1 year into Welcome Corps program, Brooklyn Park man looks back on helping sponsor refugees
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — This week marks the first anniversary of the Welcome Corps, a program the Biden administration launched to help refugees fleeing violence around the world.
It's been nearly 25 years since Mohamed Dawid left his home in Ethiopia to find refuge in the United States.
"It's not something you wish for any human being," Dawid said. "Two political parties were fighting, we were not able to live in there, we got to move because so many people killed and died in pride in front of us, we got to move.
Since then, he's built the American dream, becoming a citizen and father to two kids, never forgetting what he left behind for it to happen.
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"It's in the back of your mind, always because you pass through that. So we always want to help people. Those who were in that kind of situation," Dawid said.
That's why Dawid is working with Alight and the Welcome Corps, becoming one of many families sponsoring a new generation of refugees from conflicts.
"We're seeing that number continue to grow. And what the welcome core pathway provides is an on-ramp for those people," said Steph Koehne, who works with Alight.
Mathias Shimirimana arrived in the country six months ago from the Congo.
"Where I was, where I was born, the war, the Civil War, the violence, many things, many very terrible things. That's why I fled from where I was to go to the refugee camp" said Shimirimana.
Shimirimana has since found a job and place to live, something that may not have been possible without the Welcome Corps and Alight.
"I can afford to pay my house. I can afford to, to get anything like, which is a human being can can get for himself," he said.
Alight says just about anyone over the age of 18 can be a sponsor for a refugee.