Newly arrived in California, Catholic Iraqi refugees eager to work

Published: 2007-09-12

OAKLAND, Calif. (CNS) -- Their family home in Fallujah, Iraq, was shelled, burned and looted. They languished for two years in Istanbul, Turkey, within the cultural and vocational limbo accorded refugees who are waiting to be permanently resettled somewhere, sometime. Now that Hana, Wafa and Sana Toma have found a permanent home in the Oakland Diocese with the help of Catholic Charities, they speak with a single voice: "We want to work. Now." Wafa and Sana Toma have spent their adult lives as educators -- Wafa as an English grammar teacher at a technical institute and Sana as an elementary school instructor near Fallujah. Hana Toma worked for many years as a journalist covering culture and archaeology for a daily newspaper before becoming an Arabic/English translator at the Ministry of Culture in Baghdad, Iraq. The three sisters arrived at the Oakland airport in late August with their 71-year-old mother, Samiya Bashir. Waiting to welcome them were their brother, Shamil Toma, his wife, Suha Yosif, and Dominican Sister Elisabeth Lang, director of Catholic Charities of the East Bay's refugee resettlement program, which is serving as the family's sponsor.

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