LINCOLN — Dressed in a skirt and blouse printed with hearts and stars, Anna Furkay sang a song of praise and joyously swayed as she waited for her daughter to emerge from a plane newly arrived at the Lincoln Municipal Airport.
The words of her song were in an African dialect. She said they meant “God bless me.”
Among the passengers leaving the plane Thursday was a petite young woman wearing a pink embroidered dress and a gray winter coat, a dazed and weary look on her face.
This was Furkay's youngest child, Angelina Amama Wleh, whom Furkay, 62, had not seen since 1990, when she was separated from her husband and seven children during a chaotic night in the Liberian civil war.
Their home was set afire. Her son Daniel was killed. Her husband took baby Amama and fled out a window with the children.
Anna ran in a different direction. She landed in a refugee camp in the Ivory Coast, where she lived for many years. She found one son, Samuel, but for many years did not know whether the rest of her family was dead or alive.
“Where she at? I want to see her!” Furkay said as she scanned the faces of passengers, trying to spot her child. “I be looking for my baby!”
As the young woman shyly came forward, Furkay unwound her head covering and spread it before her on the floor.
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“I welcome my daughter to America,” she said, guiding Amama onto the place of honor.
She hugged her tightly and sang. And sang. And sang. “Oh, my baby. My baby. My baby,” she chanted.
Her arms filled with her belongings, Amama could not return the hug. After some minutes, she smiled.
From the Ivory Coast refugee camp, Furkay finally won approval to move to the United States.
She arrived in Texas in 2004 and moved to Nebraska in 2005, following friends who had found work at a Lexington meatpacking plant.
She regained contact with her children and, now, grandchildren through a network of Liberians in the United States and Africa. Her husband is still alive. Another daughter died giving birth.
Anna and Amama speak little English, making it difficult to fully understand their stories. The Rev. Megan Morrow, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Lexington, has known Furkay for several years and was able to relay some of the story.
Speaking to reporters at the airport, Amama offered a few details.
“I was small when my mother left me and went to the U.S.A.,” she said. “Different people took care of me.” She said she was urged to go to Furkay.
“She is my mother,” she said.
It took six years from the time Furkay reconnected with her children to get U.S. authorization for Amama to join her, said Ana Castaneda, immigration specialist for the Lutheran Family Services Welcome Center in Lexington. She assisted Furkay with the paperwork.
Among other things, a DNA test was required to prove that Amama was Furkay's daughter, Castaneda said.
Morrow said Amama was forced to go into hiding in the weeks after she obtained her visa and before leaving for the United States. Although the war has ended, unemployment remains high in Liberia and Amama's visa put her at risk of being attacked and robbed.
Furkay worked for several years at the meatpacking plant but recently moved to Lincoln and obtained a job in the laundry of a nursing home. Her daughter will live with her. Furkay also has applied for her sons to emigrate to the United States, Morrow said.
It took 24 hours of travel for Amama to arrive in Lincoln after leaving Monrovia.
The airport welcoming party included volunteers from First Lutheran Church in Lincoln, where a celebratory dinner was on the schedule.
Furkay said she made fufu and pepper soup especially for her daughter.
“She's a baby for me,” she said. “She is beautiful, my baby.”
Contact the writer:
402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com
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