WEST SPRINGFIELD — Kholoud Mahmoud and her husband and three children came to the U.S. in 2016 as refugees. They fled war in Syria and lived in a refugee camp in Jordan for several years before coming to the states, where they resettled in Westfield.

When Mahmoud arrived, she felt a little lost. One of the first people she met in the U.S. was Tricia Sayre, who was at the time collaborating with refugee resettlement agency Ascentria Care Alliance. The two didn’t speak each other’s languages and relied on Google Translate to communicate, while Sayre helped Mahmoud with tasks like setting up her family’s apartment and taking her to the store.

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