Consider This from NPR - He left everything to flee war in Syria. What does the war's end mean for his future?

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

When Syria's dictatorship fell in early December, celebrations broke out around the world - including nearly 6,000 miles away, in Toledo, Ohio. That's where Mohammed al-Refai, a refugee from Syria, lives now. NPR has followed his story for nearly a decade.In 2015, millions of Syrians fled the civil war in their country. al-Refai got a visa to come to the U.S. His parents and siblings, who fled to Jordan, did not. So, he moved on his own to Toledo, where built a new life for himself. He long dreamed of visiting his family and maybe, one day, returning to Syria.With the Syrian civil war now over, we talked to al-Refai about what comes next. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When Syria's dictatorship fell in early December, a celebration broke out nearly 6,000 miles away in Toledo, Ohio. The first time I visited Toledo to meet Syrian refugees was nearly a decade ago. I met a young man living in a group house near the university. My name is Mohammed.

Mohammed Al-Rafai was a 22-year-old refugee. In 2015, millions of Syrians fled the civil war in their country. Mohammed's family went across the border to Jordan. But something strange happened. While Mohammed got a visa to come to the U.S., his parents and siblings did not. Nobody knew why families are usually kept together. So he settled into the group house in Toledo with a bunch of American guys who called him Moe. He learned English and got a job at a halal butcher shop.

Chicken legs, chicken breast, goat, steak, lamb, beef, turkey. Meanwhile, he dreamed of visiting his family in Jordan. My mom do good food. Yeah. I miss him. But after Donald Trump was elected president the first time, leaving the U.S. seemed like a bad idea. Mohammed was afraid he wouldn't be allowed back in. I feel bad for they not with me.

But I can't do anything for help. In 2017, the guys at the group house called me with an update. Who wants to share the good news? Mo, go, say it. What'd you get? I have the green card. A green card. He told his family he would visit them in Jordan,

but only once he was a US citizen. He'd be eligible in 2020, but the pandemic kept him from taking the test for another two years. Finally, in 2022, it happened. Yes, yes, yes. I'm so glad I am now American citizen. And then I got this voice memo from him a few months later. Hey, my friend. Muhammad was messaging me from Jordan. Now I'm with my family, my friend. Yep, how are you? The newly minted US citizen was finally reunited with his family.

So, when the Syrian regime fell, I immediately thought of Mo. Consider this. The Syrian civil war changed millions of lives all over the world. We'll hear what the end of that war means for one man in Toledo and his family. From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. This message comes from Pushkin. In a new episode of the Revisionist History podcast, how a right-wing organization tried to take over the Parent-Teacher Association in the 1960s. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. It's Consider This from NPR.

Until early this month, the idea of ever returning to Syria seemed like a faraway dream for millions of refugees like Mohammed al-Rafai. But since the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell, Syrians began flooding back home to cities they hadn't seen in more than a decade. I wondered if Muhammad was planning to do something similar, so I gave him a call. Hello? Hey, Muhammad, it's Ari. Hey, Ali.

Good, good. So where were you when you learned that the government in Damascus had fallen? I was wake up at night and I have to go to work at around three o'clock and I was have my dad and my mom, they watching the news. Wait, wait, wait. Your dad and your mom were in Toledo? In Toledo, yes, sir.

So your family was all together when you got the news. Yes. And I wake up, you know, I sleep early because I have to work at night. And I wake up, open the door, and I see my dad and my mom, they're watching the TV. I say, what's going on? They said, just watch the news. They're quiet and everyone, they watch the news, my mom and my dad and my sister. And I look, I see it's Bashar he's left in Syria yeah and I call my job and I say hey I need day off I'm not coming today to my work

did they understand you know I'm waiting for that day like in 13 years ago or 14 years ago everyone they excited they have good day for that day did your family hug did you cry cry? Did you sing? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like they was crying and they was like, because it's like big, big, like, uh, I don't know how we say it, but it's big, uh, good for us. Of course. Yeah. I have so many questions. First of all, was your family just visiting from Jordan?

Are they living in Ohio now? What were they doing in Toledo? They come in living in Toledo like in one years ago. They moved to Toledo. So your whole family is together now. Oh yeah. I have my dad and my mom and sister and brother. They come in like in one years ago and we got house and we're living together now. That's incredible. So how have you been celebrating these last couple of weeks?

You know, we have a group at WhatsApp and they texted us. They said, hey, we will meet. Is this a WhatsApp group of Syrians in Toledo? Yes, sir. So everybody met up? Yes, like in, we'll say downtown of Toledo or Kroger parking lot. The parking lot of the supermarket Kroger? Yes, sir. Everyone, they need that day. Yeah. Does your family talk about going back to Syria?

It has taken you so long to finally be together in the United States. Do you plan to stay in Toledo? What do you think about what comes next? Now we're not going back to home because I don't know what's going on next. Sure. But I don't know how long it takes to fix everything. I don't know when they will like fix it, but we're not going back now. We, because here it's more safe, more like good for us job, like, uh, have more people like safe.

But maybe, maybe not now, but maybe we'll go like visit back there. You know, I have a lot of friends and I have like families still, I have family there. I have my aunt, my uncle back home. When you talk to your aunt and uncle, what do they say? Oh, they, they like now they can't talk anything about Syria like because they freedom. They're not scared about anything. Like they're not secret. And now they enjoy the life. Like they can do anything. They go back home. You know, they are living in Syria, but not the house,

the same house they own. They had to relocate. Yeah. And now they go back to the house and they open the house, they clean it. So your aunt and uncle have been able to return to the house that they had to flee during the war. How are your parents and your siblings adapting to life in Toledo? Like good. My dad and my mom, I buy a car for my dad and he has a lot of friends here. When my mom, she had, she go to school and she meet a lot of friends and she like it.

We not go back to like Syria now because everything here it's good, everything's safe. Yeah. When you sent me that voice memo from Jordan, it was the first time you had visited your family in seven years, and I'm sure it felt like such a rare, precious opportunity. Now, they are with you every day. Does it feel normal?

Does it feel like a dream? How does that feel after so long of being apart? It's dream when we got out Syria because the president he was in Syria, he was like dangerous guy. And it's dream we got like, here and safe. And no one killed no one he got in jail. That was the dream. And we find good life in the United States and if we go back to Syria like I don't know when like we'll say 10 years 20 years but we will love America because she is saving us and she took care of us and she helped us and she also she give us passport like visa this way we will love America

forever. Well Mohammed Al-Rafai it is so good to talk to you again and I'm really happy to hear that your family is reunited at last. Thank you so much Ali. This episode was produced by Matt Ozug and Michael Levitt with Audio Engineering by Patrick Murray. It was edited by John Ketchum and Sammy Yenigan, who's also our executive producer. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Consider This sponsor free through Amazon Music. Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get Consider This Plus at plus.npr.org.

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