Refugees from Iraq are Happy to Land in Salt Lake

Refugees from Iraq are Happy to Land in Salt Lake


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Alex Cabrero Reporting Thousands of people flew into the Salt Lake City International Airport today, but few of them have the story of this next family. Their ticket was one way, and that's way this family wanted it.

The first time you meet this family of refugees you can tell they're not from around here, but Utah is now their home. They're not sure which city in Utah they'll live in just yet, but no matter where it is they say it's better than Baghdad.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, their smiles must be worth a million.

Najat Sultan says, "Now I feel I'm going to live a few years with freedom."

Freedom to Najat Sultan means everything. She and part of her family flew into Salt Lake City this afternoon, after leaving Iraq.

"I am missing my home, but I have no choice, no choice; plus the living there is very bad," Sultan said.

That's where Aden Batar comes in. Batar is a resettlement director with Catholic Community Services. Basically, it's his job to help refugees come to America and start over.

"For them, this means a new life, a new start, a new beginning for them: the freedom they never had, and also the good life for their children, for their families," Batar said.

He says his organization helps about 400 refugees come to Utah from all around the world each year. In fact, he was a refugee from Somalia a few years ago.

"All I wanted was a safe place to raise my family," Batar said.

That's what these refugees want: safety. After years of war in Iraq, all Sultan wants is a good night's sleep.

Three members of Sultan's family came to Salt Lake yesterday; six total are here now. All they want is peace and freedom.

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