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SALT LAKE CITY — Fleeing a war-torn country for a chance at a new life in the United States comes with many challenges.
That is especially true for someone with years of professional work experience and higher education. One organization is helping these refugees find their professional footing.
When Iraqi refugee and now U.S. citizen Zana Kergaye got the chance to come to the U.S., he said, "I never thought about what job I'd find or anything."
Kergaye and his family arrived in Utah eight years ago. They left the violence in Iraq behind but Kergaye also had to abandon a successful career in finance. However, the father of three says he never second guessed his choice.
"I would wash dishes and I would be fine, I would be happy because I know what I'm gaining to be here."
Kergaye's sacrifice didn't go unnoticed. At the University of Utah, the University Neighborhood Partners were aware of the hundreds of highly educated refugees flowing into our state. An estimated 40 percent of Iraq's professionals have fled the country since 2003.
"A lot of people come over here and they're very qualified, very highly skilled," said Lily Ferreira, a senior at the U. majoring in social work and is interning for the New American Academic Network (NAAN).
In 2009, NAAN was created to help college-educated refugees like Kergaye get back on their professional feet.
"They have an education but it's so difficult to get a job and prove their abilities," Ferreira said.
"NAAN was very helpful. I know it has helped a lot of other people and it helped me to figure out how to bring those pieces together," Kergaye said.
NAAN helped Kergaye piece parts of his former life back together, using his degree from the University of Bagdad and years of work experience in accounting. Soon, "Rise," a company working with the disabled in several states, hired Kergaye and helped pay for his Masters in Business Administration from Westminster College.
"I got a reward after I graduated, they (Rise) gave me a promotion and a raise," Kergaye said.
It's been a more frustrating journey for Jamal Sadeq, an Iraqi refugee with a degree in mechanical engineering and years of experience as a construction project manager.
"The last project I was there, it is a hospital...250 beds," Sadeq said.
These days, Sadeq is part of a crew that cleans airplanes at Salt Lake International Airport. His family is safe, he has a full-time job, but something is missing. "We are happy, we are here, but we need to have the chance to show who I am," says Sadeq.
"It's really a challenge to figure out how to help people in a way that's specific to their experience but also helps the institutions open up the doors," said Sarah Munro, the director of University Neighborhood Partners.
NAAN is hoping to create new opportunities for Sadeq starting with a project management certificate the Iraqi refugee can earn for free
"So he'd be able to work in a managerial position again whether that's in the job he's in now or a different job in the future," Ferreira said.
Sadeq refuses to look back because he expects to succeed in his new home here in Utah.
"We are very motivated people," he said.
It's something Munro has seen year after year since the program started.
"I see so many people working so hard with so much hope."
Since 2009, NAAN has helped over 250 refugees to advance their education here in the U.S. and find meaningful work in their professional fields.
It is why NAAN will never give up on these refugees finding their American dreams. Kergaye believes "there is no limit to what you can do here in America."
