2023 Photos of the Year: Maine’s asylum seekers

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Pedro Miguel, second from right, held his daughter Jamila, 7, on his lap as they tried to sleep sitting up in an overflow space at the Family Shelter in Portland on February 9. Miguel, his pregnant wife Anadia, center, and their four children are seeking asylum in Maine from their home country of Angola. On this night, when the city of Portland had run out of shelter space, they were among about a dozen families sleeping in the chairs.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

David Malaba called out the names of families one by one to come inside the at the Family Shelter in Portland for the night on February 9. The regular shelter space was full, and families that have been there the longest got first dibs on the 72 chairs that had been placed in an overflow space meant for 36 people sleeping on mats.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Roitelet Ndunza Pindi kisses his son, Salvador, 4, at Portland’s Family Shelter on March 14. Pindi and his family left the Democratic Republic of Congo because of dangerous backlash after the 2018 presidential election. First they went to Angola, then Brazil. When a Congolese man was beaten to death in Brazil, Pindi was terrified. The family fled to Mexico, then came to Maine via California and Iowa, without a clear idea of what it would be like here.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Denilson, 5, hugs Josue, 9, after they both arrive back at State Street Church on March 30.”The situation at the family shelter brought the immigrant crisis right to our door, said the Rev. Bryan Breault, State Street pastor. “You hear about it. You pray about it. When it comes to your community, you have to do something about it.”

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Nkunku,12, center, and his brother Josue, 9, walk toward the door at State Street Church early in the morning, heading to school. Their family was one of three families from Angola who spent their nights on rollaway mattresses lined up in the church’s Fireside Room, usually a gathering space after services. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the families were on the move in Portland, until they could return to the church shelter.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Pedro Miguel and his daughter Jamila, 7, walk through Monument Square on their way to the Family Shelter where Jamila would board a bus to go to school. The family, originally from Angola, was at this point spending its nights with two other families in a room at State Street church where the congregation usually gathers for coffee after Sunday services.

Photo by Gregory Rec

As Portland exceeded its capacity to help, some asylum seekers found their way to Sanford City Hall in May. Zatua Manuel, in a red shirt at center, lives in South Portland and came to Maine from Angola 10 years ago seeking asylum. On this day, he was trying to help a family of five from Angola who recently arrived in Maine. Sanford city officials said they couldn’t handle the volume of asylum seekers looking for General Assistance aid.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Asylum seekers gathered under the awning outside the Portland Expo as the rain started to come down on June 28. The cardboard signs some people held asked what would happen to them when they had to leave the Expo in mid-August. Some said they were protesting bad conditions inside the gymnasium temporarily housing about 270 people.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Aishat Ibrahim Jimoh talked to her daughter, Saffiyah, 1, in their Portland apartment before she began her nightly Ramadan prayer to break the fast on March 24. She and her family arrived in Portland in April 2021. There were helped in finding a home by Greater Portland Family Promise, a nonprofit that works to get stable housing for homeless families, including asylum seekers. Jimoh completed a training program to become a bank teller and her husband started a new job at Lowe’s.

Photo by Brianna Soukup

Prince Pombo Mafumba and Thaiz Santos Neri show their children, Heaven Pombo Neri, 5, and Prince Pombo Neri, 2, how to blow up balloons at their home in Freeport in May. They arrived as asylum seekers in 2019. Prince Pombo Mafumba’s journey from the Democratic Republic of Congo to a safe home in Maine spanned five years and 16,000 miles.

Photo by Derek Davis

Slowly and painstakingly, Africa asylum seekers build new lives in Maine. Apphia Kamanda, who was a fashion designer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has found ways to help those who have arrived after her. She now is co-director of Common Threads of Maine, which trains many immigrants to work in the local textile industry. Apphia is wearing a dress that she designed and made.