Anna (Liberia):
“When I left Liberia my nephew told me that two days after, the people came to my house looking for me. They said that I should go and answer questions. On what? Even if my husband is in the army, I am not in the army. I didn’t do anything. Why should they search for me? Up to now, they are going around looking for me. They were at my working place, my manager told me. They went searching for me. So, can you imagine if I stayed in Liberia with the children?”

Rabah (Sudan):
“America is not as I thought I would find it, especially not recognizing that I have at least a Bachelor’s degree. At least I thought I would be qualified to do the same job I used to do in my country. But, unfortunately, I came here and I find that, NO, I am not qualified the way I thought myself to be. Definitely I don't mind having more certificates and more degrees because it is going to elevate me more and more, but at the moment I need to have a job. Also being a woman, and having two kids at the same time is not an easy task. I have to look after them. I have to look after the house. I have to look after my husband. So how can I find the time to find a job, or even to pursue schooling? Definitely it won't be easy.”

Fahira (Former Yugoslavia):
“I have one sentence. ‘Where is my family, there is my country.’ Always I say this. I leave my country in ’92. And, I don’t know, all the people from my country say, ‘Oh when I get my green card, first I go in my country and I want to see that and that…’ For me I want to see just my family and friends. And if I can, I go for one day to see them and be back. I don’t know. I have really, really bad experience there during the war. I am mixed marriage. I lost friends. I lost family. And that’s too much sadness for me to go there. Just, my country is where is my family. And my family is my husband and my two children. They are here.”

Mariama (Gambia), holding her daughter Fatima:
“America, if you come here, is a land of opportunity. You'll have many things if you are willing to do it. You cannot come here and expect that you may just sit down and they will do everything for you. No, America, they don't bring you here to depend on them. They bring you here to feel like home. Do everything by yourself. Try. If you try, you will achieve many things. You will succeed. That's it. But if you come here and say, ‘Ah, they are the ones who brought us, so they will give us everything.’ No. They don't want everyone to depend on them. You must do something for yourself.”

Lorway (Liberia):
“When I was coming here I was in deep sorrow. I had a son, and the way that they killed him is why I came. My heart will always hurt when I think about my son. When I got in the plane, I didn't even know if I would arrive in America and still be alive. But when I came here and met the agency, I felt that God had blessed me. I feel that if I stayed at home, I would not be alive today.”

Bindu (Liberia), here helping Lorway to write her name:
“It is important for refugee women to come together so we can learn from one another. Besides that, we can be able to work as a group, maybe to do some improvement, development, or share ideas that we can work on together so that everyone will be able to gain in some kind of way.”

Nagina (Afghanistan):
“Sometimes I worry that I forget the place I come from, because all my friends are over there. And my uncle, and everything is over there. My heart is over there. Yeah. It is my country.”

Alice (Sierra Leone):
“I like it here because my daughter can educate. Nothing can stop her from going to school. But, over there, you have to pay money if you want for your daughter to go to school. If you don’t have money, she cannot go. Thank God I am here because you have free education so that my daughter can go to school and learn.”

Ira (Bosnia):
“Well, I had a neighbor that used to live next to me when I first came to the United States, and I think that she is the most positive thing that happened to my family. She took us to the mall. She took us grocery shopping. She bought stuff for our home. Yeah, I think that’s the most positive thing. But, also my teacher at school that taught me English. Like, she helped me get used to the community. And also the positive thing is when I got in to the Institute of Notre Dame, and got a four year scholarship. That’s a really big thing for me.”

Floriana (Kosovo):
“Do you want to see my new class picture? This is my teacher. This is the name of my school. See? And this is my friend, and this is my friend, and this is my friend, and this is my friend, and…”

Sudaba (Azerbaijan):
“People here everyday help me. Every day, if I need something, like to make appointment, they say, ‘Ok, ok, no questions. I help you.’ I love these people, because in Russia, no. In Russia they say to me, ‘What? What you smile? I know what you smile.’ But here, ‘Hi, how are you?’ It’s normal.”

Ramatoulaye (Senegal):
“Traveling here was hard. In the plane, I felt kind of lost. I didn’t know anybody who I could speak with. I was by myself with my son. And when I was coming I spent the night at an Inn in New York. It was very hard. I was out of money and my son was crying. He wanted something to eat, and I didn’t know where to get him anything. I went to ask somebody downstairs, but they say, ‘There is nothing to eat here.’ But I tell him that I cannot stay like that. My son is crying and I don’t have any money - because all the money I have is CFA [the currency of Senegal] from my country. It doesn’t work anything here. And then somebody gave me a bottle of milk and some other food I don’t know. I wasn’t able to eat it because it was my first time, but my son took the milk. I went to bed and slept. The next morning I took the plane to Ronald Reagan Airport, and my husband came to pick me up. Then I spent the whole day sleeping because I was so tired. I was so tired.”

Tering (Tibet):
“Here, I feel happy that this country is really free. We have the full freedom to move anywhere and speak anything; we have the right. I feel really happy about the freedom here that people are getting. I am really impressed by it.”

Mina (Iran):
“My expectation was not far from my experience. I have my family, and my relatives, and my friends here. I knew about the American life. But about myself, the minute that I came here I lost almost everything - from transportation to communication. Sometimes I feel like I am a kid; I am like a 5-year-old. I was an independent person in Iran. I had my life and my activities, although it was difficult. I had my friends. I had my atmosphere. But when I came here, I became dependant. I couldn’t study. I couldn’t work. But I am passing the bad period. I just had to tell myself, ‘It’s temporary.’ Nowadays, I have a work permit. I am not dependent on other people. I have a chance to have my personal life and do the things that I enjoy doing.”

(March 2004) The following photographs by freelance photographer Penny Forester are part of her photograph documentary exhibit “Burying Roots: Refugee Women Reflecting on Resettlement in Baltimore.” The photos portray the feelings, difficulties and hopes of refugee women resettled by the International Rescue Committee in the Baltimore area, as they navigate the resettlement experience and become new Americans. The accompanying captions are the thoughts and impressions of the women, in their own words.

Forester’s exhibit is being shown for two weeks at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, from Feb. 18 to 28, 2004, and will then move to Baltimore City Hall for two weeks to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8. This documentary project was funded by the IRC Resettlement Department mini-grants program in 2002, and was previously exhibited at a November 2003 fundraiser for the IRC to celebrate four years of refugee resettlement in Baltimore.

Since opening in July 1999, the IRC in Baltimore has become a leading resettlement agency, resettling approximately 300 refugees and asylees each year in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The goal of IRC Baltimore's resettlement services is to assist refugees to achieve self-sufficiency through coordinated case management, employment and resource development services.

For more information on the photographs, please contact Penny Forester at penny@baltresettlement.org, or 410-558-3187.