Besides supplementing the refugees' minimum-wage jobs as housekeepers and factory workers, looming has an added benefit. It provides a therapeutic escape for war-torn lives.

Nyayien Tarjak still bears scars from the cobra bite that almost killed her after her family fled terrorist rebels who burned down their village. The snake bit her while she was sleeping on the ground late one night, leaving her comatose for days.

Like the others in her sewing circle, she lost family and friends to the violence in Sudan. All of the women have memories of trekking across the desert with no food or water, hoping to reach the borders of Ethiopia or Kenya. To survive, they stole what they could along the way.

Almost all of the female refugees who ended up in Utah have only a third-grade education. They were married at 16 — the traditional age in Sudan — while waiting in refugee camps to immigrate to the United States.

"Starting over is very hard — I miss my country and the people," says Nyayien, now a single mother to seven boys. "But I am grateful for every kindness that has been shown to us in Utah." She shows off a bag full of finished caps and smiles. "There is no snow in Sudan. Whoever thought I would be making snow hats in Utah?"

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