My name is Diaa al-nasser. I am from Syria and I grew up in the city of Homs. Homs is an ancient city, located in the center of Syria. A beautiful old castle called Krak des Chevaliers, is there. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most important medieval castles in the world. Syria also has a special river that goes from Lebanon to Turkey. It's called Orontes. The name means "different" because it goes the opposite direction than the other rivers in Syria. If you tell your kids to do something and one of them doesn't do it, you would call him "Orotes." Homs was a very beautiful city with many trees and rivers.
I went to Trade High School in Homs and graduated in 2001. After that, I went into the Army. In my country, every man must serve in the Army for 2 1/2 years. I wanted to finish my military duty before getting a job or going to college. I loved to cook, so after serving in the Army, I opened a restaurant. I called it "The Sunshine Restaurant" because my name, Diaa, means "Sunlight." There was no place for tables and chairs, so it was a take-out restaurant. I made shawarma, falafel, hummus, mutabal, tabouli and many Arabic foods.
I also found a job working in a hospital. I was very busy with 2 jobs. I worked in the hospital from 8:15 - 3:15 and then in the restaurant from 4:00 to midnight, 7 days a week. I wanted to keep learning, so I registered for Trade College, an open college where I worked on my own every weekend. After 3 months, I got sick and couldn't work anymore. The doctor found out that I had kidney problems. I had dialysis for 2 years and finally got a new kidney in 2009.
In 2011, the war started in my country. That was very difficult, scary and sad. "Why?" I asked myself. "Why does everybody fight?" There was bombing everywhere. I didn't have my medication. The Doctor gave me an iron injection and I was allergic to it. I couldn't breathe and almost died. It was hard for me to find a safe place for my family. There was my wife, Waad, our two children, my parents and 2 sisters. We moved seven times. Everywhere we went the war followed. The war looked like when a fire starts. Soon it will spread and be here and burn everything--a whole country.
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n 2013, we left our country and flew from Damascus to Jordan. I didn't want to do that, but it was necessary for my family. When we were in the airplane, we looked down and saw a country with no trees, no water, all desert. It looked so different from our green homeland of Syria. When we arrived in Jordan we lived in the basement of an old house. It was hard for us to find a house because there were about one million Syrian refugees there.
We lived in the basement for 6 months with no sun or fresh air. Then we moved to a good house. I registered at the United Nations to get help for food, to find a job and to find another country. I learned that my house in Syria was bombed when we were in Jordan. We couldn't return to Syria. Everything was gone. My parents and 2 sisters still live in Jordan. They would love to come to the United States, but they can't.
In 2014, a person from the United Nations spoke to us and asked us "would you like to go to the United States?" I told him "Yes!" Then we went to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to check our information. They asked why we were seeking refuge and why we couldn't return to Syria. We finally got our ID's and passports. This took over two years.
We got to the U.S. in December 2016. We flew over Chicago and it was amazing from the sky. I loved the U.S. even before I landed on the ground. From the sky, we saw it is a big country where everything is beautiful.
Then we flew to Detroit. As we flew over, we saw frozen lakes and white snow, but I knew that everything would turn green and the lakes would turn to water, because I had read all about Michigan. I was happy to see the water. It gives everything life.
We landed at the Detroit airport. It was very big. Everything is big here. In my country, we don't have tall buildings. When someone tells you something, you can imagine, but you don't really know. When you see for yourself, it is great. Here you say "seeing is believing."
Travel was hard for us. I was sick and now we had 3 kids. The trip was about 31 hours---about 15 hours in the airplane and about 15 hours in the airport. We waited for someone from Jewish Family Services to pick us up. They helped us so much.
We stayed at a hotel for 2 days. Then an American family took us in as guests for 2 weeks. They were an amazing family. We don't speak English. They don't speak Arabic, but we understand each other. They were lovely, kind people.
We moved to Ypsilanti. Now we must learn English, but I was sick, so I couldn't go to English class. Jewish Family Services helped us. My kids started school. They didn't know English but they learn fast.
Then I heard about Washtenaw Literacy from my kid's teacher. I connected with Jennifer and now I have a tutor. Everybody here likes to help. I am happy to study English and American culture. I study hard and I am more independent. I want to improve my language to help my kids and myself.
War is bad for everyone, humans, animals, and the earth. For me, now my country is the United States. This country saved me, respects me and keeps my family safe. I loved Syria and I almost died in my country. Now my home is here.
I sincerely love the country and the people of the United States.
Diaa
