DALLAS — Not many places in the world right now are welcoming to immigrants and refugees. But for a few hours on Thursday afternoon, a Dallas couple worked to change that by inviting new arrivals in the United States to discover what celebrating Thanksgiving is like.
“People see all the festivities, the sounds of the holiday season, the images of the holidays," Gateway of Grace Founder Samira Page said. "They see people going places and all of the parties and that is really hard when you have lost everything, you are lonely and don’t have the resources to celebrate."
She knows the struggle. Samira left Iraq when she was 24, a persecuted Christian, and was eventually welcomed to Texas.
Ever since then, she has paid that generosity she received forward.
“When you have somewhere to go, when you have a community to be a part of, it gives you a sense of belonging,” Page explained.
A 40-year-old man named Ali is one of the refugees who attended the Thanksgiving lunch. He asked not to use his last name because he is a Christian who was forced to flee Iran ten years ago.
Ali spent the last decade in Turkey waiting for a country to allow him refuge. In July, he got to move to Texas after the United States allowed him in. Until today, Ali had only seen Thanksgiving in the movies.
“Usually, I would see in movies and media how they celebrate it – the cooking of the turkey and everything," Ali said. "Today, it’s totally different. I’m experiencing it in person."
This marks the 15th year that Samira and Dennis Page have hosted Thanksgiving for immigrants.
Families here today are from Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba, Venezuela, and Sudan among other places.
“I can say that I’m very grateful and thankful to American people first of all for being able to and willing to support refugees all across the world. At the same time, the process is too slow. People are in hardship and suffering,” Ali added.
And that is why Ali and those like him here today are so grateful this Thanksgiving.
Faith, hope and love, Samira said, rise above politics.
