My “step“ sister {removed} remained a figure in a photograph and a voice on the other end of a telephone for seventeen years of my life, until I had an opportunity to meet her for the first time in 2009 on a trip to my family’s country of origin - Lebanon. During this visit, I not only reconnected with my sister, but also inquired into my family’s past and discovered some of the important aspects that defined my identity.
Immediately after unpacking, {step sister}, my father, and I went for a long walk through the war torn city of Tyre in south Lebanon. I got along with her as if oceans and continents had never separated us, and we caught up on everything from music to relationship advice. During the course of our conversation I learned that my father was among the thousands of Lebanese people who were forced to flee Lebanon as result of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. My father and many other Lebanese people found asylum in Liberia. There my father married {removed}, {removed}'s mother. Family pressure led my father to separate from his marriage, and Amal remained in her mother’s custody. The laws in Liberia are such that citizenship is conferred solely upon the basis of race, so when the Liberian Civil war began in 1989, my father was able to obtain a visa to U.S. through his brother but the same was not true for {removed} as she was a Liberian citizen. She was nearly abandoned by her mother until my grandmother provided a "safer" haven for her in Lebanon, where resides until the present day.
My experiences as the oldest child of immigrants and as a member of a family separated by immigration have allowed me to witness first hand the impacts, both positive and negative, that immigration can have on one’s life. Growing up in a home in which Arabic is the first language, I have always been somewhat of a translator for my parents, reading documents and asking strangers for directions. As a result of the positive effects of immigration laws, I enjoy the gift of being able to sleep at night without worrying about violence erupting before the morning. However, as a result of the same, perhaps narrowing immigration laws, I still long for the day when my sister Amal will be able to enjoy the same gift.
Investigating my family’s immigrant past has allowed me to gain an understanding of the greater issues surrounding immigration and have compelled me to get involved as an advocate on behalf of immigrants. I spent my final semester of my undergraduate studies in Washington, D.C., where I volunteered, among other things, as a mock citizenship interview administrator at the Central American Resource Center.
On the first day of interviews, I sat facing my interviewee who was a member of a Mexican family that had been dispersed in the process of immigrating. Her nervousness was evident to me, as I could see the pencil shaking in her hand while she maintained a fragile but warming smile. We were informed to keep detached and stern attitudes with the interviewees in order to best replicate the demeanor of the U.S. immigration officials and hence the environment of the participants’ official interview. The task of remaining detached required significant effort from me, however, because when I looked at her, I didn’t see an alien or a criminal; I saw the faces of my relatives back in Lebanon, I saw a hard working individual who risked everything for the mere opportunity to live a better life, someone who deserved passionate representation.
The empathy I had for the woman in her time of uncertainty did not blur or distract from my advocacy skills and professionalism; rather, my ability to relate to her situation provided me with a source of passion that helped me, help her. I knew after leaving the CARECEN that evening, I wanted to do more for individuals like her.
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