My parents moved to the United States a year and a half after they got married. My oldest sister was a few months old, therefore the only one out of six daughters to be born outside of the United States. I grew up and was raised in Brooklyn. Being a first generation American Pakistani has been interesting to say the least. I feel like the way our parents raised us, we had the perfect blend of western and Pakistani culture. We spoke fluent Urdu at home and English outside. Due to being undocumented for many years, my parents weren't able to return to their homeland. Finally when my father got his citizenship, he was able to return to Pakistan to go meet his brothers and go visit his parents' graves for the first time. This is a picture of my father and my uncle in Pakistan on skype with us a few months before my father passed away. In the picture he was sitting with his brother eating and we were laughing with my uncle. Skype is our modern way of survival. It's how I saw my fathers face the months he spent visiting his country, and now it's how I see my father's grave whenever my cousin goes to visit.

– Rehma Saleem

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant