Two months ago Ammar was in Baghdad, where it was too dangerous to walk down the street. Sunday he ran through New Haven, the first refugee to finish a 5K road race.
Ammar was among 400 contenders in the second annual Run For Refugees. The road race was put on by Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), a New Haven organization that helps to resettle individuals and families fleeing from war-torn countries like Iraq and Sudan.
The fundraising race, which started and finished at Wilbur Cross High School, featured a challenging course up and down East Rock. The competition was followed by music, food, and awards at Cross High.
A Long Race
“The first refugee!” shouted another recent Iraqi immigrant, as Ammar crossed the Orange Street finish line. (Ammar asked that his last name not be used.)
Dressed all in black except for his bright yellow running shoes, Ammar finished with a time of 23:09. Still breathing heavily, the runner set himself down on a nearby bench and reflected quietly on how far he’d come. He spoke about not just the last five kilometers, but the thousands of miles before that.
Ammar, 30, was born and raised in Baghdad. He was a doctor, but left medicine after the war started. “I quit because of all the random killings,” he explained, saying that many of his colleagues were murdered or kidnapped.
He took another dangerous job, working as an interpreter for the U.S. Marines. He lived in the camp with them for weeks at a time and went out on patrol.
“I was hit three times with IEDs,” Ammar said matter-of-factly, explaining that his unit’s Humvees had repeatedly triggered Improvised Explosive Devices.
Ammar was an amateur athlete in Iraq. He practiced Tae Kwon Do and played table tennis. And he was a runner.
“I used to run before the war,” he said. “Then things got so ugly you can’t even walk the streets.” He said that running in the streets of Baghdad would be considered a very suspicious activity.
As an interpreter, Ammar kept in shape by participating in the Marines’ physical training. He made friends with the members of his unit and learned how to swear proficiently in English. His Marine friends are still in Iraq; Ammar exchanges emails with them regularly.
Working with the Marines, Ammar was in constant danger. He said that translators in Iraq are kidnapping targets. Even now in the U.S. he fears that his family may be persecuted if his identity is disclosed. Faced with such insecurity, Ammar chose to leave his parents and his two sisters and come to the U.S. alone.
“I decided to change my life, to start from zero again,” he said. “At least here there is hope.” Ammar said that Iraq was like “hell.”
The flight from Iraq to the U.S. was a double first for the Baghdad native: first time on an airplane and first time outside of Iraq. “It’s more peaceful here,” Ammar said. “I noticed it the first time I set foot in the airport.”
So far, the U.S. is “even better” than Ammar had imagined. The best thing is that it’s safe. Ammar said that he’s left “all the fear behind” in Iraq.
IRIS helped Ammar to find an apartment in New Haven. He’s living with two other Iraqis in East Rock and looking for work. He’d like to get his medical license here, to practice medicine again.
Chris George, executive director of IRIS, said that his organization resettles two to three families each month. He said that 65 percent of IRIS’ clients in 2008 were from Iraq.
Other Winners
The first overall runner, with a time of 16:13, was 24-year-old New Londoner Steve Pretak. Running in only a tank top and shorts, Pretak had a one-word response when asked how he felt after winning the race.
“Cold.”
Close on Pretak’s heels was fourth place finisher Nathan Kucera and his modestly named dog, Beowulf. Kucera, a Yale grad student, and his faithful companion are training for the 2009 IAMS Doggy Dash in New York City, a 10k human/canine race. (More on Beowulf the running dog here.)
The race’s costume competition didn’t draw many contenders, but those that did choose to dress up went all out. Alissa Beem and Lindsay Hughes were confident of victory before the race. The pair was dressed as a “granny in a cop car” and an “‘80s punk rocker,” respectively.
Despite their confidence, the King walked away with the costume prize. Donna Cramond, of Monroe, was wearing a full Elvis Presley jumpsuit, complete with big gold glasses and a wig.
Cramond said that she has run in the past dressed as a frog, a leprechaun, a shamrock, and a gecko.