INDIANAPOLIS – Fadi Lababidi arrived here exhausted but hopeful, with his wife and young children 14 months ago.
Not long after they started the journey to a place they call "the land of the free," rockets containing lethal sarin gas hit their longtime home.
Reading reports of the attack – and the hundreds of people killed by it – underscored their decision to leave.
“I came for a better life for my children,” said Lababidi, speaking through an interpreter. “I came so they wouldn’t be dead.”
For the family - Indiana's first Syrian war refugees - the horror of a civil war that has driven more than 4 million from their homes, and claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people, is something they’d like to put in the past.
But since Gov. Mike Pence moved to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees a month ago, the Lababidis find themselves recounting the terrible details, hoping to convince their Indiana hosts that they don’t pose a threat.
“What you fear most, is what we’re running from,” said Lababidi.
In November, Pence ordered the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to stop assisting with the settlement of Syrian refugees. The decision came after reports that a perpetrator of the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks may have gained entry to France by posing as a refugee from Syria.
Last week, the state chapter of the Syrian American Council asked Pence to meet with some of the Syrian families who now call Indiana home. He declined but hinted that he may still be open to the invitation.
The United States has admitted 2,200 Syrian refugees since late 2010, according to the State Department, and the Obama administration has announced plans to accept 10,000 more.
Seven families have settled in Indiana since the bloody civil war erupted in 2011. The latest to arrive came in early December - a husband, wife and their daughters, ages 2 and 4, who’d waited two years to get here.
They were brought by Catholic Charities over the objection of Pence, who questions whether the refugees are being adequately vetted by the federal government.
Lababidi, his wife, Waed, and their four children – Abrahim, Shimaa, Mohammed, and Hamza, ranging in age from 6 to 14 – were the first refugees to arrive in Indiana from Syria, landing at the Indianapolis airport in October 2014.
Walking out of the terminal, they saw a “Welcome” sign, written in English and Arabic. It was held by college student Sara Hindi, a volunteer translator with Exodus Refugee Immigration. The non-profit group has relocated hundreds of war refugees to Indiana from around the world.
The family, like other Syrian refugees who’ve since arrived, say they have mostly felt welcome despite a language barrier.
Churches in the area have extended invitations to meet with their members – including one that came from Epworth United Methodist, the home congregation of the parents of Peter Kassig, an American aid worker killed by ISIS in Syria.
At an event last Friday, Kassig’s mother, Paula, asked fellow Christians to embrace the refugees without fear.
“Keep your hearts open to those who could use a leg up," she said. "You will strengthen America as you welcome the newcomers."
Still, the refugees have felt increased unease since Pence’s decision. That’s been heightened in recent days, since leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
“There will be a couple of tough months ahead for them,” said Cole Vargus, Exodus Refugee’s Indiana operations director. “But it will eventually calm down, once people recognize who these refugees really are.”
That’s what the Lababidi family would tell the governor if given the opportunity, they intimated during an interview in their small, modestly furnished apartment.
“I want to send him this message: We are grateful,” Lababidi said.
For almost three years before arriving in the United States, the family prayed for a safe refuge.
After fleeing Syria, they crossed into Jordan in early 2013 with little more than the clothes on their backs. From there, they underwent an extensive screening process. It included retina scans and fingerprinting, with results compared to federal and international terrorist databases.
Multiple security agencies interviewed them, and they had to give proof that they couldn’t return to their apartment in Syria, which was destroyed by bombs.
But leaving came with a price. Fadi and Waed left behind family members, whom they fear they may never see again.
“The situation over there is just getting worse,” said Fadi.
Since arriving in Indiana, the family has benefited from private and public programs that aim to ease refugees’ transition into a strange, new land.
Pence’s decision in November to suspend the state’s resettlement program hasn’t stopped support for refugee families. Both Catholic Charities and Exodus Refugee plan to continue bringing in Syrian families who have been vetted for entry into the United States.
And federal law prohibits states from denying federally funded benefits, such as Medicaid or cash welfare assistance, to eligible refugees. Pence has said he won’t block that assistance.
With help, the Lababidi family found a place to live, enrolled their children in school, began learning English and made friends.
Speaking little English, their job possibilities are limited. But Lababidi, who owned a water-filtration business in Syria, got help landing a job as a mail sorter in a private business. His wife hopes to work at a local hotel.
They see a future they didn’t see before.
“This is the land of opportunity,” said Waed.
While encouraged by Pence's decisions not to block federal assistance, the family says they'd like the governor to know that they understand fear.
“There are bad people in Syria,” Lababidi said. “But that doesn’t mean all people from Syria are bad.”