By: Kelsey Blum –
Sief Mahagoub believes in the power of stories.
Stories, for him, have become a way to bridge cultural gaps – something that he has had to do many times in his life. As a refugee, eeing civil war in Sudan, to a veteran returning from war in the U.S., Mahagoub can attest to the true power of sharing one’s story.
And now he is sharing this power with others in an attempt to bridge another gap – an emotional one.
In the last couple years, this country has seen an increase in anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiments. Emotions run high when immigration reform is brought up and misinformation about this population has perpetuated hate crimes and xenophobic hysteria.
Mahagoub, a Campus Security Officer at LSE, hopes that by telling his story, and in helping other refugees tell theirs, he
can combat this unrest.
Which is why, with the help of local politicians, Mahagoub has established the “United States Refugee Veterans” group, a nonprofit that aims to assist veteran refugees in telling their stories.
But Mahagoub’s story started long before any meetings with public officials in the state of Nebraska.
His story began in Kasala, Sudan, at a time of civil war and uncertainty.
As one of sixteen children in his family, Mahagoub remembers food being scarce. Parents would boil salt water
for their kids to ease the hunger pains. Animals and people would share watering holes, drinking up the “coffee-like mixture”.
When the violence got too close for Mahagoub’s family fled Sudan and found themselves in a Egyptian refugee camp. From there, Mahagoub was chosen by the Japanese Embassy to come live and work in their country.
He learned the language, the culture, and shared stories from his past to connect to the Japanese people. But his story had another twist coming – a move to America.
After ten years in Japan, Mahagoub found himself in Nebraska, working as a community liaison. By doing this work, he encountered refugees on a daily basis from all over the world.
Again, he witnessed the power of stories as he shared his, and in return, got their stories and gained their trust.
Then, like all powerful stories, disaster struck and on September 11, 2001, Mahagoub knew he had a choice to make. “After September 11, there were several refugees who decided to enlist in the military and fight alongside their American citizens,” Ma- hagoub said.
Mahagoub saw September 11 as an opportunity to step up and help fight comfort, for the United States.
He also knows that this is an important part of his story for people to hear, especially for those who are critical of refugees. If he could share his story, and have other refugees share theirs, then maybe he could change the negative stereotypes that have been unfairly placed on immigrants and refugees.
“It is a true story about people who are not born and raised in Amer- ica. They loved their new country as their own and stood up to defend it,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub wants to share his story to show the dedication that refugees and veterans have for their country.
“I think the cause and their stories are beyond bravery. They could have stayed home and had other people fight for them in a war that you believe is your war, an American war. I think that it is beyond noble, and good,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub finds standing up and fighting for an adopted country to be brave because an immigrant may not be adapted to American customs and cultures.
Mahagoub’s group, the “United States Refugee Veterans”, will help new storytellers develop their craft and support them in telling their truths. The stories will open the eyes of all those who think they know what it means to be an immigrant or refugee.
“It is about stories of love [for] new countries that they barely knew. [For] a new language they barely knew. People they barely knew,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub wants people to know he loves the United States, and has gone to great lengths to defend it.
“America is my new country, I barely knew this country. I barely knew English and American culture, but I believed in the American ideas, and that is what I think everybody believed in,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub and other veteran refugees left their home countries to find safety in the U.S. They decided to defend this safety in order to preserve this new way of life.
“I came from [Sudan] believing that if I reach the shore of America, I will be safe knowing America’s ideals are there to stay. When September 11 happened, I stood up and said ‘it’s time to fight’ because I remembered when I took the oath to defend America against its domestic and foreign enemies. I took it exactly how they interpreted it. I did not hesitate or question even though that time my son Zane was going to be born 10 days after September 11. He was still a baby but I 100 percent believed and was sure that if I wanted my child to prosper and be safe, I was to make America safe for him and for everyone,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub has met refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo, Syria, Liberia, Kurdistan, and other war torn countries. He doesn’t know how many refugees there are but there are only a few who carry the status of a refugee.
“This is just one story of one Sudanese Refugee. What about the others?
I would like their stories to be told by me, by them or by whoever knows the story to say ‘Hey this is a story that
we would like to preserve’,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub could tell by watching speeches and listening to others publicly speak that they may not know what it was like for the refugees.
“Those people need to be acknowledged. Just to say ‘Hey, your sacrifice is really notable and good’. When the President starts to talk about refugees, I think he de nitely doesn’t know anything about us as refugees who sacrifie,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub wants to acknowledge the veteran refugees who stood up to fight for their new country that they believed in.
“I thought maybe we should acknowledge them among the chaos. We want to build the borders and illegal immigrants but not all of them are bad,” Mahagoub said.
Mahagoub feels strongly about public attitudes towards refugees
and veterans because he wants the statements to be true and heard from someone who has experienced seeing war and fighting a war.
Mahagoub has visited with Senator Lindsey Graham to help get the “United States Refugee Veterans” group going. Senator Graham knows a lot about refugees as his personal interpreter was an Army Sergeant while he was in Afghanistan. His personal interpreter grew up in Afghanistan, and it was very emotional for him when they visited his high school.
Mahagoub also talked to Tommy Bender, a speech coach and English teacher at Lincoln Southeast. They were able to find a name for this group and piece all of the pieces together.
Mahagoub also reached out to Luke Wenz from Congressmen Fortenberry’s Office to help get statistics of how many refugees began the service after September 11.
“It has nothing to do with politics and I will always emphasis that. I don’t want it to be anything other than telling the story,” Mahagoub said. “[And] there are beautiful stories that are still untold,” Mahagoub said.