America Border Culture Dreamer

I remember the hot sun in Iraq. It was just the desert, the sand. And rocks. That’s all. I can’t remember so well because I was little. I can remember flashing things.

There are two kinds of Muslim people: Shiite and Sunni. Me and my mom are Sunni and my dad was Shiite. The Sunnis and Shiites just killed each other like animals. We weren’t that kind of people. We don’t like fighting, but my dad died.

My mom decided to go to her family in Syria. I was six years old. We went, me and my uncle, my mom, my brother; he was three years old. We started a new life. we were happy until my grandma and my big uncle with his family went to America. I was twelve and the war started in Syria. Another uncle, who has four boys and one girl, they decided to go to Turkey. we went to Jordan to a new place away from the war, to make a new life. We lived for one year in Jordan. One uncle was still in Syria; frightened by the war, he would talk to us every day and then in 2016 he went to Canada. We came to America.

Now I’ve spent just one year with all of my family together here, except my one uncle in Canada. Every weekend another uncle comes from New York to visit us and we have a party. We go to the parking lot to barbeque and we’re happy all together. But now we’re scared of the new president. Is he going to have another war? I’m sad. I don’t want to go to another place.

I hope we’re going to stay all together and nothing happens again. I like to work hard. I like to feel I am doing something. I’d love to do something to help other people. I feel for everyone who needs help and is sad. I’d like to help my family and I’ like to help myself. –Aya