For my interview, I chose to talk to a family friend, a very good friend of my mom who is not a refugee but was taken from her home country at a young age without being accustomed to the culture. Her name is Shala and she is originally from Iran. She left when her father chose to move countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does being an immigrant\/refugee mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Having more opportunities in the U.S.A. as well as having the freedom to vote”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the most important thing to you that you had to leave behind (if any) in your home country?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The most important thing I had to leave behind was family.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What would you say was an important part of keeping your culture alive when you sought refuge in another country?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I was young when I came over. My culture was not as important. I adapted to American ways.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does your family\u2019s experience of growing up right now compare to your experience growing up? Is it harder\/easier?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I had more opportunities. Not oppressed being a female; it was easier.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was it a choice to seek refuge \/ immigrate to the United States, or was it the only option country-wise?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I had no choice. I came to live with my father and his new family.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What circumstances caused you to leave your home country?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Living with my father.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was your childhood like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Once I got to the States, eye-opening. My father still held Persian values.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the biggest struggle of being a refugee?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Language. I had to learn English.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is it like seeing your country in headlines struggling from a faraway perspective?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Happy to be gone. It is nothing like I remembered.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you react to common stereotypes of people from your country and\/or the country itself?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I understand the stereotype because of the country, but not everyone is like that from Iran.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was it like living through the time your country was going through and how did that differ from the past or the present?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The country was grand. Now it is oppressed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the biggest cultural shock\/difference you experienced?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Language, freedom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What opportunities did immigration give to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Family, a voice, rights, opening my own business.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For my interview, I chose to talk to a family friend, a very good friend of my mom who is not a refugee but was taken from her home country at a young age without being accustomed to the culture. Her name is Shala and she is originally from Iran. She left when her father […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":3321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories24"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3319,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions\/3319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/refugeestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}