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Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Madina "Some people do not like me here, but I am trying to stay neutral; I do not want to fight with the Americans." (Somalian girl October 25, 2004) Being an exchange student in America, and trying to adjust to a new culture, I can easily associate with the local Somalians who have recently immigrated to the United States. I can feel what problems people might have beginning a new life in a new country. Twice a week I stay after school for two hours to help Somalian students with their homework. Before starting my volunteer work, I had asked myself, "Do I really want to do this and am I really ready?" I knew exactly what the answer to this question was. Of course I wanted to, but what would it be like to spend time with Somalian teenagers? Not only did they need me to help with their homework, but they also needed someone to talk to, someone to share their problems, questions and opinions with. They are really kind and open people, often starting up conversations with me or revealing new sides of their lives to me. Last Tuesday I was helping a Somalian girl with her parenting class homework. We were discussing how people start a new family and how they prepare themselves to become parents. She was very capable and it was quite easy for her to understand the new information. She then began asking me about my own country and myself. Gradually, I found myself more and more interested in exploring the Somalian culture. I could talk to them about everything, and they were eager to answer my questions. For me, I discovered more about the lives of Somalian people here, which fascinated me. It seems that they feel like there is a wall separating them from American citizens, that they can hardly communicate and that it is quite hard for a Somalian immigrant to take a proper place in modern American society. They live together, avoiding neighborhoods with Americans, being afraid of possible conflicts and arguments. Wherever they are, Somalian people try to group together with other Somalians by living in small communities of their own. Some families have lived in the United States for ten years and some for five years, but the situation has not changed. I am certain that local people could make the first step towards change by simply helping immigrants to adjust. One of the problems I think are stereotypes. People cannot like and understand each other if they do not even know each other. With this in mind, I started to have several conversations with my American friends. One of my classmates said, "I cannot say that I do not like Somalian students; I just do not understand their way of life, their culture. I think we are too different." One time I was helping two Somalian girls, Fatuma and Nawal, with world history homework. They were willing to learn, and I was glad to see a lot of curiosity in their eyes. Talking to them about my experience here, I told them that even for me, it is not always possible to be good friends with all of the Americans that I meet here. Another Somalian student, Abbas, began to wonder aloud, "You are similar to Americans, you belong to the same race and you still have some differences?" I hope that, in some way, my similar experiences will help them to change their points of view. Without a doubt, my civic involvement has been an incredible experience. It has allowed me to contribute in a positive way to my host community. I have learned more about America and the American people from its immigrants, and building relations between Americans and immigrants was always interesting to me. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about this from within the different communities themselves. I still discuss this question with my Somalian and American friends, trying to destroy those prejudices that people might have. I will be very happy if my work will somehow help to create a bridge between these people and these different communities. By informing people about each other and by making sure that friendship and kind neighborhoods are always possible, I am certain that common ground will be found here. The lessons I have learned here in America will help me when I return to Uzbekistan, where I have often felt as Omar, a Somalian boy, did when I asked him about his interaction and communication with local Americans. “It is the same thing in all countries, each nation dislikes some other." Omar's opinion sounded more realistic, and caused me to rethink how difficult it might be. It gave me a lot of things to think about. In some ways, I think he is right. In some ways, my country faces problems communicating with other nations. Sometimes it is hard for ethnic Russians and Uzbek people to interact in my country. Maybe these cultures are too different, but different does not mean wrong, just different. I know there is some kind of inacceptance between these people, but I am sure my volunteer work experience in America will help me to understand the situation better in Uzbekistan and to find some keys to a solution.
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