Dressed in their finest, Kolmut Mai, 8, and his sister Buk, 6, wait for the rest of their family before heading to the Capitol Hill Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa. Beginning in the summer of 1992 Sudanese refugees began arriving in Des Moines through the efforts of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. They now number over 800 in Iowa. The Mai family arrived in 1998, seeking freedom from a war and religious persecution perpetrated by Muslims. Just two years ago they moved...
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Dressed in their finest, Kolmut Mai, 8, and his sister Buk, 6, wait for the rest of their family before heading to the Capitol Hill Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa. Beginning in the summer of 1992 Sudanese refugees began arriving in Des Moines through the efforts of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. They now number over 800 in Iowa. The Mai family arrived in 1998, seeking freedom from a war and religious persecution perpetrated by Muslims. Just two years ago they moved into their new home in a better and safer neighborhood. But home for the Mai's is not just the four walls of a house, but America itself, where they have been able to build a new life.
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