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Life in a new world
Mohamed Kasim already knows what he wants for his ninth birthday. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, the third-grader says. He likes living in America, but birthdays just aren’t the same. That’s because most of his family and friends still live in his native Iraq. “Mostly I don’t get a lot of presents over here,” he says. “But in Iraq, I got a lot of them because I was young.” Since coming to America with his family as a refugee in 2000, Kasim balances his two cultures. He practices Islam at a local mosque, plays basketball and goes to Delta Lake with a YMCA summer program. One thing he really likes about living here is school. “I’m glad I didn’t go to school over there, and I came to school here,” says Kasim, a student at Thomas Jefferson Elementary. “When you don’t pay attention, the teacher (in Iraq), he hits you.” And in Iraq, he says, there are no breaks for recess or lunch — one more thing he says likes about living here. |
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