Their lives were torn apart by war in Africa. A family hopes a new US program will help them reunite

Worried about his mother’s health, Jacob Mabil tried for months to persuade her to let him start the process that would take her from a sprawling refugee camp where she had spent almost a decade after fleeing violence in South Sudan. “That always killed me," said Mabil, whose own childhood was ripped apart by civil war in Sudan. As the U.S. government transforms the way refugees are being resettled, Mabil and his family now have hope that they will be reunited with two of his nieces, who soon turn 18 and 19.