Refugees find a welcoming home in Minnesota: State, federal actions would limit numbers allowed to settle here

[Guest Nicole]

At home in Minnesota

To refugee Sivasundaram, his home in Burnsville feels like paradise.

"I am so happy here," said Sivasundaram, wearing the reflective vest from his job as a forklift operator. On a recent evening, he rested for a few minutes before going to his night job stocking shelves at a Target store.

His wife, Manchuladevy Ravindran, soon walked in, home from her job as a housekeeper in a nearby motel, and started cooking dinner for her three boys.

Some people would call it a stressful life — but not this family. They compare it with the life they had before.

Until 2006, they lived in Sri Lanka, an island south of India. They were part of an ethnic group called Tamils, which the government often treats like terrorists.

Soldiers rampaged through their village in a raid, slaughtered Sivasundaram's mother, and burned her house down. When he complained to the government, his life was threatened.

The family fled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they remained for eight years. "I did house cleaning, plumbing, cutting grass, driving a taxi," recalled Sivasundaram.

The family remembers, above all, the crime.

"You couldn't use a phone in the street. Someone would take it," said Sivasundaram. "Someone would cut off the ears of old ladies for the earrings."

The boys faced a unique danger. "They would have kidnapped me for the military, or sold me to another country," said Kapilas, his 17-year-old son.

The family made a Minnesota contact through their Jehovah's Witnesses church. As soon as they arrived, neighbors knocked on their front door to welcome them.

The boys had been raised as English-speakers and have assimilated rapidly.

They laugh about the quirks of their new homeland. "I like Chick-Fil-A. The food in Malaysia is healthier, but this is tastier," said Simraj, 16.

Apilas, 13, is fascinated by boneless fish, which he never encountered in Malaysia. "I always ask: Is that fish, or is that steak?" he said.

Kapilas marveled at his new, low-stress life. "We have security and peace. Here, all I have to worry about is studying," he said.

They gathered for a meal at a time necessitated by their hectic schedules — 11 p.m.

In three years, they have saved enough to buy a car, then a house. "There is a great future here for all of us," said the father. Their success is shared by others. Simraj named 10 relatives and friends who have since followed them to America.

At the end of the interview, the father was asked whether he had anything else to say.

He is not fluent in English, so when asked a question, he looks pleadingly at his sons for help.

Kapilas translated.

"No," he said. "Just thank you."

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[The Librarian]

Every so often we read of a congregation sponsoring immigrants to the USA.

Is this a widespread practice? @JW Insider or just individual jw's acting on their own?