From November 16-19, Utah Health & Human Rights is sharing stories of healing, resilience, and hope. We are highlighting the impact that our programs have for clients — the path from personal and family healing to community involvement and reconnecting with a feeling of purpose and strength.
Ngabo's Story
Ngabo’s father, mother, and sister were forced to flee their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo before he was born. They fled to a refugee camp in Rwanda where Ngabo was born.
Shortly after arriving at the camp, his father passed away due to illness and injuries he received when the family was fleeing. When Ngabo was about one year old, his mother passed away from unknown causes. Ngabo and his sister were taken in by a neighbor they knew from the DRC prior to fleeing. Living in the camp was difficult for them, and Ngabo had to leave school early in order to work and provide for himself and his sister.
Ngabo was finally able to come to the U.S. when he was 19 years old. He worked and went to school and eventually got married. He was living in Utah and his wife, who was pregnant with their first child, was living in Las Vegas.
Ngabo was working many extra hours at his job to support his family at this time. His wife went into labor so he rushed to Las Vegas to be with her for the birth of their son. After the birth Ngabo had to get back to Utah so he could go to work. On the drive back Ngabo was in a major car accident and was in a coma for a few days and had to undergo many surgeries.
When Ngabo first came to UHHR, he was still wearing a neck and wrist brace. He was unable to work and often felt like he was unable to care for his son. He had medical bills amounting to around $300,000 with no way to pay them back. He reported feeling a lot of stress and worry about not being able to take care of his family.
Since coming to UHHR, Ngabo has participated in individual therapy, case management, medical case management, and occupational therapy services. Our medical case manager was able to help him work with his medical providers to apply for charitable giving programs to erase some of his debts. Occupational therapy helped him regain movement and deal with the pain in his neck and wrist which helped him to care for his son and eventually start working.
Ngabo now reports far less stress and has plans for the future which he said he couldn’t have if his past stressors were still affecting him. Ngabo will be applying for citizenship soon and hopes to go visit friends and family in Rwanda with his children so he can show them his culture and where they come from.
SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS
With your help, Utah Health & Human Rights can continue providing services that help individuals to heal. These services include therapy, psychiatry, massage therapy, occupational therapy, case management, medical case management, and health and wellness.
We provide holistic and integrated individual services to help survivors begin to overcome the trauma they have experienced. When survivors come to us, we design customized treatment plans for each individual. Individual survivors are given immediate access to therapy, psychiatric and medical services, intensive case management. Other individual services offered are massage therapy, occupational therapy, and referrals to partners that provide legal services, English classes, and more. Individual survivors are given case management services and social support.
Our case managers ensure clients can gain employment, find housing, obtain medical care, enroll their children in school, and more. Our medical case manager assists clients with addressing medical concerns. This includes anything from making and getting to appointments to ensuring adequate interpretation is provided and resolving issues with outstanding medical bills. Our therapists focus on reducing the symptoms related to torture; anxiety, depression, PTSD, and trauma. They work with clients to rebuild the ability to trust and begin to heal.