Immigration Stories from a Fargo High School: Green Card Youth Voices - Softcover

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9780997496024: Immigration Stories from a Fargo High School: Green Card Youth Voices

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0997496029 ISBN 13: 9780997496024

Publisher: Green Card Voices, 2017

“Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Fargo High School” is a collection of thirty personal essays written by students from Fargo South High School. Included with each essay is a first-person video narrative. These are the memories, realities, and hopes of young people from twenty-two different countries, who by the turning of countless events were brought together into one classroom. In their own voices, these students describe their childhoods, reasons for leaving, first impressions of this land and dreams of how they will contribute to it. These digital and written stories highlight the resilience, bravery, and courage that these new Americans have gained as they have overcome tremendous adversity to be a part of this country. From classrooms to book clubs, from the individual interested in learning more about his immigrant neighbor to the business owner looking to understand her employees and business partners, this book is an important resource for all Americans. The included video links, glossary, and study guide add a multimedia dimension to this already dynamic collection.

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About the Author:

AUTHORS: Muhend Abakar: Sudan; Ruth Mekoulom: Chad; Pal Garung: Nepal; Nakafu Kahasha: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Akberet Tewelde: Eritrea; Biak Sung: Burma; Anjana Chuwan: Nepal; Musoni Mudatinya: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Tristen Hagen: China; Joyce Showers: Sierra Leone; Badal Mongar: Nepal; Divine Lubungo: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Quazeem Adeyinka: Liberia; Aziza Kabura: Zambia; Ashti Mohamed Ali: Iraq; Pleasure Jerue: Cote d'Ivoire; Mesaged Abakar: Sudan; Roshika Nepal: Nepal; Alvin Johnson: Liberia; Esperance Mfurakazi: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Godwin Kouhe: Togo; Glorioza Nduwimana: Tanzania; Deo Katuwal: Nepal; Marai Castillo Fonseca: Mexico; Francese Manya: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Sowda Shube: Kenya; Nobin Gurung: Nepal; Iraguha Yvette: Tanzania; Osman Osman: Eritrea; Van Tran: Vietnam; Zakariye Muhudin Abdulle: Somalia

“I believe that one can never leave home. I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and the dragons of home under one's skin, at the extreme corners of one's eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe.” - Maya Angelou.

After floating in the clouds for thousands of miles, I stepped off the plane and silently prayed “the land of the free and the home of the brave: here I come.” Leaving home to another continent was a rite of passage I never dreamed of undertaking. Not when I was a little girl with braided hair playing jump rope with my girlfriends in Ethiopia. Not ever.

My vivid memories of growing up in Ethiopia never seems to diminish in intensity with time. A place I proudly called home. A place where I spent the most formative years of my life. A place and a time where the phrase “being in a hurry” was not known. These memories are the anchor points of my life, the framework of my being, and the fabric of who I am. Masterfully traversing between two distinct languages and rich cultures becomes a way of life, an immigrant’s experience.

I understand the journeys traversed in this book. As ancient as the migration of people from one place to another, the toll it takes on the immigrant’s soul, and the permanent hold it leaves in one’s heart are profound. To step into the unknown, after separating from everything familiar, requires a great balancing act. Leaving behind loved ones who helped shape my life was more than scary. My mother’s prayers and blessings have served as the wind beneath my wings.

But migration also brings with it a profound opportunity to be made new. A fresh start. Especially in a place where such a possibility is ingrained in ideals, the foundations of the country. Robert Collier once said, “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” That is exactly what I did. Day in and day out. That and ignoring all the commercials that told me I deserve this and the other.

I consider myself fortunate to have experienced living in two very different continents. Love brought me here and the weather kept me frozen. Fargo is home. I had never lived anywhere else other than the country of my birth. I feel richly blessed to have grown up where I did. I am rooted in faith, woven with love, and wrapped with kindness. I feel proud to be American, where I am free to realize my potential and soar to great heights, to be in a place that gives you space to stretch and grow. And that rings true to many young scholars who call America home. I love how America encapsulates the coming together of people from many different nations with stripes of many colors, a patchwork of incredible people. I am happy just to mix in the beauty of my own rainbow.

What lies before your eyes, as you leaf through the pages of this unique book, are the firsthand accounts of brave, enduring and inspirational journeys. A buffet of ‘coming to America’ stories from all cultures, experiences and walks of life. A journey that transports you to many corners of the world, and experience a kaleidoscope of cultures with a multitude of languages.

In this book are stories laden with enormous hope and dreams of many colors. The painstaking process of tackling the unknown and growing with each small successive efforts, as that place where they once laughed and cried and where everybody knew their name becomes but a vivid memory.

I invite you to enjoy your first class experience to these incredible stories of grace, resilience, faith and hope. (Betty Gronneberg)

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