Kossi* hadn’t planned to leave his home in West Africa that day. His wife was pregnant with their second son, and he owned a successful shop that sold the colorful swaths of secondhand clothes from Europe and China that were so popular among his country’s youth. But when an anti-government demonstration broke out nearby, and soldiers came into his shop and started arresting his customers, he knew he had to find safety.
When Kossi arrived in the U.S. in the fall of 2012, just a few weeks later, he had only $50 to his name, money given to him by the priest who had sheltered him when he first fled. Separated from his wife and sons, he was physically and emotionally traumatized. One of his first stops after arriving in Chicago was at a 30-year-old nonprofit located on the far north side.
“There is a huge need right now for culturally sensitive, trauma-informed care, and it’s extremely hard to find,” Cartwright says. “That’s why partners like Kovler are so important to accompany the legal services that we provide.”
“A lawyer can help an applicant navigate the legal requirements for asylum, which are often daunting and difficult for an individual to handle on their own,” explains Lauren McClure, a Chicago immigration lawyer who represents up to 20 asylum seekers a year at Kriezelman Burton & Associates, a private law firm downtown. “It is challenging to prepare and ask an individual to testify who has suffered substantial trauma.”
Other times, though, Hunter’s clients want to talk about even simpler things, she says.
Acupuncturist Hillary E. Catrow holds free walk-in sessions once a week in an open room. “Humans are social beings, and in order for us to feel social, we need to feel safe. The only way we can engage in community is through feeling safe, and that’s done inch by inch, interaction by interaction, and that’s what we do here,” she says.
