Guest Blog by Kathleen Sumagit-Rivera Photos courtesy of Asif Ahmed
Fourteen years ago today, Asif Ahmed stared at his new home through the tall, transparent glasses that adorn John F. Kennedy International Airport. He could see his life through those windows, and it was all very foreign. He fixed his gaze on a parking lot occupied by more cars than he’d ever beheld before. When he was younger, he played with several toy cars stacked in a pile. Since then, he had never witnessed more than a few cars clustered together. The crowded parking lot reminded him of one thing: he was not in his childhood home of Bangladesh anymore.
“All I understood was that we were coming to America and leaving behind my country for a better life,” Ahmed says.
When he was nine, Ahmed moved to America with his parents and 23-month-old brother. The family had “won” their visas through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, making the U.S. their new home.
Conducted under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the Diversity Visa Lottery, annually gives 55,000 visas to immigrants with low immigration rates to the United States. However, under The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), 5,000 of the 55,000 diversity visas must be reserved for the NACARA program. A U.S. immigrant visa allows an individual to enter America to live as a permanent resident, which can eventually lead to full citizenship.
Every year applicants register between October and November with a computer randomly picking selectees. There are strict eligibility rules entrants must meet including the ability to show proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or have, within the past give years, two years of work experience in a job needing a minimum of two years’ training or experience, and be a native of qualified countries. Once applicants are selected they are notified by mail between May and July with further visa application instructions and subject to an interview.
Last year the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs reported receiving 13.5 million qualified entries. Of that number, 102,800 were selected and sent a notification letter.
With a luggage full of clothes and a U.S. visa tucked safely away, Ahmed stepped through the doors of JFK Airport and immediately noticed stark differences between his country and America. Whether Ahmed was ready or not, American culture had just introduced itself. Within days, he was confronted with many difficulties, one of which was the drastic change in food. Common Bengali dishes consist of a mixture of fish, vegetables, rice, lentils, and spices to create distinct yet subtle flavors. American cuisine, on the other hand, includes meat-based dishes with pork, which Ahmed cannot consume because of his Muslim beliefs.
“It took me awhile to adjust to school food. When I first entered elementary I didn’t eat school food for a whole month and a half,” Ahmed says. “On my first day, I didn’t eat breakfast, so I remember having a cheeseburger for lunch. It tasted very weird and foreign.”
Another barrier was language. Ahmed and his family speak an eastern Indo-Aryan language that is ranked sixth among the world’s most spoken languages.
“I learned English by watching Scooby-Doo in the morning and Power Rangers after school,” he says with a chuckle. In addition to his daily dose of cartoons, Ahmed took English as a Second Language classes between the 4th and 6th grade as well as an additional year of remedial reading courses to increase his fluency in reading, writing, and speaking English.
“For the first few months, I never did any homework because I didn’t understand,” he says.
While Ahmed studied English and slowly adjusted to American school lunches, his mother, Doulatana Begum, wondered if she made the right decision by bringing her children to a place vastly different than Bangladesh. “The biggest thing I worried about was how my children would adjust to American pop culture,” Begum says. “But, if they receive a good education and a good job, then this move was successful.”
While creating a new home in America can be a terrifying and challenging experience, it can also provide opportunities that may have otherwise been unattainable. According to Ahmed, the term “universal education” isn’t very common in Bangladesh because the ability to receive good schooling depends on one’s academic standing.
“It is very competitive there so I probably would not have made it this far. I’d maybe be stuck in high school or barely making it in college,” Ahmed says.
Most people think that nothing could beat winning the New York lottery. Ahmed is the exception.
“This lotto is better than the New York lotto. There isn’t enough money in the world to buy the kind of power that will give you an opportunity to be a citizen. It changes a person’s life and perspective to be able to come to a land with opportunities.”
