Now I do real estate. I’m way far from intelligence right now. Because it’s like beating on a dead horse — you’re never going to get hired. It’s just the way it is.
I think there is untrust [of Afghans and Iraqis, even the vetted ones who have worked for U.S. troops and are allowed entry to the U.S.], and it comes from that fear of, “What if we hired that person and that person turned out to be the bad guy?”
In Iraq, there aren’t many people who are willing to work for the U.S. because they know it’s almost 80% chance of death. Once you are signing that contract, you are signing the contract of death. You know you’re going to die; you just don’t know when and how. That’s the chances you have to take. The U.S. was in need of people like me back then because we are in a war zone. So they have to trust you, or otherwise, there’s nobody else to trust.
The U.S. Army job would be like, “OK, you’re good, so we want you to do this and this and this for us. Thank you so much, we’re leaving, you’re staying.” Until, finally, you find the officer that finally accepts you to go to the U.S. Because most of the units, like I said, are revolver units. They come in, they serve 12 months, and by the end of 12 months, they’re leaving, you’re staying. And when the new units come in, you have to establish a whole new friendship with them, so on and so forth. And they go, “you’re staying.”
But when you come over here, it’s a whole different system. It’s not the U.S. Army anymore, it’s different entities you’re working with. You’ve got the FBI, the NSA, the CIA. Other small organizations who — they have their own system, and they have their own requirements, and they have their own pick and choose which one.
Even then, I’d do it all over again. I’m not here to care for the bureaucracy as much as I’m here to help care for Americans. If you work for HR and you don’t hire me, I don’t care, because I’m not here for you, I’m here for the American people. I care for the Americans, for their families and children. I care about the people across the street, even if they don’t like me for who I am, I do like them. You may want to say, “Oh yeah, I hate you.” Well, I don’t hate you! And I’m ready to sacrifice my life for you, even if I don’t know your name, because that’s who I am. That’s the person who I am.
I know this is hard to believe! But this is who I am, this is the person I am. And even if, for example, if I died overseas, I still wouldn’t regret it. Because at least, if my death will save somebody’s life, I’ll definitely do it, without question.
Throughout my life, I learned something that stuck in my head, all the way since I was a child, that the world does not revolve around me. It’s not always about me. It’s always about people, and I just happen to be in there. I have to do whatever it takes so I can make sure that the world revolves around people, not me. Even if that means that I have to do sacrifices, and even if that means I have to stay away from my family, friends, etc., even if that means I have to get shot or if I die. That’s OK. So, it’s not always about me getting the stuff and getting here and there, no.
I have not seen my family in 11 years. I haven’t seen them for 11 years. Right now, I am in touch with them through Facebook, through Viper, WhatsApp. But before all of that technology advanced in here, we, I didn’t have that tools. We did not have smartphones. So, I had to buy the card, and the card disconnect the phones and the phone calls and everything else, but I kept in touch with them, with my family, my friends, everybody else. But that’s a sacrifice I was ready to take, and I took it. It’s a tradeoff.
I got my U.S. citizenship in late 2014.
Now I have my own family. And all Americans are my family. I’ve got a lot of things to look [forward] to.
I hope that people can actually have knowledge about what some translators from overseas are facing and how are they going to make it here in the U.S., in Charlottesville and how they got here, and how can they navigate their lives through this and advance their lives and serving the communities around them.
A lot of people have in mind that translator is just some tool that you use when you need, and it’s OK if you just leave behind, because no one cares. It might be a tool, yeah, you’re using, but, at the same time that tool is very smart and very knowledgeable, valuable. That tool is a human being.
Right now, I’m calling on everybody that has a kind of financial stability, if they’re a businessman or something, do what you can do [for SIVs and refugees].
The IRC have very limited resources. You can either donate to the IRC, or other offices where they happen to take care of refugees. Or you can sponsor an Afghan family that comes from overseas. You can set them in your house, if your house is big enough, and they can stay with you for like, a month or two until they stand up on their feet. This way, you will take the pressure of the IRC so that they can direct those resources to other families. At the same time, it’s a good experience for your family, for your life and all, because these people, when they come over here, they’ve already been pre-screened overseas, either in Germany or in other countries, so, you know they’re not going to be dangerous people. You can house them there. You can have a really good relationship with them. Your family will be socializing with them.
It’s like an exchange students kind of a program.
If you don’t want to do that, you can always have some donations to the IRC, or other organizations where they’re helping these people in need. Because keep in mind, these people, when they come to this country, they only have the clothes they have on. They don’t have the money; they don’t have the language. They don’t have the experience. Some of them do, some of them don’t. It would be great help if the community chip in and help people who are going to come over here. And we will see a lot of Afghans when they come over here, and they have no place to go, or the IRC can’t really take care of that vast amount of people at the same time
There’s also an organization called No One Left Behind. That organization will care for the translators who worked for the U.S., Iraqis and Afghan translators. That organization also help Afghan families and Afghan translators to resettle them here. They’re trying to help as much as they could. If, for example, a businessman or a financially stable person, can contact with them and see how they can help, I’m pretty sure they’ll have all the answers to the questions.
The most important thing you can do is to learn the culture of that person. You can’t just grab that person and start talking to them like they’re your friends. It has to be step by step. “Hi, how are you doing?” See where they are from, what their culture looks like, if they allow another person to communicate with them. And from there, you start to be like, “Hey, how about if you guys come to us, for dinner, or a small little party?” And then start a friendship, and from there you can teach them language, the traditions, the culture, everything else. And they might be open-minded to it and ask you to learn some new things.
I lived a very harsh life. But I hope my child will have a good life. I hope he has more opportunities than me. It’s always hardest for the first generation of immigrants. Immigrants may not have good lives, but their children can. Their children can change the world — look at Steve Jobs, child of a Syrian immigrant — and sometimes, so do the immigrants themselves.
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'I'd do it all over again.' Former Iraqi translator talks about his desire to continue serving the United States now that he's here - Charlottesville Tomorrow
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