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#RefugeesWelcome: A Son and Father Talk about Being a Refugee and a Citizen

September 22, 2016

By: Naweed Lemar, HHS (Public Affairs)

Summary:

Naweed Lemar, an employee at HHS, talked with his father, Hashim, about becoming a refugee from Afghanistan.

Naweed Lemar, an employee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, talked with his father, Hashim, about becoming a refugee from Afghanistan. Naweed interviewed his father in his native Dari language and composed the following blog. Both of Naweed’s parents are now U.S. citizens.

Hashim: Living was dangerous in Afghanistan when the Soviet Union invaded to spread communism. I was against communism, and if you spoke badly about the communist party, they would jail you--if you were lucky. Kill you if you weren’t.

I worked at a printing company before the communists seized it. After this, I began working with the Mujahideen [American-backed rebels] to fight communism. I was part of a network that wrote and distributed pamphlets informing citizens of the bad things communists did and what they had planned for Afghanistan.

In 1982, three years after the invasion, there was a lot of pressure on me to get out because of crackdowns on dissenters. I walked from Kabul through the mountains and forests of Afghanistan, before finally arriving in Pakistan for safe haven.

Naweed: Growing up, my parents encouraged me to focus on my education so that, one day, I could live a better life than they did.

I rarely saw my father as he was always working--from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., often every day. Money was very tight growing up. I remember seeing kids wearing fashionable clothes in high school while I wore my older brother’s hand-me-downs. For the first 18 years of my life, my birthday present--when I got one--was always a pack of Bazooka Joe bubble gum.

I used what I considered the hardships I endured as motivation to work hard in high school and get admitted to UCLA.

Hashim: After living in Pakistan for two years, my wife--who I met and married in Afghanistan-- and I were sponsored to come to America by my mother and my brother who were living in New York.

When I arrived on November 28, 1984, I had $45 in my pockets. Less than a year later, I moved to California because the weather was nicer than Albany, New York, and my mother, who was dying of cancer, wanted to be close to her brother.

One of the first things I did when I came to America was take English courses. Then, I went into painting; worked at a pizza shop, which burned down; worked as a convenience store clerk, where I was robbed at gun point three times in one week, and the police told me they couldn’t guarantee my safety if I continued to work there; and drove a taxi cab for 10 years. After saving up enough money, I now have my own limo company.

I feel like I have done very well. I own my home, and my four sons are educated and contribute to American society.

I am very happy to be in America. It is my second country, but I love it as much as my first.

Naweed: After attending UCLA, I attended the University of Southern California to earn my master’s degree in public diplomacy.

Shortly after that, I moved to Washington, D.C., and now work at the Department of Health and Human Services to help make life better for other Americans.

My father and I are happy to share our refugee story in recognition of World Refugee Day and the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees hosted by President Obama this week on the margins of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. We encourage you to join the conversation online and share your story using #RefugeesWelcome.

The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement was established by the Refugee Act of 1980 to help refugees integrate into their new communities in the United States and become self-sufficient.