The Reality Of Being A Refugee In America
Some people seem to have a pretty skewed idea of what it's like to be a refugee in America. It's not some luxurious life you are just given, where all of your dreams come true and you live a life you could have never had in your home country.
That's the furthest thing from what being a refugee is like. Being a refugee is a heartbreaking and painful experience. You have to leave everything you have behind; your friends and family, your home, your culture, everything. Refugees come to America with nothing but a few belongings they are allowed to fit into one suitcase, if they even have anything left. Most have very little money and no knowledge of the language or American culture. They are forced to assimilate into a country where most people refuse to accept their customs and have no patience with them when they do not understand English. Children are harassed for being foreign and different.
Refugees aren't just given free housing and food. They take out starter loans from refugee agencies if they can, which they have to pay back. They are placed in some of the poorest neighborhoods in America and their food is provided by rationed food stamps. They work 60+ hours a week in factories and other labor intensive, low paying jobs just to make ends meet. The furniture and clothing they have is donated or made.
Some refugees come to America with college degrees and professional certifications that they can't even use because the country doesn't accept them. Many refugees had happy and successful lives in their home countries before they became dangerous, uninhabitable places.
Refugees are not handed new, beautiful, thriving lives. Refugees do not come to America with everything they need handed to them on a silver platter. They are not given some special, secret, opportunities that Americans do not have. No. Refugees are people whose lives have been completely destroyed by something they had no control over. They are the people who took a stand, picked up the broken pieces of their lives and refused to be defeated. They are resilient, strong, hardworking people. They have watched their homes be destroyed and their family members be killed. They come to America because it is the land of opportunity. It's the country where if you work as hard as you possibly can, your dreams can and will come true.
America was founded by immigrants who wanted to make new lives for themselves. They worked hard to build a better future, they created the American Dream.
The American Dream is a husband and wife who have no certainty in the future of their country and decide to leave everything behind, and come to the United States so their two children do not have to face growing up in a war.
The American Dream is David, who works as a trash collector, and later a truck driver. He wakes up at 3 a.m. to work all day long. He gets home at 11 p.m. to eat leftovers alone because his family is sleeping. He doesn't know much about what his kids did at school that day, but he wishes he did. He works every single day with barely any sleep, but to him it's worth it because his family has food, clothing and a home.
The American Dream is Indira, who works to help other refugees understand their new lives and later helps Americans find jobs in difficult times. She barely has anything herself but spends her days doing anything and everything possible to help other people. She has to take care of everything at home with the children since David works most days and nights. She has to be strong for her children even though she is still broken inside.
The American Dream is Matea, who has to grow up much faster than other children her age. She has to take care of her younger sister because both of her parents are working. She helps her parents understand things they aren't sure of. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders to be successful and prove that all of her parents' sacrifices are worth it and to set a good example for her younger sister.
The American Dream is David, who now has his own business and no longer has to work himself to death. The American Dream is Indira, who spent over a decade taking college classes along with working full time and raising her children and now has a Master's degree in Social Work. The American Dream is Matea, who was the first member of her family to graduate college and now has a Master's degree along with a professional career.
They came to the United States as refugees and worked as hard as they could with what they had, to change their lives for the better. They were not handed jobs and college degrees, they earned them.
This "refugee crisis" we are currently facing is not an issue with refugees. It is an issue with humanity. We are all human and we have to support each other in order to survive. No matter what country a refugee is from, they are human, they have lost everything, and they deserve to survive. They do not ask for handouts, they do not ask for an easy fix. They ask for acceptance and recognition of hard work. They ask for understanding, and they ask for the support of humanity.
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