Hopes and Wishes
by Azra Zafar
My name is Azra and I came to the United States from Pakistan three years
ago. My husband came to the United States before me. He came to the United
States ten years ago and then sponsored the rest of our family into this
country. He drives a taxi cab. My younger brother, who is 25 years old,
also lives here in the U.S., but the rest of my family is in still in
Pakistan.
When I lived in Pakistan I taught middle school. I taught math, science,
geography, home economics, Islamics, and Urdu. Urdu one of the main languages
that is spoken in Pakistan.
I have four children, three girls
and one boy (Summaya, Asama, Aqsa, and Mohammed Usman). I have one daughter
who is about to graduate from the eighth grade, one who is in the fourth
grade, one who is in the first grade, and little boy who is not old enough
to go to school. I hope that my children will get along. I would like
for my children to get a good education. I want my friends and family
to be healthy.
My youngest child, Mohammed Usman, is only two and a half years old.
I spend most of my day taking care of him, in addition to cleaning, cooking,
washing, sewing, and doing other kinds of housework. This makes it difficult
for me to learn how to speak English, but I make sure that I read every
book in English that I can find and I also write in English as often as
I can. My children speak English well and this makes me happy. When I
speak English, I sometimes have trouble putting the words into sentences.
I would like to get more practice speaking English so that I can put together
longer sentences and eventually talk easily with other people from the
United States.
I hope I someday that I will learn to speak English well because then
I will be able to do other things that I would like to do. For example,
I would like to learn how to drive and get my driver's license, but I
won't be able to pass the written test until my English is better. I also
hope someday to get a daycare license and take care of other people's
children at home. I wish I could do nice things for people and for this
reason I will continue to study English and Education courses.
I wish I could go to Saudi Arabia. Our family is Muslim. In our religion,
it is a life-long goal to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the house of the
prophet Ibrahim. A pilgrimage is a long journey to visit an important
religious place. In Urdu the word that we use for our special pilgrimage
to Mecca is Haij. In addition to my travel for Haij, I someday
want to go back to Pakistan because my whole family lives in Pakistan.
Last Updated By Gail Matthews-DeNatale: 10/08/96
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