TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 8 The clinic treats patients from all over the world. Wali, 46, who declined to share his last name, arrived in the U.S. from Afghanistan in November 2015. After he and his wife reported physical symptoms to their primary care doctors, including headaches and high blood pressure, they were referred to Banu's clinic. "In Houston, the only person that I am sharing my problems with, telling what's in my head, is Dr. Banu," Wali said. "She's listening, she's evaluating properly and professionally, and she's giving me good advice." Wali, his wife and four children, who range in age from 15 to 21, moved to the U.S. "for more security." In Afghanistan, Wali's daughter missed years of school because the Taliban would not allow girls to be educated, he said. One of the striking things he first noticed about the U.S. was people walking or driving at night. "We could drive during the night in Afghanistan, but not safely or alone," Wali said. "If I had to go, I would take other people. Even here, when I go some- where, I think alone is not good." Now all of his children attend school. He no longer fears they will be kidnapped or attacked. His daughter, once denied an education, now dreams of working in medicine. Still, though grateful for his children's suc- cesses, Wali misses aspects of his former life. "I worked for 10 years as a civil engineer. I had a good life, good income," said Wali, who now works in a construction-related job. "The life I had over there compared to here is not the same. But of course, if security is not good, you could have a roomful of food but you will not be safe." Banu said that despite the trauma many refugees experienced, feeling homesick is not uncommon. Life is so different in the U.S. that it can be overwhelm- ing. Another patient, Aw Meh, a refugee from Burma, spent years in the jungle, surviving on food she grew, even giving birth to one of her children there. When she arrived in the U.S., she said she didn't know how to use a stove. "She would say that, at times, life in the jungle was better because she could grow her food. She didn't have to figure out electricity," Banu said, as Meh nod- ded in confirmation. "Here you are in the city, and you have everything, but if you don't know how to use it or you don't know how to get it, it doesn't help." Many patients who seek help at the clinic report difficulty navigating their new lives in Houston— both emotionally and physically. One of the biggest challenges patients face is lack of transportation. Banu said the bus stop in front of El Franco Lee Health Center, as well as its proximity to neighborhoods where refugees are settled, were key factors in choosing it as a home base. "I thought it would be easier than Ben Taub, which is difficult to get to," Banu said. "But if they don't know how to get on the bus … that's a struggle we deal with constantly. We're here, there are patients who need us, but there is not transportation." Despite obstacles, the patients do their best to make it to the clinic. Some will get a neighbor or friend to drop them off, Banu said. For others, she asks caseworkers to teach them to use the METRO Houston system. "They are here because they want to survive. For a majority, if you teach them how to get on the METRO, they will manage," Banu said. "They have survived so much, they would easily learn to get on a bus." That will to survive is something Banu sensed among her own family members. After China invaded Tibet in 1950, her Tibetan Muslim family, "was a minority within a minority," Banu said. They were told to renounce their religion or leave. Fearing for their safety, they fled to India. "It's in me, part of what my parents and grand- parents had to go through," Banu said. "Maybe I was destined to work with refugees." Soon Banu will further expand that work by seeing patients at Alliance for Multicultural Community Services, a non-profit located on Hillcroft Avenue. "They come to the agency for other services, whether to get food stamps or education and employ- ment services, ESL classes," she said. "When they Kelly Aylsworth, M.D., a Baylor College of Medicine resident, addresses patients during a therapy session. Group therapy participants use drawings to indicate sources of physical and emotional pain on their bodies. It's in me, part of what my parents and grandparents had to go through. Maybe I was destined to work with refugees. — SOPHIA BANU, M.D.

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