Immigration

Immigration is a loss of status,

A loss of the ability to speak and to write,

Your language is neither cared for nor even understood,

And the new language is a mystery to you,

Immigration is falling back into infancy,

While you are wearing a full grown up body,

You can’t speak, and you don¹t know where to go,

You are talked to like a child,

Often with sentences ending with, “Do you understand?”

Immigration is the anxiety of writing an email,

Always wondering and doubting yourself,

Hoping that your choice of words is right,

Hoping that you don’t sound rude or impolite,

Hoping that the recipient of your email does not judge you,

as someone who has no education because you misspell,

Immigration is bleeding through the journey for several years,

Immigration is lunging to get a chance to hear Mom, Dad, Sisters, Brothers, Niece, Nephew’s voices,

And having to pay several dollars per minute in order to be able to talk to them,

Immigration is the year going by without anyone around noticing any of the celebrations and holidays you cherish,

Immigration is watching others enjoy their holidays and celebrations with their family while yours are out of reach,

Immigration is living in an environment where there is nothing about you,

Not a word about the customs and traditions you grew up with,

Not a word about your food, you culture or your history,

Immigration is being labeled “Ethnic”, I never understood what that means since all human have ethnicity not just one group,

Immigration is being talked to in a condescending way “you poor immigrant coming from a third world country.”

Immigration is thousands of feeling spinning in your heart while seldom you find an ear to hear you,

Immigration is being afraid to share the flaws in your country, religion, customs and traditions and see or hear the expression of pity,

Immigration is losing the illusions you had when you came in,

Immigration is a dramatic human experience,

Immigration to the USA is the hardest and most painful thing I had ever done,

My experience is as if I am an uprooted full grown up tree,

I carried my tree on my shoulders and traveled from one side of the globe to the other,

The tree and I face to the whole world,

My country did not help me to make the move and the USA did not help me to come here,

I had to make my case and prove that I am a decent human being,

While I am looking for a safe spot to plant my tree and nurture it again,

It has lost all its green leaves and juicy fruits and a lot of its roots died,

I finally planted my tree again and I am nurturing it and doing my best to protect in and make sure it adapts to the weather and the dirt of the new land.

Hoping that it will grow and make the biggest and juiciest fruit it ever made!



© Copyright 2003, Najat Fares Kessler.