The photograph was taken at Samana Syed’s older brother’s wedding in Pakistan in 2007. By then, she had lived in Queens for seven years. She married in Pakistan in 1999 and moved to New York in 2000, moving in with her husband’s family. Far from her parents and siblings, she was a young woman navigating a new country while living with a new family, where constant tensions with her in-laws made feeling at home harder. Having her sister Sakina, who had moved to the Bronx just two months earlier, made it bearable.

When their oldest brother was getting married in Pakistan, Samana prayed for months that her green card would arrive in time. She had been separated from her family for seven years, missing birthdays, celebrations, and the loss of loved ones. Her younger brother had even done a ziyarat, a pilgrimage to a sacred site, up a mountain barefoot in an effort to pray for her to attend, but to no avail. When Sakina left for Pakistan, Samana sent all the gifts she had bought for their family with her. She dropped her sister at the airport and cried the entire way home.

Before Sakina’s plane had even taken off, Samana called, screaming and crying. Her green card had finally arrived in the mail. The next week, she flew to Pakistan with her two children, landing just in time for the wedding. After seven years away, the oldest daughter had finally come home, now with children of her own. She may have missed seven years, but this was one day she would be there for. 

– Ariba Hassan

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant