I met Abraham through work. I’ve known him for almost two years now and until recently almost everyday we would go walking together twice a day as he is huge on fitness and eating right; he is a very strong man. During our walks we would talk about many things. World events, health, movies, his country, and other countries he’s visited… So when the opportunity came up to interview a migrant, I knew right away who it was going to be. There could only be one person and that was Abraham. As you will read below, his story is fascinating. I thank Abraham for his time and thoughts.

Map of Sierra Leone

Capital: Freetown
Area: 71,740
Population: 5,426,618
Currency: leone (SLL)
Internet Code: .sl
Telephone Code: 232

My name is Abraham Sesay and I am from Sierra Leone in West Africa. My whole life I longed for a higher education. This was important to me at a very early age. This would be the reason I left my home country; in search of a better education as the school system where I lived was corrupt. Schooling was free, however, if you did not have money to bribe, or pay off the administrators, your application went to the bottom of the pile and could possibly even disappear, leaving no chance for you to attend. I did not want to ask my parents to do this, so I went out on my own and left my home country at the age of twenty five. My journey took me to several countries through out the world before ending up here in the United States. First I went to Senega, in West Africa; Morocco was next, then Greece. I then traveled on to Israel and lived there for a year and to Cypress for two months, then back to Israel for another three months and from there to Egypt for five months. Before heading to a more permanent location I traveled to London, living there for two months and finally on to Canada for twenty years where I knew no one upon arrival. It’s there I attended school for four years and obtained a degree in economics from the University of Winnipeg. These were some hard years for me as I was alone and had no one. The population there was predominantly white, a culture in which I stood out sorely. I was made fun of because of my race and told by some of the students to “go back and live in the trees.”  It made me sad and lonely to hear these thoughts.

            Eventually I applied for a green card to move to the United States. The process took about two years from the time I filled out the paperwork. I remember it took so long that my original set of fingerprints had expired and had to do them again! It was all very frustrating. If I had known then what I know now, I would have waited in Canada before moving here with out the green card. I thought that I would get it right away and when I moved here I could not work. I basically lived off of my girlfriend at the time. I moved straight from Canada to Arizona in 2000. What a change in weather that was! I’ve been here in Arizona ever since. On that note, I’d like to say a few thoughts about my country and the differences between Sierra Leone and the U.S. I miss my home so thank goodness I have met some other migrants here from my homeland. When we get together we celebrate some of our native holidays such as our Independence on April 27^th. We wear traditional clothing, listen to traditional music and eat traditional foods. It’s always a good time and it keeps me in touch with my homeland. I enjoy networking with the others. I also enjoy the large Hispanic culture here as well. The Hispanic culture reminds me much of my own in the way of their family values and their food. In my country people are kind to one another, they care about their neighbors. There was an instance once where I had just been inside my home for a little too long and the neighbors did not see me, well, sure enough they came knocking on my door wondering if everything was okay; where was I? This is quite different than American culture. In America you could not be seen for days and no one would even notice. In America people are not as willing to share what they have with you. In my country, if I didn’t have food in the house, you just went to the neighbor’s house. They were glad to share with you, always. Also, the crime rate is less in my country. Here there is always crime and crime goes unjustified. In my country it is taken care of right away, vigilante style. That reminds me of a story. One time, I was walking down the street in Scottsdale, just minding my own business, in my own neighborhood. All of a sudden, out of nowhere several squad cars surrounded me. I did not know what was going on, I was confused. They got out of their cars and demanded I get down on the ground right that instant. I did so. They arrested me and I had no idea what for. I found out later, after being taken in, that I fit the profile of a man who had just committed armed robbery. I was very upset and hurt by this. In America, they do not believe the immigrant or foreigner. Sometimes I feel like I am still not welcome here. I have a heavy accent and when I open my mouth to speak I can see it on their faces. They shut down, its too difficult to listen to me, so therefore I am discounted. Over all I do appreciate living in the United States now, however my piece of advice to American’s would be this. Don’t forget that everyone here is an immigrant, or that you are descendant of one. "Some of us came here to make this country great."

The words of Abraham Sesay as written by Laura Jean Blackwell