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MURRAY — Imagine you're one of the hundreds of Iraqi refugees who've moved to Utah the past few years. You don't speak English. You can't find a job. Life’s hard. But imagine how much harder it is to navigate a new country if you can't even see it.
Majeed Shaher understands the words spoken inside a mosque. He speaks Arabic and has actually memorized the Quran.
But out on the street, he struggles. Through an interpreter Majeed said life is hard because he is learning English for the first time.
Shaher, who is blind, lived in southern Iraq until he changed Islamic denominations. A family member was arrested, a mosque was bombed and he received threats.
What would have happened if he stayed? “They will kill me if I stay there,” he said. “If I stay there, they will kill me and my family.”
He fled to Jordan and two years ago was resettled in Salt Lake City.
Once a week, a volunteer from the English Skills Learning Center tutors him and his wife.
“He’s doing great,” said volunteer instructor Lisa Bachiller. “He's the best student I’ve had. He's very thirsty for learning English.”
But this has not been enough. Because he is blind, because his culture encourages his wife to stay at home, he doesn't get much chance to practice his new language.
“He needs to be out talking to people, and usually as a man he'd be able to do that,” Bachiller said.
I want to communicate with American people, and I want to depend on myself.
–Majeed Shaher, Iraqi refugee
#shaher_q
Shaher wants to learn English so he can go to the blind center. He says he wants to be able to walk on the street like everybody else. He also wants to be independent and to find a job.
“I want to communicate with American people, and I want to depend on myself,” he said.
But this is the most important reason: his son, Abdul Malik. The boy is almost 5 years old and prefers to speak English.
Shaher speaks Arabic, Abdul Malik replies in English, and the father doesn’t understand the son. Shaher is afraid of losing the ability to communicate with his son.
So, for now, Shaher spends most of his days sitting at home. In Jordan, he said he heard that in the United States blind people could be independent.
“This is my reality,” he said. “I am dreaming of change this life.”
He still imagines a bright future; a future he can share with his son.
The English Skills Learning Center provides free English-language instructions to immigrants and refugees, but the lessons are limited to twice a week.
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Written by Peter Rosen with contributions from Bruce Lindsay.
