Refugee Services: (Eto) Nouraldin Abdalla Hopes for Peaceful Life

Nouraldin Abdalla is from Sudan.  One day the rest of his family went to work at their farm, but Nouraldin stayed home.  That was the day that war broke out in Sudan.  Nouraldin was 16 years old.  Separated from his family and not knowing if they were safe, he had to flee for his safety to another city in Sudan and then to Libya.  From Libya, he fled with other Sudanese in a boat hoping to go to Italy, but arrived in Malta instead. In Malta, he was in detention for six months, which is typical for refugees.  Detention was hard for him.  He was terribly lonely having lost his family and lifelong best friends. The food was unfamiliar and he lost a lot of weight.  He had difficulty communicating with others and felt isolated.  Even though many other detainees were from Africa, they were from many different countries and cultures that were unfamiliar to Nouraldin.

After six months, he received permission to stay in Malta for one year.  He renewed this status for three years, until he eventually received refugee status and was resettled by LSG in the U.S. in 2010.  It was only when he arrived in the U.S.that Nouraldin learned that his family (his parents and six siblings) was safe inSudan.  When the war started, they had lived for a time in a refugee camp and now they are in a city in South Darfur, safe but unable to leave the city. Nouraldin communicates with them by phone.

Now that he’s been in the U.S. for almost a year, Nouraldin is hopeful.  He works as a banquet server at the Georgia Dome.  He likes his job a lot, especially the chance to improve his English as he meets new people through his job.  He’s attending an ESL class at the Clarkston Community Center that is preparing him to take the GED.  He hopes to educate himself so that he can help people.  He wants to see his family again and for his family to one day join him in the U.S.   But most of all, he hopes that he, and someday is family too, can always live in peace.