-class professional, was a maitre d' at an upscale restaurant in Aleppo, Syria. He lost everything in the war, including his country, he says through an interpreter.

HANI HAMOU: (Through interpreter) My home country is being destroyed. There is nothing to say.

AMOS: He got a job with the help of a team headed by Kaye Stephanson and Pastor¹⁴ Steven Jungkeit of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. They met the family in May in a parking lot when a van dropped off the Hamous after a 36-hour journey to the U.S.

KAYE STEPHANSON: This family of five jumped out saying, we're here. And Hani looked us in the eye and he said, I want to work to support my own family. Those were...

AMOS: That was the first thing he said?

STEPHANSON: ...His first words.

STEVEN JUNGKEIT: Yeah, that's what Hani said.

AMOS: Twelve-year-old Mohamad Hamou recalls his surprise at that moment as he tries out the English he's already learned in school.

MOHAMAD HAMOU: You go to USA and someone come to pick your family up. I - surprise for me. That was surprise.

AMOS: Surprise has become friendship over shared meals as the Syrians teach the Americans traditional songs and dances. But those resettled in America don't have it easy. Learning English is tough, navigating¹⁵ a new and confusing culture, and there's still a political backlash. Pastor Jungkeit has even heard objections in his own church.

What do you say to them?

JUNGKEIT: I wish that they could sit down and have a meal with the Hamous. I say to them, I wish that they could come and have the Hamous teach them dance steps. And I'm confident that after an evening like that they would say, there's less to fear than I thought.

AMOS: Back in the kitchen, Syrian refugee Hani Hamou fears starting from scratch. Can he move from washing pots to something more? His co-sponsors reassure¹⁶ him that's how it works in America. Deborah Amos, NPR News.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

5 pastry   

n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 iris   

n.虹膜，彩虹

参考例句：

• The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
• This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫，有这样一只难以置信的眼睛，连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。

11 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

12 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

13 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

14 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

15 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

16 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。