Ahmad and his two daughters gathered on the small sofas in their new living room as his wife, Samah, brought Turkish coffee and its rich aroma from the kitchen. Ahmad, paralyzed due to injuries resulting from the Syrian civil war, apologized for not standing to greet his guests. The family is still getting used to life in the Pittsburgh area after moving from Syria, by way of Egypt, last month.
Ahmad, 28, is receiving long-needed medical treatment for his injuries. The girls, 10-year-old Taima and 12-year-old Alma, are getting ready to enroll in school. They have a safe apartment in Bellevue, transportation to medical appointments and grocery stores, and Samah is preparing to welcome a third child in April.
PublicSource is identifying Ahmad and his family only by their first names out of the family’s concern that publicity may bring adverse consequences.
Taima and Alma giggled to each other in the corner as their father spoke, occasionally darting into an adjacent room to laugh harder. The girls have learned how to entertain themselves; they have not attended school regularly in several years and are still awaiting medical clearances to enroll here.
The apartment is small and neatly kept. There is basic furniture thanks to resettlement assistance, but few worldly possessions. Coffee was served in an ornate set of cups gifted by their resettlement agency.
The family waited six years to come to the U.S. through the Refugee Admissions Program, arriving Jan. 17 as one of the last families to resettle in the Pittsburgh area. The program was suspended Jan. 20 by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump.
Trump’s executive order canceled travel plans for numerous families still overseas who were slated for resettlement after yearslong waits. Another presidential directive impacted hundreds of families like Ahmad’s who made it into the country before Jan. 20, ordering resettlement agencies to stop using federal funds to assist recent arrivals.
The White House did not respond to questions related to this story.
Traditionally, refugees have received assistance for rent, utilities and food for 90 days after their arrival, with resources routed through resettlement agencies. Some agencies provide help with transportation, enrolling in English classes and social opportunities.
Hello Neighbor, the resettlement agency assisting Ahmad’s family, is one of four resettlement agencies in Pittsburgh, along with Jewish Family & Community Services, Bethany Christian Services and Acculturation for Justice, Access and Peace Outreach.
Hello Neighbor received about two-thirds of its funding from the federal government in the last fiscal year. An agency employee served as the interpreter for the interview with Ahmad and his family.
Now, Ahmad can access medical care and uses a catheter at all times, and his dream is to one day walk again. Hello Neighbor helps the family with transportation to grocery stores and medical appointments, provides rent assistance for their modest Bellevue apartment and is helping navigate the process of enrolling the girls in school.
The agency also provided supplies to help Samah, 31, prepare for their new baby boy.
Hello Neighbor announced Monday that it “reduced or furloughed” half of its staff as a result of the federal funding stoppage, though it has avoided needing to unenroll any clients so far.
‘Afraid and confused’ on arrival
Ahmad said he had “no idea” as he prepared for travel to America that a new administration was entering Washington, D.C., with plans to shutter the refugee admissions process. Learning about the U.S. government’s changing position on refugee assistance after they arrived gave Ahmad a new wave of anxiety, he said.
“Let’s say if Hello Neighbor stops services for our family, I will end up in the streets,” Ahmad said through the interpreter. The problems would go beyond paying rent, he said. “I have a full-time catheter in, and if I was unable to access more of those, God forbid, my bladder could actually explode. If Hello Neighbor leaves me alone, I wouldn’t survive.”
Sloane Davidson, founder and CEO of Hello Neighbor, said the organization is shuffling funding sources and programming to comply with the stop-work order and continue helping clients. But massive uncertainty looms just ahead.
The organization not only has stopped receiving federal funds for future work, but in an unprecedented move, the government has also neglected to pay more than $800,000 for work already agreed upon and performed.
“We’ve never been in a situation where we’re in February and the December invoices haven’t been paid,” Davidson said.
“For Hello Neighbor, we are in a really difficult position because we feel a true responsibility to support our clients and fulfill the promises that were made to them in coming.”
She said the 8-year-old organization may have to make “tradeoffs” as it adjusts to its new financial reality, choices that could change “on a week-to-week basis.”
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato pledged $224,000 in county funds to aid the local resettlement agencies and said Feb. 20 she would work with the city and philanthropists to triple that number.
The money will be split among three agencies and is a mere fraction of the more than $2 million Hello Neighbor received from the federal government in the last fiscal year. (Bethany Christian Services is not among the agencies receiving funds; the group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
Davidson said there was a scramble to resettle as many people as possible before Trump’s inauguration, and Ahmad’s family came at the tail end of that effort.
He’s feeling “really afraid and confused,” he said. “I can’t work, my wife can’t work because she is taking care of me and she is pregnant. And then I got a message that there would be no rent support and I was really sad because I don’t know what to do. I don’t have any place to go to.
“One of the solutions that we were told was to save money. But I have zero money. I don’t have anything. … Hello Neighbor is helping me from A to Z.”
The family said they have appreciated the beauty of Pittsburgh’s rivers, but they don’t go out of their home much, partly due to Ahmad’s injury and partly because of the unusually brutal winter they landed in.
Alma said prefers Pittsburgh over Egypt. “It’s a lot better here, it’s safer,” Alma said through an interpreter. “The things that we wanted in Egypt, we couldn’t have, but we have it here.”
Taima said there’s one thing she misses from their life in Egypt: There, she and her sister shared a bed.
Hope for healing and for education
“I was a normal guy until I got injured because of the war,” Ahmad said. “The accident caused a problem in my spine, and then my life fell apart and got focused only on treatment.”
He was studying to go into business management in Damascus.
He said he’s taken the first steps of treatment but still has his sights set on walking again. “We’re going from one specialist to another to reach our final destination,” he said.
Davidson said Ahmad accesses health care through Medicaid.
“Until I reach a surgeon to tell me if there is hope for me to get treated or not, we have hope,” Ahmad said.
Part of that hope is for his daughters.
“For them, my wish is that they become vital members of this society, furthering their education,” Ahmad said. “I want them to add to the U.S.
“Right now it’s difficult because they don’t understand any [English], but next time you come and meet with them, they’re going to exceed your expectations with their language. Kids learn faster than their parents.”
Alma said she has watched TV shows, including “The Americans,” to try to pick up English. When they start school, both girls said they are interested in swimming and playing soccer.
While Ahmad and his family begin learning English and navigating Pittsburgh’s hills, Davidson will try to piece together a future for her agency.
“I think we keep fighting for our newest neighbors who we made a promise to,” Davidson said. “The U.S. isn’t holding up their end of the bargain, but the county is. The city is. Resettlement agencies are.”
She said Hello Neighbor started in 2017 without any federal funding, and “if we’re going back there, we can go back there.”
Editor’s note (3/4/25): This story was originally published with different photographs of Ahmad’s family, gathered with the consent of all involved. After publication, the family expressed concerns about photos showing their faces. Out of respect for the vulnerability of new refugees, a PublicSource photojournalist worked with the family to replace the original images with new ones that do not show their faces but still reflect their lives.
Charlie Wolfson is PublicSource’s local government reporter. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
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