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Layla’s Story: “Better Than My Home, Because I Live Safe”

Among the 65 million displaced persons around the world, every single one of them has a story.

When Layla and her husband left their home in the Somali region of Ethiopia, they hoped to flee persecution for a safer life. Unfortunately, when her husband was deported from their temporary home in Saudi Arabia, Layla’s story to reach safety was only just beginning.

Despite the hardship she experienced along her dangerous, tenuous journey via Syria and Turkey, Layla and her two young children finally resettled to the U.S. in 2015 with IRAP’s help. However, their story doesn’t end here. Layla and her family have built a loving home in Maine, where her children go to school and she has been able to study and work and give back to the community.

“[It’s] better than my home, because I live safe,” recalls Layla.