In late 2009, Helen was struggling to get on her feet. As a refugee from her home country, Liberia, she and her family had recently suffered extreme hardship in refugee camps in a second country. She felt blessed to have been relocated to a third country: the United States. Only about 1 percent of refugees …
Viola is from Honduras. She moved out of her family home at the age of 13 to escape being sexually abused by a family member. When she was 16, she married a police officer who was very well connected with the local government in their hometown. Viola’s husband was incredibly abusive and beat her regularly. …
Marisol came to the United States from Guatemala in 1997. Back then, there was a rise in poverty and crime in her village. She saw neighbors who were mugged in the street. Teachers were often assaulted just for having stable jobs, and, as a teacher, she feared for her life. She chose to leave Guatemala, …
