At The Crossroads #2: Hassan’s Story

I arrived in the US in October 2015 with my mother, brother, and 2 sisters and 2 brothers. My older brother arrived with his wife and my nephew one month before and we all moved in together in a house in Columbus.  My family and I were excited to move to the United States even though we didn’t know much about life here before we moved. We had been refugees in Pakistan and moved back and forth from Afghanistan to Pakistan for over 5 years before we moved to the United States. While we were applying to be resettled in the United States my family had to travel to the capital city a lot for about three years doing interview after interview. Then, we were told we would be resettled so we packed up and moved to the United States.

“I worked really hard at school and worked nights at a gas station. I finally graduated and my family was so proud of me.”

After we arrived, we were all worried about working here and making enough money to survive with our big family. I was 18 so I felt like I needed to work but I really wanted to go to school. In Afghanistan, I went to school until 9th grade. While my family was still in Afghanistan, I really only spent my time at school, working on homework, or helping my family. After my family moved to Pakistan, I was unable to continue school even though I was born there. As a refugee, I did not have the proper documentation to attend regular school in Pakistan, and my only option was to attend the school specifically for other refugees. The school was not as good as my school in Afghanistan or the regular school in Pakistan, and the school for refugees was far away from where we stayed, so we decided that I would work instead of going to school. Since I was not going to school, I worked in construction with my family and it was really hard work.  I didn’t have any credits when starting high school in America and wouldn’t have time to finish school before I was 22. My case worker said that I would have to leave regular school when I turned 22 but told me about another school that I could go to until I turned 23. I decided to go to regular school as long as I could and my family agreed that I didn’t have to work so I could focus on learning. I wanted to get a diploma, graduate school, and join the military. I struggled to learn English in school and fitting in was hard because I was older than all of the students in my 9th grade classes. The tests that I had to take were really hard and I felt really stressed out when I had to take them. It was hard taking catching up in high school but I learned more English and it got easier. After I had been in school a few years I had to leave public school and went to a different school that I could try to finish school at when I turned 23. I worked really hard at school and worked nights at a gas station. I finally graduated and my family was so proud of me. I want to go to Columbus State but still need to work on my English a bit more. Even though I am not in school right now, I still go to classes with my brother to continue working on my English for when I will go to college.  I still want to go into the Army but my parents worry about that so I think I will get a degree in IT.

Living in Ohio has been hard but it has been great. I never liked the heat so I like Ohio weather. I have made friends and my family is close. I spend a lot of time working, but when I am not at work I like to play cricket in my neighborhood with my family and friends. Cricket is the only sport I like to play, but I also enjoy Ohio State Football when I have free time to watch it.  I also really like to watch the news and go on the Internet to see the news that is happening outside of the United States.   My brothers and sisters have been doing well in school and we have all learned English. My nephew just started kindergarten in August and he is doing well too. My family supports each other and we all work really hard to make our life here in America good.  If I didn’t get to come to the United States, I wouldn’t have the good life that I have here. Here, there are so many opportunities to go to school and work and be safe with my family. I was able to go to school and now I have a good job and will be going to college soon to get more education and get an even better job. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, these opportunities aren’t available, so I would still be stuck in an unstable position in construction, not being able to continue my education or have the life that I want.