CLEVELAND — We've told you for years Ohio is a welcoming place for refugees, but when you think of the people coming here to start over, you may imagine Ukrainians and Afghans.
But did you know the biggest number of refugees coming to our state last year weren't from either of those countries? They're from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the community is only growing.
In 2004, Jacque Elama and his parents knew they had to flee their country.
“As I got older, I got to realize that danger I was facing is so much civil war, so much of like young kids being taken away from their family to go join, like, the military,” said DRC refugee Jacque Elama.
His journey started when he was nine years old when his family left the DRC to live a better life in the States.
“I wouldn't have as many opportunities that I had in the U.S. compared back to home,” Elama said.
Twenty years later, Ohio is still welcoming refugees from Elama’s native country.
“It's just like it saddens my heart a lot just knowing that there's so much unrest going on back there,” Elama said.
In 2023, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported 382 refugees from Afghanistan, 72 from Ukraine and 1,304 from the DRC.
“I think Congolese refugees really get overlooked in perhaps African refugees, like at large,” said Peter Simionides, the manager of refugee services for USCRI.
The US Committee for Refugees helped resettle asylum seekers when they came to the U.S. Over the years, they have watched the Congolese population grow and create a community of their own. Now you see more grocery stores, clothing shops and Congolese organizations to help with acclimation.
One of those groups is the Comrades. They are a pan-African group that’s only a year old. They work with new immigrants to provide support as they start their new lives.
“We are youth volunteers that we want to give the new refugees a positive impact,” Lydia Mugoli with the Comrades said. “We show them stores where to buy food from home. We teach them how to use stuff in the house because, to some of them, they are new.”
As for Elama, over the years, his blessings haven’t been lost on him growing up in the States. To pay it forward, he has two jobs, one with USCRI, helping those emigrating from back home.
The other is with the Ohio National Guard, where, going on six years, he’s helped protect his new home.
“I’m proud of this growing community. I'm proud to be engaged in the community as well,” Elama said. “That's why I joined: so I can be part of that service that need for people, that they can feel they have somebody looking out for them.”
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