Stories from teen refugees in Tukwila highlight the Syrian refugee crisis
Dec 1, 2015, 5:44 PM | Updated: Oct 11, 2024, 10:04 am
Solome Taye moved to Tukwila from Ethiopia when she was 14 years old, to get a better education. She's 17 now. (Photo by Rachel Belle)
(Photo by Rachel Belle)
Tukwila’s Foster High School is in one of the most diverse school districts in the country, and Carrie Stradley’s ELL class is full of kids from around the globe — most of them are refugees.
As Americans debate whether Syrian refugees should be allowed into the country, to escape death and danger, these young refugees are feeling appreciative for the freedom and safety they have in the United States.
“I came here to United States alone to complete my education,” 16-year-old Addalrhman Abdalaly said. “This is my second month in the United States.”
Related: As some say no to refugees, local Muslim-Americans worry about safety
Abdalaly moved to the United States from Egypt. His story is fairly typical. He came to America alone, without his family, and lives with a 19-year-old friend in Tukwila. They are like many young refugees tucked into apartments around the region, living without parents.
“I never put in my mind that I’m going to live alone like this,” Abdalaly says. “I’m 16 years old and living alone. At first I felt scared and, like, what am I going to do? Now that I’ve been here for two months I find it easy. It’s not hard to live alone.”
He says he studies hard so some day he can work as an engineer.
“All people know that education from United States is better than Egypt, so that’s why I came,” he said.
When Kang Pu was 13, his mother died and he moved all by himself from Burma to Malaysia.
“[That was] in 2011,” Pu said. “To get a job and to send money home.”
For nearly three years, he worked in a Chinese restaurant and lived with other young people in a house provided by his boss. In 2014 he was able to move to Tukwila and live with an uncle.
“Right now I study. I’m happy. Also, I really appreciate this United States government because I can get a good education for free. Right now I’m learning and in the future I’m using my education to support my family again.”
He has also picked up a bit of old-school American culture, as opposed to his friends who often listen to rap.
“I love country music. I love Olivia Newton [John],” he said. “Also, Conway Twitty!”
Frozan Sidiqu moved here from Afghanistan with her new husband last year when she was 17.
“It was dangerous, lots of fighting and in some towns there is no school for girls who are older than 10 or 20 years old,” she said.
She really misses her family but says she feels safer in America, which is why she imagines some Syrians want to move here.
“They just come to the US to have a safe life and to continue their educations,” Sidiqu said.
Solome Taye, 17, said she could have gone to school in Ethiopia.
“After you graduate there’s no job opportunity,” Taye said. “So, like 70 percent of students, after they graduate the university or college, they cannot get a job.”
Their teacher, Ms. Stradley, has taught refugees from around the world who have escaped war torn counties, have lost their parents and who work hard in the United States to achieve the success their parents want for them. She would happily welcome Syrian refugees into her classroom.
“It’s kind of ironic that our country is turning people away,” Stradley says. “We are a country of refugees and immigrants and for us to be is turning people away is more than ironic. It’s disgraceful.”
The students are currently working on publishing a book of their poems, as a part of the Stories of Arrival Youth Voices Poetry Project. Click here if you’d like to contribute.
