Mennonite Weekly Review

WASHINGTON — In Iraq, Osama Al-Salami was a nationally known professor at Sulaimani University, a respected periodontist with a private practice, husband to a successful lawyer and father of one son.

Osama Al-Salami visits a park in Windsor, Ont. He recently moved to Canada to continue his studies and work to gain asylum. — Photo provided by MMN

But after living through the first Gulf War and the second American-led invasion of Iraq, Al-Salami left his home in Baghdad to seek education and asylum in Washington.

In the process, Al-Salami found a home with members of the Washington Mennonite community and earned a special place in many of their hearts.

“I greatly appreciate the Mennonite church; really, it is in my heart deeply,” Al-Salami said. “The Mennonite church is a great peaceful church.”

His journey has been long, and wars in Iraq have cost him much.

Al-Salami has been kidnapped, detained and tortured multiple times. In 2005, he lost his wife, Asmaa, and his son, Ahmed, in an al-Qaida bombing. Along with more than 100 Iraqi professors, he was kidnapped by the Iraqi police in November 2006 and later was captured by Shiite fundamentalists who mistook him to be a Sunni.

Last September, Al-Salami fled Iraq and gave a sworn testimony in Geneva, Switzerland, where he registered as an asylum seeker. In December he came to the United States on a tourist visa, having been invited to speak at several periodontics conferences.

Al-Salami arrived on foot at the Washington Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Dec. 11, 2007, seeking help. His case landed with Mennonite Voluntary Service participant Amelia Brandt.

Brandt, a member of First Mennonite Church in Hillsboro, Kan., serves as a protection counselor at UNHCR and works with walk-in clients. When they met, Brandt could tell that Al-Salami was upset. After hearing bits and pieces of Al-Salami’s story, Brandt set to work finding a place for him to stay that evening.

The shelters she called were not specialized for refugees. After many calls and referrals yielded no result, a college friend referred Brandt to the International Guest House in Washington.