Me and my family migrated from United Arab Emirates to United States in 2008. As soon as we got here we found many things to be bizarre such as the struggle to find Halal meat, religious attires etc. The main thing that me and my family struggled with was the sound of prayers five times a day. Back in our countries we grew up listening to Azaan (call to prayer) fives times a day and then we went to the mosques and prayed with our families. As soon as we got here we weren't able to listen to the Azaan anymore which caused a lot of confusion with the timings that we were supposed to pray at. Another issue we had was that there weren't any close by mosques near the area i used to live at during that time which made it harder for us. One object that helped us get over these difficulties was a prayer mat that was gifted to us by one of our relatives who came back from Saudia after performing pilgrimage to Mecca. This mat has helped us perform our daily religious rituals with peace and we have had it for about ten years now. Each of the family member uses these mats to pray in the house without having to worry about going to the mosque when its too far from where they are. 

– M

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant