World Refugee Day brings plight of many to light

A mother and daughter sit on a couch in the Chattanooga Bridge Refugee Services office in this 2011 file photo. The duo, along with another child, were refugees from Darfur who were resettled in Chattanooga.

Sasa Hasanbegovic vividly remembers racing across the streets of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a child. The races were not the result of childhood antics: He was running for bread. For milk. For his life.

Hasanbegovic was just 3 years old when civil war broke out in what was then Yugoslavia in 1991. By 1995, he and his parents had escaped their home and the surrounding daily dangers of "sniper alleys" in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to stay in the house of a family friend on the coast in Croatia. Six months later, thanks to refugee sponsorship by family members already safe in the U.S. and the help of the Bridge Refugee Services program out of Knoxville, his family's immigration papers processed and they arrived safely in Chattanooga - saved from the plight of more than 100,000 victims killed in the war.

"Surreal would be a perfect way of describing it," said Hasanbegovic, now 29. "Even at the tender age of 7, your world is shifting. I left most of my family behind, at a time when I was just starting to understand the concept of family."

Hasanbegovic and his family are just a few of the many refugees helped by Bridge Refugee Services, based in both Knoxville and Chattanooga, the latter of which his family ended up calling home.

Annually, the nonprofit center in Chattanooga resettles approximately 120 displaced people from around the world, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the 21.3 million people worldwide who qualify for refugee status, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. Today, the majority of those people come from Iraq, Ukraine and Sudan.

The refugee advocacy center does much more than simply relocate people, however. The group provides shelter, job-finding and housing assistance, counseling and more to help with the hardships that come with a new country, a new language and a new life. Through the program, Hasanbegovic's father, who had previously worked for the United Nations, was able to find a job within a week of arriving at the family's first U.S. home, located in the Highway 58 area. Several years later, the family purchased a home in Ooltewah.

Though the family was able to settle in, he still faced hardships.

"I was the odd kid out for a lot of my formative years," Hasanbegovic said. "I had knives planted on me as early as the fourth grade. I was called racial slurs such as 'gypsy' and such. There was an upside, as the Seventh-day [Adventist] community in town was wonderful."

The process of fleeing a war-torn country isn't just mentally taxing, it's expensive, said Chattanooga Bridge Associate Director Marina Peshterianu. Money for plane tickets and fees associated with arrival come from the U.S. government - but only as a loan that must be repaid. And prior to arrival, each person goes through a vigorous 18- to 24-month vetting process through the U.S. government to confirm identity and for national security purposes.

Current national policies and moratoriums on refugees, she added, have jeopardized the escape of many who were already vetted and cleared for arrival.

"Unfortunately in this world, anyone can become a refugee," said Peshterianu, who chose to immigrate from Ukraine in 1993. "These are people who were happy in their homes. They worked. They owned businesses. They had children who had good schooling. They didn't think they would become refugees, but they had to flee violence and persecution. All they want is to have a normal life again."

Today, Hasanbegovic works as a graphic designer in Atlanta, and also champions a collective he helped to create called Coming to America: The Story of Us, which seeks to create inclusive spaces for refugees and immigrants, providing them with a platform to share their stories with others.

Bridge and Coming to America have partnered with The Camp House and Mad Priest Coffee Roasters for a June 20 celebration open to the public to honor United Nations World Refugee Day. In exchange for a suggested $5 donation, the family-friendly event from 6-9 p.m. will offer authentic foods prepared by past and present local Bridge clients, art stations, live music and a storytelling time for refugees to talk and answer questions.

"Refugees are great champions of the United States, because our country offered them the chance that was taken from them. They just want to re-establish what they already had," Peshterianu said.

"We're just the same as Americans," Hasanbegovic agreed. "We're resilient, smart, hopeful, wonderful people filled with love and light."