From Ethiopia To The UofM

In a corner of the semi quite basement of Coffman Memorial, at the University of Minnesota, our group pulled together a couple chairs to interview a fellow student, the roommate of one of our group members. Our interviewee requested that we change his name to Sollan Mcfarkane for the purpose of the project. Sollan, having been friends with Tyler, from our project group helped him become comfortable in sharing his stories with us. Tyler was familiar with Sollan’s journey to America but the rest of our group members were not so he began to tell us a little about himself.  

Journey to America

Basically I was born in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa to be specific. My parents were from two different part of the country. There was Oromo and Tigray. So I am part Oromo, part Tigray, Ethiopian as a whole.

I came here when I was thirteen with a DV visa. They (America) have lotteries and you get picked and come here. My older brother, he was older, I think he was 24 and the legal age limit was 21 to come here and he was not able to come. It was sad...It’s been five years and I have been trying to go back and everything but it’s hard. But both of my parents came over with me and we live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They told me literally three months before we came here. That’s how sudden it was for me. They were preparing, like a whole yearlong and they told me at the last three-month. I don’t know…I think it was so I don’t say YEA WE ARE GOING TO… they told me three month before and I just had to say goodbye to everybody in three month. Sollan laughed … and then, in response to our question of whether he wished had known longer or if he had been nervous…he responded…

Oh yeah definitely, definitely. I wished I had known longer. Hell yea… I was really nervous. I mean I came here and I just stayed at my cousins’ house for three month when I came here. I mean it was the same culture and like the house was basically my cousins’ and they all speak the same language Amharic so it felt like home. But you know I adjusted throughout with them. And they helped me around.

Different people come to America for different reasons. Some come to seek protection escaping war zones, escaping natural disasters, etc. but others come to seek more opportunities to succeed educationally. In the places that they come from, the opportunities that are available even to the elites are not comparable to the opportunities available in America. So people leave their homelands seeking the promised opportunities of America.

“When I was back home I didn't value education as much”

Knowing that all immigrants have a drive that pushes them to make the long journey to America, we were interested in knowing what pushed Sollen’s family to come to America. When we asked him the question, with confidence and nodding his head in agreement his answer was simple…

Basically education. I mean my family was well back home. Like we had a pretty good life. The only reason they choose to come here was for my education.

There are differences in the education system between America and Ethiopia though. The main difference is basically that this is a first world country and it’s very advanced with things like electronically based essays. I never heard of essays in my life (he told us laughing) never wrote one and now it’s like what? Back when I was in Ethiopia, we didn’t like, you know how you switch classes every period? We didn’t do that back home. We had one classroom we just sit in and the teacher just switches. As he talked about the differences in school systems, his face lit up and he remembered a story and shared it with us. This one girl I knew, it’s a funny story. She didn’t know that and she just sat in her first period class, which was chemistry and she sat there the whole day and learned it four times and the teacher didn’t notice her. So she didn’t know that was the same class. And after a while he was like what are you doing here four times. It was funny. One of the hardest parts of the different education system here, he paused to think of how to complete his thoughts…we did have the huge midterms and exams at the end of the year. Here you guys have ACT, SAT, and that would decide your college transition but there we had two significant tests. Every year you have to take huge midterms, deciding whether you move on to the next year. At twelve grade you have one huge test; It concludes four years of high school. I think the SAT includes more of the general knowledge that you have learned. But that is like strictly what you have learned throughout the four years of high school and it’s a lot harder.

Sollan’s family came to America for his educational success. As the night went on he began to open up about his own perspectives on education.

When I was back home I didn't value education as much. I did go to school and everything but it wasn't that huge part of my life like when I came here. My family left everything they had for me, for education so it just became this whole thing I had to do. So every day after school, I study and stuff, you know, college was the dream, I had to go straight into college, graduate, like, it was the whole thing. When I was back home I was a very chill, American person, like in a very third world country. A chilled person you'll say. I was just about to get a job after high school, like construction because I love math and stuff. Now, I'm gonna major in electrical engineering. Coming here (to America) made it possible. Back home, not a lot of people went to school. I mean unless it is private school people, they went to college, because that was like basically part of that social class. I went to a public high school and most people from didn't go to college. Coming to America opened doors of opportunities for me and I believe for many immigrants.

As Americans living in the West where we have access to all kinds of technology, we know very little about the lives of others and their cultures. Around the world, people have access to things like American movies and shows that gives them an incomplete image of life in America. With that picture in mind many people come to America but soon realize that what they saw in the media was not the full representation of life in America. 

Incomplete picture of life in America

Knowing that many people, especially those coming from third world countries have an impression of life in America based on media influence, we asked Sollan if he found this to be true, in which he responded…

Oh hell, A lot, A lot, very A lot. Before I came here, my friends think they knew about America and made a perception through media and stuff. So they just think it’s party. I mean it is kind of party and stuff, but still they just think it only that. One of my friend asked how my prom was because he watches a lot of high school movies and stuff. People think life is very glamorous. I mean it kind of is, but it's not. When I came to America for example, I thought I was like everybody. Let's just take Christmas for example; because I thought when we were celebrating holidays here, I thought we were going to getting gifts and stuff…I didn't get any gifts at all. I mean even after I came here, I didn't get any gifts at all. That's how we celebrate it (back in Ethiopia) and coming here didn't even change it at all.

Also, in classrooms (schools), you see, I thought there was bullying and stuff, but that did not happen, I mean that didn't happen to me, I'm not saying it doesn't but yeah. After I came to America, I thought it was going to be a glamorous life.  My fiends still think that I am rich and stuff. I perceived that out here there was going to be a lot of money. Like the first year here we were on EBT cards. And after, my dad started working, but he wasn't working like a job that was making a lot of money. We weren’t living a poor life but a decent life. I don't try to tell my friends, I try to tell them it’s okay. I'm still trying to, trying to make money, trying to live myself as they are doing. You have to work for it; you gotta be educated. You don't sleep in money; it’s not like what it is.

Coming to America we know every immigrant comes with a dream no matter how far fetched it is. So we asked Sollan… what was his American dream before, and what is it now after couple of years living in America?

Before I came, I was thinking of living in this suburban house, you know, like 5 bedrooms, a huge house with a huge backyard, sunny every day like in Cali, you know? Just get toys every time, videos games, I mean, I don't know why, but definitely that's what I thought. I remember the first time I got here. I went to my uncle’s house and lived there for like 3 months. I’m like what, where our house? Where are we going to live? Where's our huge house? And I ended up going to an apartment, it was like oh damn.

 

Among many Americans, there is a misconception of who immigrants are and why they come here. Many fail to understand that being an immigrant is not easy and they are not any different than the mass. With our interview coming to an end we thought to ask Sollan one last question to close it off and that was his message to America as an immigrant youth...in which he responded saying…

As an immigrant we are just trying to survive you know, we are just trying to get educated and succeed and add on to the community and economy. Coming here especially for like teenagers, kids that come here they have a hard time adjusting. So I mean, People need to be supportive especially in classes if they need help. I wish I had some people to help me with my classes when I struggled.  

Image Credits:
1. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/etafrica.gif

2. http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45354000/jpg/_45354907_-5.jpg 
3. http://www.educationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ACT_SAT.jpg

4. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGGZPPuyciiYCgtGO17p4u0R4BTzXqsPpPSMkdCTvl63jK7D34lvTX4W_3LecO8i5XMiuLg5H0xhBMBHI1oBiZIKZSqH87tXfzfIyifZBvwIz0hp3NXFvn4lMjhnqN3Uo-J_B4kVAKz7f/s400/xmas19.jpg 

5. http://organizeassim.blog.uol.com.br/images/pre.jpg

6. http://heritageaction.com/2013/07/hensarlings-plan-to-end-fannie-and-freddie-overcomes-first-hurdle-but-faces-another/

7. http://funeralparlour.com/FuneralParlour/Pictures/Blog/Ways-to-be-Supportive.jpg

Story Facilitators:

Kimiya Rabu, Tyler Geissler, Wang Vang