Christian Hirwa came with his family to Tucson nearly a decade ago — all as Rwanda refugees who fled to Kenya in 1997 because of ongoing death threats stemming from the genocide killings in his motherland.
Hirwa was a young boy living in the city of Kigali, Rwanda, and he remembers seeing bloody bodies, and he experienced flashbacks of the horrific slayings ordered by Hutu officials with governmental power. Death squads shot or used machetes to kill Tutsi tribal members in their neighborhoods. Even though his family and relatives have mixed-blood of Tutsi and Hutu, they were suspected to be Tutsi, said Hirwa, explaining that Tutsi were the victims of the genocide bloodbath carried out by Hutu.
“I grew up in the midst of the conflict, and in 1994, after the killing of the president, the genocide began,” said Hirwa of the shooting down of a plane carrying President Maj. Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu. The plane was shot down over the capital city of Kigali, and there were no survivors. It is not known who is responsible for the killing. Some say Hutu extremists were responsible, and others say leaders of the Rwandese Patriotic Front, consisting mostly of Tutsi refugees, were behind the assassination, according to History.com
Hirwa, 35, has lived the hell of refugees, and that is the reason he works giving back to those fleeing war-torn countries seeking safety in the United States. For seven years, he worked at Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest as a case manager for its refugee resettlement programs.
In November, Hirwa was hired by Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona as a refugee resettlement services program manager to supervise case managers who will be working with up to 150 Afghanistan and other refugees coming to Tucson. Thus far, the agency has resettled nearly 40 people. Jewish Family & Children’s Services relaunched its refugee work, services it offered from 1989 to 2007 when it welcomed mostly Russian Jews fleeing antisemitism in the former Soviet Union.
The JFCS board of directors saw the need to help refugees fleeing Afghanistan after the United States completed its withdrawal of troops in August, ending a 20-year war. The Taliban took over the country in days.
The Afghanistan evacuees are part of Operation Allies Refuge, a military operation that airlifted certain at-risk Afghan civilians, interpreters, U.S. embassy employees and other prospective Special Immigrant Visa and humanitarian parolee applicants. In an earlier interview, Aaron Rippenkroeger, executive director for International Rescue Committee in Arizona, said roughly 100,000 refugees are out of Afghanistan, and most are coming to the United States.
JFCS is now one of four Tucson agencies offering refugee resettlement services. The other three are Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest and International Rescue Committee. A total of 800 refugees are anticipated to be aided by the local agencies through federal funding and community donations.
For JFCS, Hirwa will make sure the families are welcomed and work to become a part of the Tucson community. The agency will help with housing, education, transportation, medical services, employment, cultural and community services. Those who have challenging needs, such as the elderly, single parents with children or those who have experienced extreme trauma will have access to intensive case management for one year. JFCS also will work in partnership with the Global Jewish Organization for Refugees in providing services.
It is difficult for refugees to enter a foreign world and start anew, trying to fit in and learn English, get a job and learn the customs and everyday life in America, said Hirwa. He was age 25 when he and his mother and five siblings left Kenya after their case was approved by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The family was interviewed by U.S. government officials and went through background checks, applying for refugee status because of the Rwanda genocide that slaughtered hundreds of thousands.
Hirwa said he was 6 years old when he witnessed the bloody bodies in his neighborhood left by military militia. His family fled to the Republic of Congo in 1994 and then returned to Kigali months later when the situation was better. However, their stay was short because Hirwa said his family was threatened by government officials alleging they had ties to the Hutu government. This led them to flee to Nairobi, Kenya, where they carved out a life with much hardship because as refugees they were not allowed to have work permits. They labored in what they could find. He ran errands for people, and his mother worked on her own as a hairdresser.
“When it is happening, you just don’t think about it. You just want to escape and be safe,” said Hirwa. “You process everything later, and it is difficult. You get flashbacks and wonder why all this happened to you.”
Hirwa said his Christian faith has helped him deal with the trauma. He finds refuge in his church Grace to the Nations.
In 2012, Hirwa and his family took a flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and then continued to Dallas and Tucson. They were greeted by refugee resettlement workers with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest. The family began their journey to assimilate into the Tucson community.
Hirwa took classes to improve his English at Pima Community College and graduated with an associate of arts degree majoring in political science. He transferred to the University of Arizona and received a bachelor’s degree in human services from the College of Applied Science & Technology last year. One sister is a nurse and the other is a case manager with International Rescue Committee. A brother works for a retail outlet, another brother served four years in the Army and was recently discharged, and the youngest brother, who is autistic, attends a special needs school. Hirwa’s mother stays home and cares for her youngest son.
Through all the challenges in his new adopted country, said Hirwa, the most difficult is mastering English.
“For those who arrive and do not speak English, many are thinking how will they find jobs and survive. This is very challenging, but they figure out what they need to do and learn to navigate through life,” said Hirwa, who will help and guide Tucson’s new arrivals.
