TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa woman who came to the U.S. in search of a new life is now helping others build their own. After immigrating from Iran more than a decade ago, she's now a U.S. citizen, mother and refugee health supervisor at Tulsa’s YWCA.
For many refugees arriving in Oklahoma, starting over can be overwhelming. At Tulsa’s YWCA, support services help refugees and immigrants navigate their new lives. One of the people leading that effort has lived it herself. Over the years, Elham Kucirek built a new life in Tulsa.
WATCH: From immigrant to advocate: Tulsa YWCA supervisor helps refugees build new lives
Becoming a U.S. citizen, raising a family, and now helping others adjust to life in America.
“It really was one of my motivations to start working at YWCA because I was thinking, maybe not as a refugee but as an immigrant, I can feel them, I can understand, I can see what is their fear,” Kucirek said.
Over the years, she built a new life in Tulsa, becoming a U.S. citizen and raising a family while helping others adjust to life in America. Kucirek's role as a refugee health supervisor has been full circle.
“But you have this hope that oh i can build up my future, lots of different feelings,” Kucirek said.
Kucirek says that's what makes this work so meaningful; having experienced these challenges herself, she can relate to the people who walk through these doors. As refugee health supervisor, Kuricek helps connect new arrivals with health services, insurance and doctors.
YWCA leaders like Molly Bryant say her story shows what's possible when people receive the support they need. While health care is important for refugees, other services the YWCA provides are impactful too.
“I oversee our immigration legal department, our refugee case management, our refugee health, and then we also have a housing team whose working with unhoused individuals across the city,” Bryant said.
Bryant says the goal is to help people feel supported as they build a new life. For Kucirek, it is the same support she understands personally, and now she has a chance to give back.
If you need this kind of support, learn more here.
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