Abdi’s American Dream

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0:38If you listened to our show yesterday, you already know that this week on The Global Story, we're taking a step back from the news and bringing you a special series to mark 250 years since the founding of the United States. This 250th anniversary is a moment of celebration, but it's also a moment to reflect on America as a country as a people and as an idea. We're telling the surprising stories of how America has shaped the world because after all, we here at The Global Story are a show about where the world and America meet. And one of the most successful exports the United States has ever sold the world is the American dream, that tantalizing promise of a better, freer, richer life.

1:22Millions of people have moved to America's shores with the belief that if you work hard, anything is possible. I did not see America as a place. I saw it as an idea, the idea of freedom. But is the American dream fading? I feel like the American dream is alive, but not well. For more than a decade, the BBC has been following the extraordinary story of one dream seeker. Someone who grew up loving America, who literally won a lottery, a golden ticket to come to the United States, and believed deeply in the promise of America, but now has somewhat complicated feelings. From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C.

2:08And today on The Global Story, Abdi's American Dream.

2:16Abdi Noor Eftin grew up in Somalia in the 1990s during a civil war. I don't remember peace. All I remember is war. I have had so many bullets flying, droughts and all that stuff. So there are many situations where I almost died. He experienced a life that no child should have to.

2:35Abdi Nor Iftin:When the war led to a famine, he and his siblings ate sand and tree bark to try to relieve their hunger. And when his baby sister died, Abdi remembers helping to dig her grave. It was in the middle of this crisis when Abdi had his first encounter with Americans. I was in Mogadishu. it was really one night i think i was like seven or something my father was talking to my mother americans are landing tonight i was like what what do the americans look like who are they and i was thinking like giant people you know but then that was the night united states forces were landing in mogadishu there was a smile on their faces you know what i'm saying and i went around these white people and every one of them looks like rambo i shouted rambo rambo rambo and all of them turned bang, just looking at me, smiling.

3:24They were just talking. They were feeding us with jam. They gave us butter, bread. They gave us sweets. It's the tastiest food that I've ever eaten. Wow. Abdi began dreaming of America. He would go to the one house in the neighborhood with the television and watch Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, taking a paper and pencil with him

3:43Abdi Nor Iftin:to jot down words so he could teach himself English, minus the Austrian accent, of course. I'm in love with the American culture. I'm in love with the American education. I'm in love with their beautiful roads and streets. I'm in love with the American language. I'm in love with everything, everything in the United States. These clips of Abdi come from a documentary the BBC made with him back in 2014. Back then, he was just about to move to America to begin his American dream. So with the 250th anniversary coming up this Saturday, we thought, who better to talk to? And I gave Abdi a call. Abdi, it's a pleasure to meet you and a pleasure to have you on The Global Story.

4:30I've heard about your life. I've listened to some of the reporting. I know the BBC had been following your life going back more than a decade. That's right. So it's a real pleasure to meet you. Albeit virtually, but still a pleasure. Indeed it. You are also famous, Asma. I'm famous. That's very kind of you to say. And you're joining us now. You live in Maine. Yes, absolutely. It's nothing like where I grew up. Nothing like that. And so you might be wondering, what is this guy from 110 Degrees Somalia doing in Maine? Maine's been home for a long time now. And this weekend, Abdi will be celebrating July 4th, just like everyone else.

5:09But one part of the celebration triggers memories. Fireworks! This is one of the shocking things about America to me. You know, fireworks. Because I have a trauma about gun sounds and stuff like that. And I remember the first July 4th in 2015, I said, whoa, what two groups are fighting in our neighborhood? because the fire was just so loud, the entire town, you know, lit up. I mentioned already that Abdi had a really, really hard childhood in war-torn Somalia. That was the 1990s. But then in 2006, when he was in his early 20s, Somalia was overtaken by the Islamist group Al-Shabaab. Abdi told me that life in Somalia went from hard to unbearable.

5:58Al-Shabaab imposed strict rules. And that was the first time in my life that I lost freedom. Freedom to have a haircut the way I wanted. Freedom to play soccer the way I wanted. Freedom to go to movies and everything collapsed. And that is what I lost.

6:14Abdi Nor Iftin:Once again, he faced war and his house was destroyed by a bomb. I went to where it used to be my bedroom, which was now gone. I took a shovel and I dig out of dirt like you're digging a graveyard. And I basically lived six feet whole because that was the best way to survive the nightly bullets, the nightly shellings. Hold on. You dug a hole in the dirt and you slept in that concave area. Yes, I did. Oh, wow. Yeah. I lived in there for quite a while within all those years. And I was growing taller. I was becoming basically from a boy to a man, and that's a very dangerous time. Abdi worried that now that he was a grown man, al-Shabaab or another armed group would force him to join them.

7:06Abdi Nor Iftin:So he fled his home country and smuggled himself into neighboring Kenya. He had escaped the bloodshed of Somalia, but he could not entirely escape al-Shabaab. The group had carried out several attacks in Kenya, and shortly after Abdi moved there, the Kenyan government began a crackdown on the Somali immigrant community. Abdi remembers experiencing a lot of violence and discrimination during those days, being chased, for example, by men with machetes who would come to associate all Somalis with Al-Shabaab. Abdi was terrified of being deported back to Somalia, and he dreamed of a way to make it to the safest place he could imagine, America.

7:47Abdi Nor Iftin:But the only possible route seemed like a moonshot. Diversity lottery obviously is something everyone knows about, unless you're American. Americans don't know anything about it. The lottery program was the last desperate thing I had to try. The diversity visa program is an initiative the U.S. government launched in the 1990s to increase the cultural diversity of U.S. immigration. Now, maybe you don't know about this because, frankly, I did not, but in countries all over the world, this program has been a really big deal. In some years, for example, there were over 20 million applicants. Winners are randomly selected for only around 55 ,000 visas.

8:29Abdi Nor Iftin:So it's like the lottery of a lifetime if you win. Abdi applied in 2013, and six months later, he went to an internet cafe to check the results. Here's how he described that moment back then to the BBC. I put my confirmation number, I put my date of birth, and then clicked. And I was thinking like, this is the day, please. God help me. I was serious. So there was a few seconds of silence. You have been randomly selected for file processing, and that's it. I realized that one. I walked out with these friends all, you know, shouting behind me, in front of me, you know, holding my hands, shaking me.

9:13And the guy who belongs to the Internet Cafe also came out. And he said, you won, man, you got it, you got it, you're very young, welcome to America. Man, America's a beautiful country, he was telling me all about America. And that was really a very beautiful day for me.

9:31Abdi Nor Iftin:Abdi was 29 when he moved to the United States. He is now 41. And when we spoke recently, I could not resist playing him a clip of his first impressions. So you win that visa lottery, Abdi. And in 2014, you arrive in Maine. I think it's fair to say as a pretty bright eyed young man. And I want to play you a clip of yourself from that time when you first arrived. It was shortly after you came. You were speaking with the BBC reporter who made this documentary. So can I tell you some of the surprises that strikes me most? I'm the only black on this road. But the good thing about it is that there's no racism at all.

10:17They're friendly. I love them. There's something called a washing machine, a machine that washes the dishes. It was a surprise to me, and it's still a surprise to me. I still don't believe something is washing the dishes. Okay, there's this place that we put the bread in, and the bread gets heated. The toaster. Oh, my God. That's it.

10:43And you know what I just love more than everything else? What? It's ice cream. I never liked it. I thought, like, it's a baby kind of thing. It's a woman kind of thing. But then now I act like a baby. And I was like, they make me fat? I want to be fat. Come with me. I was very skinny in my whole life. I don't care. Abdi? Oh, boy. What do you think as you listen back to that, Abdi? A little embarrassing, I guess. But yeah, it was quite a surprise. But now that I know how everything works. The appliances. The appliances. You know, I'm glad I listened to that because it brings back some memories.

11:28Everything was brand new. But I'm not embarrassed. Come on. You know, everybody has a place to start, and I started right there. At the very beginning, you began by saying some of the things that surprised you. And it was not just about the technological appliances. You say, I'm the only Black on this road. The good thing about it is that there's no racism at all. So I still have a lot of respect for the neighbors who are actually very protective with everything else that's going on. They call me, they text me, they want to make sure that I'm okay. So there's a reason why I'm still in the neighborhood.

12:08So nobody has so far, now many years later, has actually discriminated me based on my race. Nobody has called the police on me yet. Racism, I'm glad I said that. Honestly, I'm very glad I said that because I just came from Kenya where I knew discrimination. I knew hate. Living as a Somali in Kenya, you're saying. Right, right. But now that I have my own car, I've lived here for over 10 years, I have experienced racism, not necessarily in my neighborhood, but across the state. I'm going to say, yes, absolutely. There's racism now. Abdi, what were those early days like in Maine? Whereabouts were you living in Maine, by the way?

12:55Yeah, so Maine is kind of wild. It's wilderness. If you look it up on the map, you see so many trees. I live in a town called Yarmouth. A lot of people know Portland. Portland is the biggest city. And it's just 15 minutes from here if I drive. The early days depends on the weather. What time of year was it when you moved? August. The grass was still green. I thought, wilderness. Oh. I've never seen anything like this in Somalia. It feels great. You know, deer and turkey and all the weird animals that America has. And then all of a sudden, the trees change colors. Nothing like I've seen ever anywhere in Somalia and Kenya.

13:32And it was amazing watching that. And snow has started. I did not know how to explain what I was feeling. The cold, the snow, the fluffiness of it to my mother. She has never had a refrigerator. She has no idea what the freezer looks like. So I remember telling her, mom, it's like your own breath. You can see it because how cold it is. You might be tossing water up in there and freezes. And my mother said, you're describing heaven. So one day, hopefully, my brother and I are actually trying our best to get her over here for her to at least experience snow before she dies. So your first job was construction You were living in this kind of small town Outside of Portland, Maine What was life like?

14:22Construction in Somalia and Kenya Means different things Here, the material is weird It's different The most interesting thing to me was insulation This little itchy stuff That was my job Loading up bags full of that stuff And then here are skeletons of main houses, just wood, nothing else. To me, it's just amazing. And then the other part is basement. Nobody has a basement in Somalia. Nobody has a basement in Kenya. And I remember asking people in Maine, like, is that if a war breaks out, you run into the basement? They laughed hard and they said, no, basement is part of the house, you know. And it was funny that I brought that up.

15:03So, Abdi, did you intend to continue doing construction or were you saving your money during that time period for something else? I was saving money for something else, which was school. I really wanted to go to school. College. College. I went to community college and I walked hard. So from community college, I graduated to a four-year college and that's how I got my bachelor's degree without ever finishing high school. What did you study, Abdi? I studied political science and international relations as my major. So Abdi, you came to the U.S. much like many, many people come to the U.S., millions of people have come to America for opportunity, for, as we say, the American dream.

15:44And a core part of that American dream is the belief that you can reinvent yourself, that here in America, you can be anything you want to be. When you came, did you change from the Abdi you were in Africa? No. I actually think I became more connected to the Abdi I was back home. I say that because one thing that scared me the most when I moved into the U.S. is I saw young Somalis born in the U.S. unable to speak good Somali and identity-wise feeling identity crisis going on in their minds. And it made me think I should be glad that I speak English, but I'm also I should be more grateful that I am attached to where I come from, to who I was.

16:36So, Abzi, did you always feel when you first came, did you instantly feel that connection with Somalia? Because you mentioned you loved watching the movies and you were so into American culture. And so when you came, did you instantly feel like you want to reconnect with your Somali culture? Did that happen over time? So first of all, I take the courage to try to integrate. Let's say that word. Going out skiing, even though my friends here, Somali friends here in Maine keep telling me that's a white thing. Stop going skiing. What do you mean hiking? What do you mean you went up to, you know, and I understand where they're coming from.

17:14But I'm not scared, mostly because I don't think integration steals anything from me. I know how to bake pies now. America loves pies. Apple pie.

17:23Abdi Nor Iftin:You can make that one. Apple pie, exactly. Yes. Even though pecan pie is my favorite. Oh, yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. But after all, I'm American because I'm voting. I don't know if so many Americans would agree with me when I say I'm American because I've been told, go back to your country. I've been told, you know, deport. I hear that word a lot, even though they have no idea who I am and that I'm a voter as a naturalized American citizen now. but there's two sides of america there's a side that is respectful wants to listen wants to hear our stories wants to eat our food and then there's the other side that really feels we're um poisoning them right i'm not using that word lightly i've been told that before you know bringing sharia law into our neighborhood it's like what do you mean i've never mentioned that wear it anywhere.

18:16I don't carry a microphone or run around and talk about Sharia. And so, yeah, it's sad. We started talking about this earlier, how much the American dream is connected with people's idea of economic opportunity, right? That I'll have a life and that my children will have a life that is better than mine, that there's this idea of social mobility. And a key part of the American dream, I think for many people, has been wrapped up in money and economic opportunity In the early days when you were getting your first jobs in Maine, did you feel like you were living that economic American dream? No, because I don't own a house.

18:56Housing, you know, it's considered a crisis in the United States. It's one of the difficult things. It's a very messed up system, obviously, with who can own a house, who can buy a house, who can live this dream. But that doesn't make me upset because now my mother has a house. And she's living with my sister and they're living in Somalia. You sent her money all these years? Because of the money I sent.

19:28You know, when I say a house, it's a Somali house. No refrigerator, no 24-hour electricity. Some guy delivers water once every week. but they think that's actually joy. They're really happy. Obviously, owning a house in the United States is tough. It requires wealth, and most immigrants invest with their families, and that's what I have done, just make mom happier and make her live a happy life.

20:09Hi there, I'm Asma Khalid. And I'm Tristan Redmond. And together we're the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC.

20:16Abdi Nor Iftin:For those of you who might be new to our show, we here at the Global Story dive deep every weekday on one big story at the intersection of where the world and America meet. And you can now watch the Global Story on the iHeart app. Catch every brand new episode every weekday. Just tap into iHeart to start watching. And we hope you enjoy the show.

20:41Abdi, a few years after you arrived, Donald Trump first entered the White House. He won the presidency. And he directed quite a bit of ire towards Somali immigrants. He instituted a travel ban that put restrictions on people coming in from Somalia during his campaign. I think Islam hates us. He had a lot of negative comments directed towards Muslims writ large during that campaign cycle. There's something there that there's a tremendous hatred there. And spoke about them as a threat to American life, American society. And we have to be very vigilant. We have to be very careful. And we can't allow people coming into this country who have this hatred.

21:26What was that time like for you? Gosh, yeah. You know, not only did he say those things, but he also came to Maine. And he made the speech. He has directly attacked the Somalis directly. I remember feeling the same scare trauma that I felt in Kenya and the Kenyan president ordering Somalis to be deported. And how shaky and scary and completely devastated I was. sort of feeling like I never, never thought in America I would feel that way. Never. I thought I escaped when I left Kenya. I escaped that fear. Did you feel at that time that people treated you any differently as a Somali immigrant? There were a few events that I went to when someone said, are you happy with the American way of life or something like that?

22:25And I said, well, clarify, what are we talking about here? Like, are you happy to see church or do you want to see more mosques? Someone said that at one point. And I said, no, if you're really thinking I want church to go down or mosques built up. If you're thinking that way, no. But I love diversity. I want to see a church, a tumble, mosque, everything else. So people did begin to say things to you differently. Oh, yeah. You would say during that time period. Oh, yeah. I think it's a Trump narrative that makes people feel scared because Trump said something like they don't integrate. You know, I feel like people who listen to him immediately felt, oh, OK, so the Somalis are actually moving in to take over.

23:10So we're talking to you now at a moment in which Donald Trump is back in the White House for the second term. and one of the policy changes he has made around immigration is that he has paused the visa lottery program. Yeah, nobody's coming through the visa lottery, which is the same program I came into the U.S. So I am lucky that I'm here because if it was now, when I was going through my interview and everything else, I'm 100 % sure that I would be locked out right now. I feel really bad for all the other immigrants overseas who still dreamed of America and the American ideas the same way I did, who got completely locked out now because of the Trump administration's immigration process.

24:09How has your life felt different in the United States in this second term of the Trump administration? I lost my full-time job. I had this amazing job at a nonprofit that supports immigrants. And I personally helped Ukrainians, refugees from Ukraine when the war broke out. And I was working with the organization at the time. It's called Church World Service. in Afghanistan when the withdrawal happened and so a lot of people were stranded. I was enjoying doing that job quite a lot. And so what have I lost since Trump was elected? I lost my job. I lost my health insurance. Oh, wow. So you lost your job because this was a, was this a refugee resettlement agency?