Students share stories of immigrating to the U.S.

By Ted Nesi '07

When she was eight years old, Kadija Hirsi '07 saw her grandfather killed beside her, a victim of stray shrapnel in the chaos of the Somali Civil War. In the harrowing years that followed Hirsi fled her homeland, first to a Kenyan refugee camp, and later to the United States.

"If we stayed there in the camps we were in I don't think we would have lasted," Hirsi said. "Coming to the U.S. was a paradise. You're going to go somewhere where you get an education, where your family can have a better life."

Abraham Magong '10 also left Africa, in his case to escape the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan, a bloody conflict that raged long before the crisis in Darfur.

"I managed to stay alive until I was 17," Magong said, "but I knew if I stayed I'd have to fight as a rebel."

Magong and Hirsi shared their stories at a March 1 panel, "Shaping Identity: The Different Faces of Immigration," held in Mary Lyon Hall. Joining them were four other Wheaton students who immigrated to the U.S.: Marlyn Cabrera '07, who came from the Dominican Republic; Hiu Gen Chen '08, from China; Albi Skenderi '09, from Albania; and Sophie Wood '10, a triple citizen of the U.S., Canada, and France.

You can watch the panel online via streaming video

Their discussion inaugurated the college's new Beyond Common Ground series, which Associate Dean for Academic and Campus Life Alex Vasquez said seeks "to create a space for dialogue to address larger social questions we face as a society." The program is co-sponsored by the Marshall Multicultural Center, the Office of Service, Spirituality, and Social Responsibility, and the Wheaton Initiative for Leadership Learning.

"Their experiences reflect the variety of paths immigrants take to America," said the discussion's moderator, Amanda Nelson '07, an international relations major who specializes in immigration and citizenship issues.

Asked why so many wish to come here, Skinderi said simply, "It's America. In Europe...it's this whole big amazing thing that everyone wants to be a part of. If you do get the chance to come here, you're going to take it."