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'We Were Awaiting Death:' A Refugee's Journey from Syria to Texas

Courtesy of Abdulrahman Zetoun
Zetoun (upper left) celebrates with family and friends upon his arrival in the U.S.

From Texas Standard:  

Of the millions displaced by the Syrian civil war and the atrocities committed by ISIS terrorists, hundreds of those trying to escape the violence have ended up here, in Texas.

One of those individuals, Abdulrahman Zetoun, arrived in America back in January. In Syria, life was riddled with violence.

"We used to wake up and sleep with the sounds of bombs and explosions and machine guns," Zetoun says. "To see every day dead bodies and injured peoples on the sides of the roads."

Zetoun is the refugee coordinator at Shaam Relief. He moved to America from Turkey on January 7, thanks to his mother, who paid a substantial amount of money to the Syrian government to get passports that allowed him to get out of Syria and into Turkey. Zetoun's nephew needed expensive medication, and a woman helped Zetoun and his family get in touch with the UN, who then helped them emigrate to the U.S. Eventually, Zetoun was able to make his way to Dallas.

Listen to the full interview at Texas Standard.

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Rhonda joined KUT in late 2013 as producer for the station's new daily news program, Texas Standard. Rhonda will forever be known as the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the first full-time hire for The Texas Standard?” She’s an Iowa native who got her start in public radio at WFSU in Tallahassee, while getting her Master's Degree in Library Science at Florida State University. Prior to joining KUT and The Texas Standard, Rhonda was a producer for Wisconsin Public Radio.
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