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Bar News - November 5, 2004 Attorneys Strive to Help Unite Congolese Family By: Beverly Rorick Giving Back 2004 WHEN ATTORNEYS TOM HILDRETH and Meghan Honea, of McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, learned Hubert and Helene Simwerayi's story, they immediately agreed to help them. The plight of the Simwerayis, Congolese refugees, came to the attention of Hildreth and Honea through the efforts of Kelli Swazey, one of a group of UNH students working to help the parents reunite with their seven children left behind in the war-ravaged Congo. The students had learned about the family's difficulties from Nina Glick-Shiller, a UNH anthropology professor who attends the church where the Simwerayis went to pray when they found out that their children would not be able to join them in the US because their visas had expired. "My colleague, Meghan Honea, and I took this case in response to an appeal from an immigration attorney at the International Institute in Manchester in May, 2003," explained Hildreth. "The appeal was circulated in an email bulletin from the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Hubert and I are about the same age. We both have young families. I could immediately understand the anguish that Hubert and Helene lived with every day that they were living apart from their children." Hubert Simwerayi had been badly injured by soldiers who invaded his home one terrible night; his wife and children were shoved under a bed, while he was taken to the next room and beaten. Miraculously, he survived. "I was thinking he died," said his wife Helene. The Simwerayis flew to the United States after winning a visa lottery. "We flew, we left the children.... It was not easy for us to leave...thinking about them and all the bad situation in the country," said Hubert. They had placed the children with their cousin but after he was murdered by the soldiers, the children went to live with their grandmother. Armed men surrounded her house, threatening to kill the children. The Simwerayis became even more desperate; they went to a nearby church to pray-and met Nina Glick-Shiller. "When you meet the Simwerayis, you are struck by many things," said Hildreth. "They are people of deep faith and enormous courage. They are gracious, and humble, and sincere. They have witnessed and lived through unspeakable atrocities. They have spoken out and written against such abuses, at great personal risk. Even as they have struggled to survive, they have tried to help others in their country do likewise; for example, by sharing what economic resources they have, and by adopting two children who would otherwise have been orphans, to add to their own five." Kelli Swazey and her committee raised over $12,000, partly through a local Seacoast non-profit group, Danny's Team; many other organizations and individuals helped, too. The committee also enlisted the aid of US Rep. Jeb Bradley. "There are a lot of people who have been separated from family and want to be reunited, but there has to be a special reason for anyone to get special treatment. I hear from people every day with very sad stories, but the Simwerayi's story was exceptional," said Bradley congressional staffer Marti Jones, who provided invaluable assistance.
Hubert and Helene Simwerayi, formerly of the Congo, are pictured happily reunited with their seven children, including two adopted children, who were stranded due to immigration red-tape in their war-torn homeland. "Marti's inside knowledge of and access to the personnel in the office for humanitarian parole, the US Consulate in Kampala, Uganda, the Vermont Service of the CIS, and others, were critical to keeping the government decision makers focused and responsive. Congressman Bradley himself made calls on our behalf...to advocate for prompt and favorable adjudication - including at least one after hours call from his home in Wolfeboro to the Consular Officer in Uganda," said Hildreth. Hildreth and Honea pulled it all together for the Simwerayis. "Usually there would be a two-and-a-half to three-year lag time between the approval of a petition and the time the children would be permitted to come to the US. Given the circumstances in their home of Goma in the Congo, we couldn't afford to wait; they may not have survived," declared Hildreth. "While our office prepared and filed seven immigrant visa petitions and then seven applications for humanitarian parole, Kelly, Nina, and the CORAJ group were tireless in raising ever expanding public awareness about the case and the needs of the family," continued Hildreth. "Their publicity efforts attracted still more volunteers, including former NH Executive Councilor Dudley Dudley, Danny's Team, local Rotary Clubs, anonymous private donors, etc. All of these efforts and contributions were necessary so that if we were successful with the legal applications for relief, then the family would have the resources needed to bring the children here from Africa. "All of these efforts finally bore fruit on Friday, Sept. 10, when Congressman Bradley and Marti Jones led the seven children of the Simwerayi family out of the customs and immigration clearance area in Terminal E at Logan Airport, into the waiting and loving arms of their parents, to the cheers, tears, and delight of dozens of well-wishers, my wife and I among them," explained Hildreth in an email to Bar News. It was a scene of such joy, and relief, and love that I will not soon forget it. And it all started from the simple willingness to take on a new pro bono matter." "We say, 'Oh God, you are so great,'" the Simwerayis told NH Public Radio. "You send us Nina and through Nina, Kelli and through Kelli we get the lawyer[s]. It's something extraordinary. It's the hand of the Lord.'" "Not every pro bono case will require you to correspond with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, or to track down physicians in remote parts of the Congo, or will be covered by New Hampshire Public Radio, or give you the chance to work with a member of our state's congressional delegation, or get you an invitation to a congratulatory reception at the home of the president of the University of New Hampshire," concluded Hildreth. "But every pro bono case does make a positive difference in the life of some family in New Hampshire, and every case leaves you feeling good about your ability to help someone, and looking for the next opportunity to do so."
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