Syrian Refugees Find Shelter in Iowa

November 04, 2016 | Pulitzer Center

Robin Shulman

Ghazweh Aljabooli and her husband and five children arrive in the Des Moines airport just before midnight one night in June 2016. They don't have many suitcases and they know no one in the United States. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

The morning after her family arrives in Iowa, Ghazweh Aljabooli calls her brother, Amir Al Jabouli, whose family has been resettled in Toronto. By a roll of the dice of refugees, their fates had diverged. His family had fled to Lebanon, but when her family tried, the border was closed. They ended up in different countries, and even their last name was transliterated differently by officials in different places. They both feel unbelievably lucky to have landed somewhere safe. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

Ghazweh and her family of seven are thrilled to quickly move into a new home. It has four bedrooms and many donated housewares, like Christmas-themed dish towels, and quilts handmade by a Des Moines quilting group. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

An Iowan family, Erin and Colin Moon and their three boys, volunteer to help Ghazweh's family adjust to life in Iowa. "In Iowa, people are pretty darn nice," says Erin. Still, she said, she hasn't told her own father-in-law about her volunteering because she knows he'll fear the family are terrorists. “I am concerned on how people will treat them," she says, "how people might act." Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

The settlement agency in charge of Ghazweh's family identified four Syrian families previously living around Des Moines. Ghinwa Alameen, a Syrian professor of linguistics, picks up Ghazweh's daughter Hala when she visits to welcome the newcomers. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

Children in the neighborhood ride their bikes by the house and stop to play with the Syrian children. They start coming back every day and play together all day long. One girl even installs an Arabic translation app on her phone. "There aren't that many kids in the neigborhood," another girl says. "It was mostly old people." Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

When Ghazweh gets a job cleaning hotel rooms, she wakes up before 5 to commute to go to work and makes breakfast for the children. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

Ghazweh watches the sunrise from a bus stop near her home. She commutes for almost two hours on a trip that Google Maps says takes 17 minutes by car. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

All summer long, the kids talk about starting school. "I'm so excited to learn," Hala says on her first day. Image by Robin Shulman. Des Moines, IA, 2016.

As Ghazweh Aljabooli and her family settle into life in Des Moines, they meet other Syrian families and their American neighbors as they prepare to start new jobs and schools.