Staff Spotlight | Ahmed Kamil

Ahmed Kamil is the CRIS Resettlement Airport Welcome Lead.

“I was living in Mogadishu when war broke out [in 1991]. I went to a different region of Somalia for safety. A couple of years later, I moved to Islamabad, Pakistan, where my brother was working at the time. There, I earned a master’s degree in Business Administration. When I finished my studies, I knew that I could not return to Somalia because it was not safe. I became a Somali interpreter with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and served in that capacity for one year.

On December 12, 2000, I was resettled as a refugee in Columbus, Ohio, as a young single man. I remember carrying my International Organization for Migration (IOM) bag with all of my important documents. I had so many feelings: stress, anxiety, happiness, expectations.

My first job in Columbus was as a resettlement case manager [not with CRIS]. I worked there for a number of months, but then that agency closed its doors permanently. Less than one month later, CRIS hired me as a case manager. Since that time, I have served as a resettlement case manager and caseworker coordinator. Since January of 2023, I have served exclusively as CRIS ‘Airport Welcome Lead.’ One of my primary tasks in this role is to meet all of our new arrivals at the airport and help them with their first steps in the U.S.

Every time I meet an arrival at the airport, I feel like it is December 12, 2000. The memory is always fresh. I always become emotional, and I feel that I have a special connection with them because I came here in the same way, with the same IOM bag of important documents. I take the opportunity to tell every family, ‘You will be okay. You are safe now. You will have a good life. Be strong; don’t be afraid. Everything will be okay now.’

I feel that this work is prestigious because it is helping people; helping people is precious. I am doing my best as long as I live if I am helping people.”