|
Tracing Services Connect Virginia Man With Family in War-Torn Africa
Written by
Lesly Hallman
, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Wednesday, July 28, 2004 — On July 3, 2004, Samuel Mansaray got a long-awaited phone call that changed his life. Thanks to the efforts of the American and Sierra Leone Red Cross Societies, he learned that his wife and two daughters back home in Sierra Leone were alive and well, after more than three years of separation and uncertainty caused by a devastating civil war.
“When they found my family, I just had to put down the phone,” said Mansaray. “I was so excited, I was so upset. It took me some time to get my composure back.”
Mansaray came to the United States in 2000 after winning a green card lottery, and planned to bring his wife Marian and daughters Sarah and Samuela over to join him when he was financially stable, but time was working against him – a bloody civil war was spreading across Sierra Leone, and he hoped to give his family a chance to escape before things got worse.
“We had to go to another country,” he said. “That was it.”
Case worker Christa Lyons and Samuel Mansaray discuss his family’s status after learning they are alive and safe in Sierra Leone. |
But the war Mansaray was hoping to protect his family from grew so quickly that soon he was no longer able to make it home each night after work with the Red Cross in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. The fighting prevented him from traveling between the Red Cross office and his family’s home outside the city.
“I worked in the city, and they lived in the country, so after a while I wasn’t able to go back and forth,” said Mansaray. “Right before the war reached the city I got a call from immigration that I would have an interview for my visa to the United States, so I had to be ready. That meant staying with friends in Freetown.”
As the war moved closer to Freetown, Mansaray got assistance from the Red Cross to move to Guinea and continue his immigration proceedings. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave his family behind. His wife and daughters moved in with other family members in Sierra Leone while Mansaray was relocated again to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast before finally receiving his visa to the U.S.
But his quest for freedom came at a huge cost—as the war raged on, Mansaray lost contact with his family. He had no idea where they were living or if the fighting had forced them to relocate; he didn’t even know if they were still alive.
“I had no contact with my family, because there were no communications [in or out],” he said.
Fortunately, Mansaray was well aware of the international tracing services offered by the American Red Cross, having worked with the Red Cross in Sierra Leone for more than 11 years. He knew the Red Cross provides relief and assistance to refugees and displaced persons in his country.
“When you work with the Red Cross you always have that basic training, you always know what do to,” he said. “I got the idea to use the tracing services because I remembered when people came to Sierra Leone from Liberia during the war. I worked to register people, and many used the Red Cross to help get in touch with their families overseas to let them know they were still alive.”
Tracing Efforts Find Success
Once he arrived in the U.S., Mansaray settled in Alexandria, Va. with friends until he found work and moved into his own apartment. He contacted the Alexandria chapter of the Red Cross on Nov. 25, 2003 to initiate a search for his family.
“Since Samuel worked with the Red Cross, he was familiar with what we could do,” said Christa Lyons, lead international services case worker for the Alexandria chapter of the Red Cross. “We worked with him to put together an inquiry form and a message in case we were successful in finding [his family].”
Lyons said Mansaray’s case is actually uncommon—most of the inquiries come into the United States from other countries and don’t originate in the U.S.
“Almost all of our messages are from people overseas looking for someone in the States,” she said. “I’m convinced there are a lot more cases out there, but people just don’t know we do this.”
From July 1, 2002 until June 30, 2003, the American Red Cross handled more than 1,090 new requests to locate people who had been separated from their relatives in the U.S. because of war, civil disturbances, and refugee movements.
After several months, Mansaray finally got the word about his family from a former colleague at the Sierra Leone Red Cross who recognized his name on the tracing paperwork. The message Mansaray had long hoped for was the one he received: They are alive, and they are safe. But the good news was tempered by the revelation that his daughter Sarah is suffering from sickle cell anemia and needs better medical care than can be provided in Sierra Leone.
Mansaray’s next step is to bring them to the U.S., however possible. He is working with Lutheran Social Services and other groups for assistance.
“I am so happy now that I know where they are living. I have not talked to them yet—I am trying to call again so I can talk to them myself,” he said. “I am praying, because I want nothing more than to see my family.”
Related Links:
|
