While growing up in the Midwest, my mother taught English to immigrants from countries such as Laos, China, Mexico, Poland and Palestine. I remember her telling me about their struggles adjusting to a new culture and language. I followed in her footsteps, teaching English in the Czech Republic, where my ancestors immigrated from generations ago.
Since then, I’ve lived in New York City, Los Angeles and Mexico City, learning firsthand the challenges of being a newcomer. In 2013, my wife, who is from Mexico City, and I moved to Richmond.
With this perspective as inspiration, I wrote the personal histories of 22 immigrants to Richmond who are featured in a new book, “Portraits of Immigrant Voices.” Their stories accompany portraits by Colombian artist Alfonso Pérez Acosta. Together, we set out to capture the diversity of these immigrants’ languages and cultures. Yet even with our differences, I’ve learned how much we all have in common, no matter where we are from. We are all Richmonders who want the best for ourselves, our families, our friends and our community.
Here, we present excerpts from four immigrant stories included in “Portraits of Immigrant Voices.” The book is available at Chop Suey Books, and author proceeds will benefit Afghan and Asian refugees who have settled in Virginia through a fund managed by the Asian American Society of Central Virginia.
A World of Opportunities
Brenda Aroche was born and raised in Salamá, a small town in central Guatemala. “Many Latinos in Richmond are Guatemalan, and the majority of them come from the town of Salamá,” she says.
She met her husband, Mainor, in Salamá in 2000 when he returned to Guatemala during a vacation. (He has lived in Virginia since 1993, working on construction projects up and down the East Coast.) Five years later, they got married, and in 2007, she moved to Virginia to join him, although they rarely stayed home. She usually joined him when he traveled for work.
When their daughter, Chelsea, was born in 2012, Aroche stayed home to take care of her while Mainor continued traveling for work. She struggled to adapt to her new city, a new language and a new culture, all while her husband was away. Fortunately, they continued to travel to Guatemala often, which enabled Chelsea to become bilingual and Aroche to keep in touch with family, friends and her culture. As an added benefit, they often spent the winters in Guatemala to escape the cold.
When Chelsea entered first grade, Aroche discovered through social media the Sacred Heart Center, a nonprofit focused on the Latino community in Richmond. She began taking English as a Second Language (ESL) and citizenship preparation classes there. Her classes evolved into her serving as a volunteer to help Latino families. And in July 2019, she became a citizen of the United States. Aroche now works full-time as an administrative assistant at Sacred Heart Center but often serves as a social worker, a profession for which she studied at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, one of the oldest universities in the Americas.
About being an immigrant, she says, “It’s an emotional challenge to leave your family, your friends, and celebrations in Guatemala. It was very sad initially.”
Yet, she noticed something important. “When I was forced to get out of my comfort zone, I finally decided to start studying English. And then, I discovered a world of opportunities waiting for me. My life changed for the better. I had the feeling of belonging to this society.
“Immigrants make great efforts to improve the lives of their own families. We work hard to adapt to the culture here. We work toward a life of dignity. We want to demonstrate the best of ourselves, manifest our hopes and dreams.”
‘Honorable Princess’
Amira Alsharif was born in Sudan, the African nation just south of Egypt. She speaks English and Arabic. Her first name, Amira, means “princess,” while her last name, Alsharif, translates as “honor.”
She owns and runs two companies. She started Royal Medical Transportation with her husband, Tarig Ahmed, in 2011. They got to know many of their developmentally disabled clients as they shuttled them between homes, group homes and medical facilities. They realized how much demand there was for this clientele for social services and daytime activities.
“I felt some kind of attachment toward most of our clients, to the point that they wouldn’t get in the vehicle unless I was driving that day,” she says. “This led me to think about establishing [another] business offering the same kind of service only better.”
And so, in 2013, her second company became a reality. Future Alliance provides activities, training, and classes for people who are developmentally disabled. She is the CEO and has a staff of nine people.
“This segment of society has the right to live their life like everybody else,” she says. “They have special needs.” So Future Alliance crafts a plan for each person, including social skills, basic life skills training, items to learn, activities and areas to improve upon.
Friends ask Alsharif how she manages two businesses while going to school for her master’s degree, all while raising four children. “It’s all about commitment and the will that you have to achieve something,” she says. “My husband is my helping hand, after God. He always supports me while I go to school and run my businesses at the same time. He helps with the kids. I go to school at night. He makes it easy for me and encourages me to pursue my education.”
She met her husband, who is also Sudanese, in New Jersey while she was visiting her brother. They got married and then moved to Albany, New York, where Tarig had lived previously. They moved to Richmond in 2010.
“I really like the diversity in Richmond,” Alsharif says. “Like in my neighborhood, we have Chinese, Indians, South Americans and Americans, too. When the kids play outside, you see the greatness in this place … the diversity and how people can come from any part of the world and be a part of this country and live in peace.”
Serving His Adopted Country
Maj. Djakaria Konate retired from the U.S. Army in 2019 after 26 years of active service. He was born and raised in Côte d’Ivoire on the West Coast of Africa, a former French colony.
Konate grew up speaking French and Mandingo, a language of the Mandinka or Mandingo people, an ethnic group spread across Western Africa.
He started learning English in middle school but didn’t become fluent until he came to New York City as an exchange student in 1989. He attended New York City College of Technology, taking English as a Second Language (ESL) classes as well as requirements for his associate degree. He juggled a variety of jobs to pay his way through school: hotel housekeeping, messenger and cab driver.
One day on campus, Konate met an army recruiter who explained that the U.S. Army could pay for school, provide a salary and a path to eventually obtain U.S. citizenship. Konate thought it was win-win situation.
“I can serve my host country, I can go to school for free and I love traveling,” he says. Djakaria enlisted, and after he finished that semester, he left New York City to attend basic training in Missouri in January 1993.
He’s been stationed in Missouri, Texas, Colorado, South Korea and North Carolina, and at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California’s portion of the Mojave Desert. In 2012, he was deployed to Afghanistan. Eventually, he settled down and established his family near Fort Lee. He continued taking classes in the evenings while serving and raising five children with his wife, who is also from Côte d’Ivoire.
New missions or new training sessions interrupted his studies. “It took me almost five years just to get an associate degree because I was constantly moving,” he says. Once he completed his associate degree, he started taking science classes at Virginia Commonwealth University and participated in the Enlisted Commissioning Program (AECP), which allows active-duty soldiers to finish nursing school while retaining their rank, grade and military benefits.
Since then, he has continued to juggle his military and family responsibilities while completing his academic degrees. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Hampton University and a master’s degree in emergency and disaster management from Trident University. While in the military, he worked as a combat medic, surgical nurse and respiratory therapist for nearly 12 years, helping wounded soldiers.
“Even though I’ve been in this country forever, I still have that French accent,” he says. “I’m Black. I never changed my name. I had to work twice as hard, discipline myself twice as hard, walk on eggshells to make sure I kept everything in line. I always look towards the end of the tunnel, not the journey in between. I have a goal that I want to achieve.”
Living the American Dream
Mahmud Chowdhury was born in Bangladesh and speaks Bengali, English and a little Spanish.
He came to the U.S. in 1983 with $1,500 in his pocket. He planned to study engineering at the University of Utah, but after one semester, he transferred to the University of Houston and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked two jobs to pay for school and his living expenses. Career opportunities then took Mahmud to Atlanta and eventually brought him, his wife, Ranu, and their three daughters to Richmond in 2000.
“I came here as an area manager for Fas Mart convenience stores,” he says. “Then, in 2006, I started my real estate business, Freedom 1 Realty, and I also bought a franchise location for Sona MedSpa.”
Chowdhury started with one location of the medical spa and aesthetic clinic and grew the business into five Sona MedSpa locations. In 2013, Mahmud sold all five locations back to the franchiser. Today, he focuses on his real estate business, “appropriately named Freedom 1, because it gave me financial freedom,” he says.
“I have lived and am still living the American dream. But it’s sad to see that path becoming narrower for other immigrants.” —Mahmud Chowdhury
What has he learned from his entrepreneurial experiences? “If you’re honest with yourself and other people, then the American dream is still alive and well,” he says. “It’s getting harder and harder, but you can still pretty much do what you want if you aim straight and stay honest and open with people.”
While still attainable, Chowdhury sees the American Dream as getting more difficult because of xenophobia and racism. “More people, politicians especially, are using ‘divide and conquer’ tactics, pitting one group against another group,” he says.
His experience as an immigrant in the United States had been good up until four years ago. “I’m a Muslim,” he says. “And immigrants, especially Muslims, are becoming victims of political hate from the top leadership of this country. I feel it personally and as a community member. It’s just inexcusable, regardless of party affiliation. Unfortunately, America’s image has been tarnished. Whether Republican or Democrat, it should not be like that.
“I have lived and am still living the American dream,” he says. “But it’s sad to see that path becoming narrower for other immigrants. Virginia is a good place to live. Most people are welcoming, and Virginia is for lovers. There is a reason for it. But we need to keep that slogan alive.”
