"A lot of history that building has," a man walking by us said.
The building this man was talking about was part of the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester. If the walls of the Club could talk I’m sure they would speak stories of success and struggles, of happiness and sadness, confusion and clarity, of lives encouraged, of life changed. Awale, a 15 year old candidate for Youth of the Year, is living proof of some of these stories. He is a brave young man who is willing and open to share his story to create awareness and positive action in the world. Here is his story, in his own words:
What is the first thing that you think of when the word “immigrant” is brought up? Most people think of Mexicans, Chinese, and Africans. I am Awale Osman and I believe that there are many misconceptions regarding immigrants here in the United States. I am currently a freshman at Century, but I lived in Kenya until I was twelve years old.
My family came to this country as legal immigrants, in search of safety, education, and most of all, a better life. Let me give you a little history about where I am from. I come from Somalia where a Civil War broke out in 1991 due to corruption of the government. The war affected the economy, the government, and most of all, the people. During the war, we lost track of two of my uncles. In addition, one of my grandmothers went missing for fifteen years. Luckily, we found her living in Kenya just last year.
On the night before I was born, a group of terrorists who called themselves UNC broke into my family’s home. They were looking for any valuables. If anyone tried to hide valuables or fight back, he or she would be putting the lives of his or her family in jeopardy. The UNC raided my family’s house and left it in shreds. In this process, my brother was stabbed. This was when my family decided to leave the country. My family moved to Ifo which is a refugee camp on the border of Somalia and Kenya, and that was where I was born. Shortly after giving birth to me, my mother moved to the United States all alone. My mother worked in the U.S. and sent money to us; this allowed us to move to Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. After a five year application process, my family was finally given the opportunity to move to the United States and reunite with my mother.
When I came to America I was 12 years old and I had never attended school before going to the Newcomer Center at John Adams Middle School here in Rochester in 2004. This was one of the toughest times of my life because it was difficult to get used to living here and away from my country. Everything was different and I slowly learned how to read, write, and speak English. Unfortunately, when I transferred to Kellogg, my classmates were not very friendly towards me. When I walked through the hallways, I heard people say things such as, “Why is that fat guy here?”, “Is he a teacher assistant?”, Oh my God, You don’t speak the language?, “what’s that smell”, and, “What is he, twenty years old?”
Every time that I went to my locker to get my stuff, a boy who had a locker next to mine would usually say, “What is he doing in our school?” He might not have realized how hurtful those comments were. I knew that people were talking about me and I would have stood up for myself, but at the time I couldn’t express what I wanted to say in English. However, these words were so hurtful that I thought of killing myself. School was hard for me, as it is for others in my situation because I had to deal with these issues every single day. I was new to this country and culture and I did not understand the cruelty of the people who were prejudice. These things made me question the meaning of my existence here as a recent immigrant.
One night, my grandmother asked me how school was going for me. I looked at her strangely and told her that I never wanted to go back. My grandmother was shocked and speechless. For a while, we sat in silence. Then, she told me that these are just some of the challenges that everyone has to face in life. She told me to be strong and just live through it. It is not the end of the world. She also encouraged me to keep working hard in school and to ignore what people were saying.
Then I said, “I will kill myself if you make me go back to that school.” She slapped me across the face and said, “You will what? If you kill yourself, then who is going to look after your little siblings? Do you think that killing yourself will solve all the problems that you have?” She also said that if you give up now; then all the sacrifices we have made coming to this country were for nothing. That is the night I realized that if I kill myself, I would be giving up the fight.
I am telling you my story because I believe there are other immigrants who share the same experiences that I have lived through. For example, the famous scientist, Albert Einstein fled from his home country because of war and came over to America. Einstein is just one of many examples of people who immigrated to America, but still impacted the world positively.
Einstein is not the only immigrant I speak of. You’re an immigrant, and you’re an immigrant, we are all immigrants. The people that come to this country are not here to burden you or it. They’re here because if you were under the same circumstances, you would probably make the same choice as my family and I did. For instance, I know a teacher who had a student who came from Sudan.
She was curious and wanted to help this student because his grades were slipping. She questioned why this was occurring, and as a response this student talked about how he couldn’t sleep at night because of the nightmares of his horrified past of watching his best friend get killed as they walked to school one morning. He luckily escaped, but not his friend. The immigrants who are from other countries have come to this country for similar reasons that I have already shared.
Make no mistake: the hurtful words that you say to people do affect others. Be empathetic towards others. I understand that we are all humans and we make mistakes, but please watch what you say to people.
To close this, I would like to leave you with this thought: Since this country is made up of immigrants, and you or your ancestors were immigrants, why should you treat other immigrants any differently? There are people out there that wish to talk to you about what I am talking about; unfortunately they are restricted from saying this or can’t speak up for themselves. I am speaking on behalf of these people. I am not the only one who had to deal with all these situations. Keep that in mind and I hope you will make good choices in the future. Thank you!" -Awale
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