Hers is a struggle shared by all freshly arrived
refugees in the United States. Learning English.
Getting a job. Adapting to American culture.
But starting life anew has been that much tougher for
Eman al-Obeidi, the woman who came to embody
the cruelty of Moammar Gadhafi's regime in the
midst of Libya's brutal civil war. She lives every day
with the scars of the rape she alleges was committed
by Gadhafi's thugs.
Sometimes, she said in an exclusive interview with
CNN, she gets so depressed that she doesn't leave
her apartment for days. Other times, she can't even
get out of bed for three or four days.
"I cry all the time just like little children," she says
wiping dry her moist eyes. "And I always smile, too."
Al-Obeidi found relief on these shores when she
arrived here last summer. She finally felt safe, unlike
in Libya, where she felt constantly in danger and her
family was threatened.
But she has found it hard to make ends meet. She
said she has been going to the employment office for
four months but job opportunities have been slim.
"When I came, I never imagined life would be this
hard," she said. "As we say in Libya, you have to kill
yourself working. I wish there was work. There are no
work opportunities."
Her family in Libya sends her $300 a month. Without
that, she said, she would not have made it so far.
Out of desperation, last week, al-Obeidi bought a
one-way ticket from Colorado to Washington with
money from an Iraqi family. She had all but $100 in
her bag; she used $65 of it and took a taxi to the
Libyan Embassy in Washington.
She came with a distrust of politicians and diplomats
but with hope in her heart that her compatriots would
not turn her away. But Libyan Ambassador Ali Aujali,
she said, spoke to her like a father.
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