*Some grammatical/spelling edits have been made to allow better understanding.
My name is Ali Jami. I am in 10th grade. I was born on August 10, 1996, in Kabul, Afghanistan. I didn’t see my country Kabul, because I was a kid, I was a baby. My father was a surgeon doctor. He worked in hospital, in Kabul. This hospital is very big all the people come this hospital. My mother worked in school, and she was Persian teacher. My native language was Persian.
In 1996, the war began in Afghanistan with Taliban. After the war my father left Afghanistan after 19 days my mother and I moved to Pakistan.
In Pakistan my mother and I lived in public housing for a few days, public house is small, bad and smell is bad, after a few days I with my mom moved to Iran, because we can’t live in Pakistan.
When we went to Iran we got to live with my uncle and aunty, for a year. Then after this my dad called us, and he said we have to go to Azerbaijan because it will help us to come to Moscow. In Azerbaijan we lived with best friend and his family in his house three months. The house was very big, in this is house lived two families, my mom don’t want lived. After three months we moved to Azerbaijan then we went to Moscow by car.
We came to Moscow in 2000. We lived 14 years as refugees, we did not have a Russian passport that would be nice to live in there, but we had some documents for refugee. In 2001 I went to kindergarten in Moscow, I lived with my parents. In 2005 I went to school 1st grade in Moscow. In 2007 I changed my school, because I had many problems with the teachers because they didn’t like the Muslim people.
In Moscow I had a lot of friends, but with many boys I had problems because they didn’t like Muslims. Because the people in Moscow said “This is my country why you came to.” Every morning I walk with my friend to school, after school I usually was goingto my friend’s house to work on homework. My brother was born in 2005 in Moscow. In 2009, he went to kindergarten.
In Moscow my dad had his own restaurant, and in 2007 Russian people destroyed the restaurant because we did not had a permanent resident card or passport to legally to live in Russia. My mom, she was working at beauty salon, and she was a manager.
In 2012 we sent our documents to IOM to come to America then they approve us to State of Missouri with my all my family. In August 16 I’m going to Rock Bridge High School and Hickman High School, and I’m in the 10th grade and I’m taking English class. In Hickman High School I have other classes. In America now my dad works in restaurant, India House. My mom doesn’t have work.
Now we live in apartment. After three months we will move to a public housing because in my family just my dad works because my dad’s job doesn’t pay well and we don’t have money for the apartment.
By Maria Kalaitzandonakes
