Below you will find narratives about people coming to California from the Middle East.  We hope you enjoy these narratives.  As you read them, please consider how these narratives subvert anti-immigrant narratives that are widespread in our society today. 

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This interview of Yonis Mudey was conducted on 9/17/2016  by Mohamed Ahmed, 9th grader at Oakland Tech. Yonis Mudey is Mohamed Ahmed's dad. Yonis Mudey was born in Mogadishu Somalia, and moved to California when he was 21 years old. He came to the U.S because of many reasons, one of which was the civil war. Once in California, he started to work at a gas station. This narrative subverts the stereotype that immigrant can't work because they don't speak English. Now, he is a psychiatrist helping people who need help.

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This interview of Safirah Mosleh was conducted on 9/19/16 by Humza Alqublani, a 9th grader at Oakland Tech. Safirah Molseh´s is Humza Alqublani’s mother. The interview took place at Ms. Molseh´s house. Ms. Molseh was born in Yemen, in a village named Aden, and moved to California in 1992. She came because in Yemen, everything was far from her village. Like the hospital, the grocery shops, and etc.

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The interview of Jasmine was conducted on September 11, 2016 by Jamara and Maryam 9th graders at Oakland Technical High School. The Interview took place at the living room of her house. Jasmine was born in Yemen a country in the Middle East and moved to America at the age of 9-10. This Narrative subverts the stereotypes that are targeting immigrants saying they lack education some are even considered “dead weight” because of the fact that they lack education. This is what an immigrant has to say to all those people who see her as “dead weight” or even a threat. Our Interviewee had to go through many changes from her clothes to her education but she still says: “America is the land of Opportunities”.

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