An Interview on the Immigration Experience

An Interview on the Immigration Experience

My respondent’s country of origin is Iraq. At age nine, my respondent arrived in the United States. My respondent migrated with family that includes mother, father, and sister. Queens, NY became their new home in the United States.

The memories that my respondent has of the country of origin are the house the family used to live in, the town, close neighbors, and a memory of school. As life for my respondent was happening so fast, they can only remember the important ones with the grandmother. The grandmother used to take my respondent on trips to see all the historical places of the country.

My respondent still has family living in Iraq. The relatives keep in touch with my respondent’s family. The best source of communication is through video chatting such as Skype and long distance phone calls. They speak frequently over the phone more than video chatting because internet connection is poor where their relatives live and there aren’t many computers available for such use.

My respondent has never been back to the country of origin. Only the respondent’s cousin came to visit for a month and a half at one time. It is very expensive to obtain plane tickets from Iraq to the United States. Only one person at a time can afford to come and visit, typically once a year or a year and a half.

My respondent misses the old home, and grandmother. What my respondent misses the most is the favorite time of the year when the holy month of Ramadan came. My respondent is religious and the month of Ramadan is very important to the family. My respondent claims that Ramadan felt more important back home than it does here. It feels less authentic here in the United States it feels like less people have been celebrating it respectfully.

There are a couple important factors that made the decision for the respondent to come live in the United States, primarily