From successful IT professional to the homeless shelter and then…

Priyanka (an alias)

Priyanka had earned an MBA and worked as an IT engineer in her native India. She had many American clients who she loved working with, and she enjoyed learning about American culture. Priyanka decided she wanted to live in America.

There was a problem, however. Her family was very traditional and it was unheard of for a woman to leave her family home until she married. Priyanka really wanted to come to America, so she agreed to the solution her parents came up with. Her parents went online and found an Indian man in America who wanted to get married. The man came to India and he and Priyanka married. Priyanka had not met him before the wedding.

He and Priyanka flew back to America, and there her terrible troubles began. After years of a horrible ordeal, Priyanka eventually ended up with her little son in a homeless shelter for abused victims in California.

Read Priyanka’s whole story and find out how she got to where she is now – working as a quality assurance engineer for a company in Northern Virginia – and why she says “I feel like writing a thank you note to America.”

From Kenya to America – Gabe’s Path of Switchbacks to the Summit

From almost dying in a stalled jalopy on a railroad track to becoming a systems administrator for a government contractor, Gabe’s labyrinthine story finally has an upward trajectory. Although offices in America are more casual these days, Gabe arrives to work in a suit and tie every day. He says, “I dress like this is in honor of everyone whose shoulders I stand on – my family, my teachers, and Training Futures.’’

Gabe grew up in Kenya and after earning an MBA in Nairobi, he was lucky enough to win a visa through the diversity visa lottery. His winding road in America was difficult, from working at Walmart – and his commute was by foot over long distances since he had no car – to joining the army reserves, to landing upon the perfect training for realizing his dream of making a real professional American life for himself. But Gabe never gave up, and Gabe never stopped being grateful for all who helped him along the way – family, teachers, mentors – both in Kenya and in America. His story has all the twists and turns of a page-turner, and you’ll want to applaud mightily for Gabe’s tenacity. Read more about him here.

Nairobi, Kenya

A Heavy Heart Propels Him to Action

Ilshat

A blacklisted university professor survived beatings and torture; he knew that death was the next step. What was his crime? Protesting for democracy.

Ilshat is a Uyghur who was born in Chuluqay, East Turkistan, now called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Ilshat was a great student and was accepted to Dalian University of Technology in Dalian, Liaoning, East China, where the government dictated that he study chemical engineering. During his college years, Ilshat became an activist protesting for democracy. Consequently, the government put him on a blacklist. He was unable to get a job in the capital city of East Turkistan. He had to move, but finally got a job teaching chemical engineering to Chinese students and teaching the Chinese language to Uyghur students in a vocational college at Shihezi City, the capital of Bingtuan. Bingtuan is a paramilitary colonizing force of the Chinese government in East Turkistan.

 Ilshat continued his activism and the government continued to target him. He was detained, beaten, and even tortured. Ilshat knew death was next, so he knew he had to leave. He bribed the police to get a passport and left the country on November 20, 2003. He had to leave his ex-wife and eleven-year-old son. He was able to get to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he went to the UN High Commission for Refugees and applied for political asylum. His asylum was granted in a few months, but he had to wait for resettlement for several years.

 In 2006, Ilshat was finally resettled to the U.S. He was sent to Buffalo, NY where he enrolled in an international institute to learn English, and he managed to get a job in a furniture factory. Eventually Ilshat moved to Northern Virginia to be in the community of other Uyghurs. He was unable to find a job but finally found a training program at Northern Virginia Family Service. There Ilshat met a corporate supporter of the program who offered him a job at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Ilshat has been at Booz Allen for 11 years now and has earned a number of promotions. Ilshat notes, “Communists engineer people and tell them what to do all the time, so people become tricky. They learn to think only of me. In the U.S. we think of we.”

Ilshat’s family life in the U.S. is much improved as well. He remarried and has a new baby. In 2013 Ilshat’s son was able to get out of China and is now in Istanbul. Ilshat is waiting for him to get permission to come to the U.S. and live with him. Ilshat has continued his activism with no worry about being arrested. He provides leadership for a number of American and world Uyghur rights organizations, and is a frequent speaker and a well-known writer in Chinese dissident society.

Things are going very well for Ilshat in the U.S., however all is not well in the world and with his family. His brother was killed by a Chinese mob just because he was Uyghur. His sister was arrested because Ilshat sent her money to help her. His father died in 2015, and he doesn’t know where his mother is, or even if she is alive. He has another two sisters but doesn’t know where they are either. Many Uyghurs are put in concentration camps, so they may all be in a camp. That is a very heavy burden to carry in one’s heart, but Ilshat uses that sadness to propel him to action every day. Ilshat became a U.S. citizen on April 18, 2013, and he says he will always fight for the dignity and human rights of all people. Ilshat declares, “I love the United States really from the heart. It gave me a platform to speak without any fear.”

The Fliers Were Terrifying

Indomitable! Immigrants’ Stories of Perseverance and Resilience tells the stories of 32 current immigrants to America from all over the world. In this blog, I will be highlighting parts of all the stories to show the hardships, successes, and amazing wisdom of the people in the book.  Click on the Store tab on www.ImmigrantGrit.com  to purchase Indomitable! 

In his native Afghanistan, some days the fliers appeared like magic. They appeared everywhere—in the shops, in front of houses, in the coffee shops. Sometimes they were from the Taliban; sometimes they were from ISIS; but the message was similar: “Do not cooperate with the Americans! There will be no mercy for traitors.” Seeing these fliers sent chills down Zeb’s back. He never went out much anymore; he talked with few people; he eliminated all social media from his life.

Zeb (an alias) had worked in Afghanistan for years for the Red Cross, U.S. State Department, and the UN. This was extremely dangerous work and he received many, many threats. Finally, he was able to apply for a U.S. special immigrant visa, but it took one whole year for him to get approval to file a petition for immigrant status and a second whole year to get approved.  Throughout this time, Zeb kept to himself as much as possible and had to constantly be on high alert for imminent danger.  The intimidating fliers kept appearing everywhere.

Eventually, Zeb was relieved to be able to come to the U.S. with his wife and three young children through the International Organization for Migration. Hurdles, however, continued – getting jobs, getting an apartment, getting his Green Card. But Zeb persevered and was able to get valuable training and finally land a good job.

Zeb truly believes, “Although there is not a lot free here, it is really a land of opportunity. I am privileged to be here. If you don’t have something in the U.S., you can fight for it. In Afghanistan, if you don’t have something you can’t fight for it. You will be killed. Here people have the freedom to say something and to do a lot of things. They can raise their voices.”

A Calm Academic Life and then Suddenly…

Indomitable! Immigrants’ Stories of Perseverance and Resilience tells the stories of 32 current immigrants to America from all over the world. In this blog, I will be highlighting parts of all the stories to show the hardships, successes, and amazing wisdom of the people in the book.  Click on the Store button on this website to purchase Indomitable!

Memet’s life changed relatively quickly. For fifteen years he was a respected university professor, supporting his extended family well. Then the political climate changed. His nights became sleepless, racked with fear that the secret police would take him away in the middle of the night with his wife and children screaming in terror. He faced a decision that only the persecuted might face. Should he try to escape with his immediate family and leave his extended family, his career, and his life behind…or should he take a chance that he might or might not be “disappeared”? Looking back, Memet said, “I knew things were bad, but I never expected how bad it would get so quickly.” Jews living in the early years of Nazi Germany had expressed those same thoughts...

Memet is a Uyghur who grew up in East Turkistan in China. The Uyghurs are a horribly persecuted minority group in China. Read his story and see his journey, and learn about what is happening today, right now, to the Uyghur community and culture in China.