A Good Day at the Garland Tax Office with Behrooz and Sahar

Oct 9

Behrooz and Sahar are refugees who fled their home country to come to the United States, where they were resettled in DFW and given a few months of basic resources to get their new lives started. They left their home country of Iran when they converted to Christianity from Islam, which is illegal in Iran, and they became in grave danger of losing their livelihood and very lives.

Both Behrooz and Sahar were skilled workers in Iran, but it’s difficult to prove your experience in the United States without education documentation and/or western certifications. It’s also very difficult to obtain a loan from a bank when you don’t have years of credit, and Behrooz was summarily turned down at ten different banks. While Sahar was offered a job at an Iranian salon in Dallas, it was contingent upon her having reliable transportation, which she didn’t have. Without a vehicle or the means to obtain one, this industrious couple watched their resources dwindle and began accepting low-paying jobs within walking distance of their apartment. Their goals of learning English, going to a university, and ultimately of starting a family would have to wait.

*Jamie Coleman and Behrooz checking out the Vibe.*

About this time, Behrooz and Sahar met Jamie Coleman from Nexus Neighborhood Outreach, which is a Christian non-profit organization that helps people living at the margins. After getting to know them over the course of several months, Jamie witnessed the couple’s resourcefulness, positive attitudes and compassion for others in their same situation, and filled out an advocate nomination form on the OnRamp DFW website. The rest is history.

One story worth telling from the vehicle giveaway is when we asked Behrooz about the tattoo on his forearm (see the picture at the top of the story). We asked him what “One good day is coming” means, and he told us he got the tattoo when he was stuck in a refugee camp in Turkey and things looked pretty bleak and hopeless. He said it reminded him that his circumstances weren’t permanent and it helped him to keep hoping.

Needless to say, we were all amazed by this physical reminder of God’s providence and provision that brought him from that moment to this one.

And we were so thankful to get to be part of this good day!