An Iraqi refugee family visits AFSC's offices in Des Moines. From left: Aseel Saaeed, Jody Mashek of AFSC, Anas, Ales held by Ashraf Rashad, and Asal (in front).
An Iraqi Family Finds its Way to Des Moines
An estimated four million people have been displaced because of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. This is a short story about five of them now living in Des Moines.
Aseel Saaeed, Ashraf Rashad and their two children were Sunni Muslims living in a predominately Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and subsequent sectarian violence resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, and eventually Ashraf’s life was threatened.
