Resister
Kim Rivera enlisted in the United Stated military in early 2006. After her first tour in Iraq, she realized that she had been led to fight in what she now saw as an immoral and illegal war. Rivera deserted the military while on leave in 2007 and fled with her family to Toronto, Canada.
The Rivera Family found friends in the War Resisters Support Campaign, a non-profit organization, set up to help people like Kim and their families. The Riveras were given a modest one-bedroom apartment where they live to this day.
As Kim battles symptoms of post-traumatic stress from her time in Iraq, she tries to hold her family together and remain active with the Resisters campaign. The days seem to crawl by as the Riveras wait for word on their deportation status. So far, they have been granted a series of temporary stays, but every few months, the battle to remain free begins again. It is a time-consuming, stressful and costly process of burocratic red tape. In the event that the Rivera family is deported to the United States, Kim will likely face years of imprisonment.
Kim and her family are now strangers in a new country, unable to return to the land they call home, but still unable to put down roots and build a new life.
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