Hi my name is Abdi. I came from South Africa where I lived for 12 years. My parents got divorced, so my mom got married to another person. Now my mom lives happy in South Africa. 

I didn’t want to come to America because I would leave my friends and my cousins too. So my dad told me that I can talk to them when I am in America. Before I took off, my dad gave me a Quran book to take to the United States of America, and my dad said to me that I have to learn all the writing in the Quran in Arabic. 

To learn the words in it will probably will take 3 to 10 years. There is a place called masjid where we kids learn the Quran. In South Africa we have to learn a whole page. But here it is different because here you can choose how much you want to learn during the 5 hrs. My mom and dad learned all of the Quran, but me, my younger brother, and my sisters have not learned it yet. I 

was trying to learn all of it for myself and my dad. I have been learning for 1 year, and I want to finish it. My dad finished it, so it is my turn to finish it. I am glad that I chose to be a Muslim person. 

– Abdi Hidig

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child