Lisa Karrer (b. 1957)

Station 7 Ceramic Forms: Refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan who end up in Hungary find themselves trapped in that country's “Zero Refugee Tolerance” crisis, one of the strictest anti-immigration policies in Europe.

Station 7 Video Scenarios: https://vimeo.com/507714975

Featuring: Ellen Horst, Tom Owens, Philip and June Knoerzer, Pamela Rose and Craig Mangus, Maria and Tom Ta, Al Monaco, Janae Leonard, and Lisa Karrer.

Oscar (Husband of Yajaira)

Colombia / Spanish

When I interviewed Oscar and his wife Yajaira, they were in the process of establishing their status as asylum seekers.

I met my wife while on duty with the military. I met her while I was on leave. We went out for quite a while; we were boyfriend/girlfriend for about two years. While at work it was clearly difficult to maintain a relationship, because I would get deployed. And then I would return after six or seven months, but she really knew how to keep it together and understand my type of work. After two or three years we got married. We’ve been married now for 18 years.

Something special for me when I got back from work after six, seven months being on deployment, to be my family, felt really special again. And obviously, that would take place in December, during Christmas and so it was something very special for me and for my family. Working for the military, I would go home after six, seven months. The people who lived in my household back in Columbia were myself, my wife, and my children. We didn’t share the household with any other family.

The favorite place I would love to go to when I would get leave from the military, we would always go visit my wife’s mom, my mother-in-law. She lives in Valledupar on the coast, near Santa Marta. We would love to go visit the whole coastline.

My family came with me (to the United States), everybody together. We came together, and I brought them with me because of the threats. So we came to protect our lives, we moved to Buffalo. It’s been six months now, we arrived in April and have been here since.

It’s the people of my community back in Columbia that I miss. The food, the culture is different here, but it turned out to be quite wonderful for me to come here and get immersed and meet another culture.

Hser Htee Paw
Burma / Language: Karen

Hser Sings her favorite Christian Hymn in her native language:

Praise the Lord, Everybody
Praise the Lord
Because He loves us,
He keeps His promises
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah

**Please note: Hser’s narrative continues at Station #5

Rosette
Republic of Congo / Language: Swahili and English

Speaking in English, Rosette relates her story of life in Congo, fleeing with her family to Nigeria, and making her way to the United States.

**Please note: Rosette’s Swahili narrative continues at Station #6

Mohammed
Syria / Language: Arabic

One day, I received a phone call and they told me “Would you like to travel to the United States of America?” I told them “Sure, I have no problem.” I told them in the moment of excitement and happiness “I would even go to Israel”. They said ok, wait for a phone call.

It was in fact a fast program; within two months, I was done with the interviews and I was ready to travel. I actually received a phone call to travel, but somehow they forgot the travel date they set for me. However, four days later they called me and said they will have to run a security background check, and to wait for a call for a new travel date. At that time I had already given up the house, and I didn’t have anything else, like furniture. I was not sure of anything. Those four days turned into one more year of waiting. After one year exactly, I was in America with my family.

Of course life here is completely different. Different than my home country and the Middle East. Now we are in a very stable situation and do not need anything, thank Allah, we do not need anything. The only obstacle we are facing is the language; other than that we have a very stable life.

Our life in general is good, the kids are happy at their schools; but there are different cultural aspects here, than what we’re used to in the Middle East. It’s a more open and free society, not like the Middle East, and this is one of the concerns we have. Other than that everything is fine and there’s no other problems. We like it here, and I’m thinking about starting a business here, hopefully, but I need to learn the language first.

**Please note: Mohammed’s narrative continues at Station #5