It
has been 16 months since leaving my home country. I still sometimes wake up and
wish to be back in Afghanistan but then I remember all the reasons why I came
to the states. I wanted to give my children opportunities I never had, and for
my wife, I want her to be happy and feel valued. I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead
of myself. This is a picture of where I used to live back in the villages.
Let
me take you back to 2007, it a busy day in the village, everyone was coming
home from prayers, I looked up on and there she was standing before me, the
most beautiful person I’ve ever met. As soon as I laid eyes on her I knew one
day she would become my wife. I ran home to my mother to tell her to arrange
the marriage as
soon as possible. We were 18 years old when we got married. We’ve moved to the
states in order to me to my Associates Degree in Information Technology (IT). I
only need to attain this level of education before going back home to Afghanistan,
as the pay for an IT worker there is double what I would be making in the
states. At first, starting school here was difficult as the American dialect
is very different to what I am used to back home (Babin, 2016,193).
However, after a few months of schooling, I got used to it.
It is definitely not an easy task though-my
daily responsibilities. Every morning I get up around 5 am to take my two boys
to school. The eldest is in the first grade and the middle boy is in preschool.
Our youngest is 10 months old. I take the two older ones to school and drive
off to community college to work on my degree. From there, I go to work as a
janitor at a local high school where I do not get home until nearly 12pm. This
means I only get to sleep and see my wife for a mere 5 hours a day. My wife
knows that I would be home more if we could but being the only driver, and the
only one to speak English I have been the only one to bring in any income for
the past 7 years of our marriage. I know what you are thinking, that I am a
sexist who thinks he is the only capable one to support his family. In fact, it
has nothing to do with this type of masculine attitude (Babin,
2016, p.184). I would have loved if my wife had the opportunity to work ever
since we got married, however, that is not the way things work back in
Afghanistan. If you would like to take a look at some more information on
Afghan Americans see this and how we have acculturated in the
states, here
is a great piece by a Berkeley student and this
is more of a political piece on the refugees if that is of interest to you
(Babin, 2016, p.190)
It
was not until my wife met Brea, that everything changed. One day after church,
I saw the two of them talking. My wife then walked back to me with a smile on
her face. She informed me she would begin working with Hope as she loves to sew
and adores children. I thought this was a perfect match.
Now
nearly 9 months into working with Brea, my wife has loved her time with Hope
and the whole team. My wife believes it has given her a creative outlet that
she has never had before. Not only does she appreciate time spent to herself, but
more importantly, my wife loves the positive impact the baby slings have to
mothers, fathers, and families. You see, no matter the religion, race,
ethnicity etc., Hope products bring families together, allow mothers to free up
their hands and do whatever makes them happy for a few hours out of the day. I
know that my busy days are now made a little easier knowing my beautiful wife
is doing something that she loves. So thank you Hope for giving my family a
purpose that is greater than our day to day lives. And thank you to all the
moms out there who are supporting this incredible initiative and for bringing
together moms around the world!
! مننه, Ahmar
Babin, B., & Harris,
E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp.184-195). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
D.C.0, J. H. (2016, June
12). Afghanistan Migration Surging into America; 99% Support Sharia Law.
Retrieved March 29, 2017, from http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/12/afghanistan-migration-surging-america-99-support-sharia-law/
Afghan refugees approach gender in
America with distress and resilience. (2017, February 17). Retrieved March 29,
2017, from http://sph.berkeley.edu/afghan-refugees-gender-america
Usyan, F. (n.d.). Abi Barik Village
Photograph found in AFP, Getty Images, Abi Barik]. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/05/massive-landslide-buries-remote-afghan-village/100729/
(Originally photographed 2014, May 05)
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