“The need for family reunification” by Elizabeth Zion starts off with her talking about how her family converting to a different religion from the one that was commonly practiced in Nigeria caused her family to face persecution. Her family decided to flee from their home and move to Ireland for a better life. Although they faced a major problem which was her father after 18 years still wasn't able to leave Nigeria and come to Ireland with them. She then talked about how hard it was for her mother to take care of their five children on her own without a husband to help her and how at one point they were even homeless. Finally she talked about how important it is for families to be able to be together and how the government shouldnt be able to keep families separated.
“If my father was here, I would have never had to witness my mother painstakingly try her best to raise my two sisters and I along with my two brothers alone.” (Zion 1)
In my book Out Of Nowhere by Maria Padian the protagonist, Tom Bouchard, lives in a city in Maine that recently has become a hot spot for Somali immigrants. Tom is a soccer player and plays for his high school team which has recently gained some new Somali players. Throughout the book it becomes apparent that it's going to take a lot of work in order to work together and build friendships. Although Tom meets a Somali kid his age named Saeed that he plays soccer with. He then starts to realize the ingrained racism and stereotypes that were all around him. Tom starts getting close to Saeed and learns about his family situation. At one point he has to help him fill out a form in order for Saeed to continue to play soccer for his team. When he goes to Saeed's house and meets his family he learns how hard life is for them, for example how Saeed's mom can’t even spell her own name.
“My mother does not know how to write her own name. But I will write for her on these lines, and she will put her mark,” (Padian 19).
I feel that they connect because Saeed is also without a father in his life and his mom relies a lot on Saeed and Saeed’s siblings, specifically with English and writing, and it shows how important a family is.
How do immigrant families help each other out that differs from non-immigrant families on a daily basis?
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