A Welcoming Heart: Michael’s Journey with Omaha Welcomes the Stranger

After fleeing their homeland and traversing six countries by plane, bus, train and on foot, the Cuban family of five still hadn’t found the pay and political freedom they sought.

Nearly a year later, with temporary U.S. permission and court dates ahead, the family crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and headed to Omaha, a place a fellow migrant said had jobs and low rent.

By then the Cubans had at various times been robbed, stranded, hungry and homeless, and they were about $10,000 in debt to friends and relatives.

So, when a community activist in March introduced them to the Omaha Welcomes the Stranger organization, the father of the group said he could not believe the turn of circumstances. He was told his family could stay at the organization’s shelter as long as needed.

“At that moment a grand weight lifted off of my shoulders,” said Michael, who was accompanied by his wife, daughter, son and brother-in-law. “We saw the light at the end of the tunnel.” 

Now nearly two years since its launch, the Omaha Welcomes the Stranger nonprofit counts the Cubans as among the 110 adult and child migrants it has helped or is currently helping to get established.

Co-founders Tom and Margaret Hoarty say the typical family under OWS wings has crossed the border with temporary U.S. authorization while seeking longer-term asylum protection that can be granted to foreign nationals who fear persecution in their homeland.

The four adults in Michael’s family, for example, now have temporary work authorization and are employed in maintenance, landscaping, housekeeping and home health care.

They’ve moved on from the OWS shelter site, where nine families currently reside, and are renting a North Omaha home close to Michael and Mari’s 8-year-old daughter’s new school.

Among their first acts was hanging the U.S. flag out front.

We turned the page and life resets. We are not looking back.

– Michael, a Cuban migrant now living in Omaha