Name: Margaret MacGillivray
Social Justice Group: Refugees
Date of Fieldwork: December 6, 2017
Name of Organization:
Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Mr. Al Rubaye
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did:
We interviewed Mr. Al Rubaye about his experiences as a refugee fleeing from Iraq.
What I learned:
Learning about Mr. Al Rubaye helped us learn more about refugees at a greater depth. Mr. Al Rubaye worked with American companies, and he was targeted for being a civil worker. After being targeted, Mr. Al Rubaye left with his family to go to Egypt. In Iraq, if you are targeted, your family will also get hurt. In 2003 when he was 45, Mr. Al Rubaye came to the U.S. with his family to continue his work. He then worked with American program helping, as an interpreter and an office manager. He got refugee status fairly quickly, but didn’t receive help from any refugee organizations. Luckily, he didn’t face any discrimination. There is criteria for being a refugee: 1st, you must have fled from your home country, and 2nd, you cannot return to your home country. If they can, the UNHCR will try to return you to your country, but you cannot leave on your own. After you qualify, the UNHCR will look at countries you can be resettled in, and will transfer you to other organizations. It can take up to 4-5 years to get security approval. Mr. Al Rubaye taught us a lot about the refugee process. Overall, he is a man who likes to help people, and wants to help other refugees have an easier time coming into our country. It was extremely beneficial learning about refugees through the lens of an actual refugee, and it will help us to continue with our topic.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
Overall, I learned that everyone’s experience is different. You cannot generalize a certain group of people and their experience. For example, Mr. Al Rubaye didn’t face discrimination when he came here and found his community to be extremely welcoming. He did face a hard time in his home country, but not in the United States. I learned that from now on, I will not generalize everyone’s experience as one, but will instead study individual people to help me gain a larger picture.
