Utahns open hearts to refugees

The Deseret Morning News on April 17-22 published a series on the 30,000 to 50,000 refugees who now call Utah home. Read "Refugees reborn."

Carol Krause has a new friend.

Krause and Elizabeth Gatwech both have infants, and in recent weeks the two women have spent time doting on their little ones and getting to know one another.

Krause, a 31-year-old South Jordan mother, is part of a larger Utah community that jumped to action after a series titled "Refugees reborn" was published last month in the Deseret Morning News. The women's friendship is a result of that action.

The series included stories from the population of 30,000 to 50,000 refugees who now call Salt Lake City home. Most — like Gatwech — were displaced by dictators and civil war, chased from their homelands and persecuted for their politics, religious beliefs or ethnicity.

They are not immigrants. They are not illegal aliens. They are refugees.

The "Refugees reborn" series revealed a community that has delivered richness and diversity to Utah but one still struggling to learn how to live, work and prosper in its new home.

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"This was a great way to bring attention to a cultural treasure in our city. I hope the community will want to learn more about each group that finds its way to Salt Lake City and sincerely welcome them to town." — Jane Pasimeni Willie, family involvement coordinator for the Salt Lake City School District

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One Morning News article told the story of Elizabeth Gatwech and her five daughters — and detailed how the Sudanese woman was to be homeless at the end of April due to a misunderstanding with the Salt Lake City Housing Authority.

Krause isn't sure what motivated her to act.

"I just remember reading the article and not being able to fathom the thought of this family being homeless with a brand new baby . . . ," said Krause, who has two children.

"The whole situation affected me so emotionally," she said. "I actually held my baby every night and just cried as I rocked him to sleep, wondering why I had won such a lottery ticket in life."

But Krause did act. She delivered to Gatwech diapers and supplies to last a month. She took dinner to the woman and her daughters. And Gatwech's LDS Church ward and some of her friends scraped up enough money to keep her family in their west-side house through May.