When Syria’s dictatorship fell in early December, celebrations broke out around the world – including nearly 6,000 miles away, in Toledo, Ohio.
That’s where Mohammed al-Refai, a refugee from Syria, lives now. NPR has followed his story for nearly a decade.
In 2015, millions of Syrians fled the civil war in their country. al-Refai got a visa to come to the U.S. His parents and siblings, who fled to Jordan, did not. So, he moved on his own to Toledo, where built a new life for himself.
He long dreamed of visiting his family and maybe, one day, returning to Syria.
With the Syrian civil war now over, we talked to al-Refai about what comes next.
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