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Hi. My name is Daika Muhammad, and I'm from

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Somalia, in Africa--Horn of Africa--and I'm

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going to be talking about my mom and her

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struggles with literacy when she came

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here. We came here in 1996, and none of us

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spoke English. And none of knew how to write,

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and none of us, knew how to read, none

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of us knew how to do anything. And when we came here

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we kind of had to start from scratch.

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Like, my mom knew how to speak Arabic, she

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knew how to speak Somali, but she had no

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idea what the language was like. So upon

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coming here, it was very very very very

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very difficult for her, as it was for us

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because we didn't know what's going on

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around us. We didn't understand what was

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going on, we weren't familiar with the

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territory, we didn't know anything. So I

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mean, we've been here for about about

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14 years now, and it took my mom 14

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years to develop, you know, the language--

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to learn English, to actually be able to

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read, actually be able to write. And she

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can speak and she can understand, but

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she's not as good as I am, which is not

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as good as, you know, the average American

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is or a person who came here when they

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were younger. She actually struggles very

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much, to even comprehend something

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difficult. I mean, she knows a little, but

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she doesn't know... she's not that

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profound when it comes to English. She's good at it,

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she can speak it, she can write it, but

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she's not at the level that she should

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be at upon 14 years of coming here. When

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I talked to her--when we came here

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we learned English quicker than she

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did because we're younger and when we're

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younger, it's easiest-- it's easier for

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us to adopt information quicker. So when

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we came here and we learned English, we

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would teach her, and give her, like, you

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know, little mini, like, 8 o'clock p.m.

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after dinner, ESL classes, and we would

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teach her the basics of English. Like, we'd

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teach her the alphabet, and stuff like that, and

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eventually she got the hang of it. And

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then she does she went to school for

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older ladies ,well they taught her

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how to learn English, how to read, how to

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be able to write and all that stuff.

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She said the English language is the

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most difficult language that she's ever

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had to learn. And it is, because there's a

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lot of words that are hard to understand,

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and there's a lot of, like, silent words...

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I mean, she's perfectly fluent in 2 other

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languages. She's a quick learner, so she

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kind of adapted to it really fast. But

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like I said, being illiterate upon coming

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here, and then having to start from

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scratch, not only did you have to adapt

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to the culture, but she also had to learn

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the language and become familiar with

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words that she's never known before, or

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words that she had never even heard of

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before, and it takes a long time. I mean,

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people are always saying ignorant

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comments like, "If you don't know English,

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to go back to your country," or--you kind

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of have to know English if you're here.

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Yeah, given I mean, you're kind of

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forced to know English if you're here.

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It's kind of a necessity but at the same

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time it takes a while. It takes a lot of

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hard work. It's difficult, obviously. If

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someone from America who spoke perfect

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English went to another country, they'd

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kind of have to be forced to adopt a

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language. But it would take a while,

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because it takes a while to learn a

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language, especially if you come here

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when you're older than a child.  But

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eventually my mom started going

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to classes, she went to school, she

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learned the language she-- And I'm so

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proud of her because she does such a

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good job. She can go to the lawyers on

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her own, if she needs a lawyer. She, you know,

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has her own business today, she's

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doing great. Like, she's doing really good.

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But all that stuff did not come, you know,

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on top of ice cream, on top of ice

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cream like a cherry.

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it came with very hard work.

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she's a very driven person,

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so she was determined to learn the

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language ,and eventually she did, and

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she's proud of herself for learning the

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language. She's good at it today, she

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still has an accent.

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She still, you know, puts in a word that

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doesn't belong here and there, but

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overall,

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she can hold a conversation. She can do

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what she needs to do in life, and I'm

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honestly proud of her for that. Because

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most people tend to give up on something

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so difficult, because people generally

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don't know how hard it is to actually

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learn a language that you never even

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knew before. And for her it kind of

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sucked because, you know, she was forced

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out of her country, not by her own will

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but by the will of, you know, a war--a

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civil war that's been ongoing for about

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20 years now. So she was kind of a

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refugee. She was kicked out of her home, her

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work, her life was all misplaced--all of

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it was gone. She was-- she came to a

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country where she had no-- she had to

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stay in, because there was no more home

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for her. Home didn't exist, so she

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kind of found how to find her place. She

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had a find her home, she had to establish

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herself in a way that she could be proud,

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that she could call America her home, and

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she could give her kids opportunity.

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And she did do that, and I'm proud of her

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for that. Like I said like a billion

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times before, but I am proud of her for

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that, and she did it with hard work and

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determination, and I expect everyone to

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do the same when it comes to learning a

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language. Even if you're illiterate, if

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you can't read, keep on keeping on. Just

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try your hardest. Even my five-year-old

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brother, he just wanted to write. He just

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wanted to read. He practices even more

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every single day. He's like, "Hey, can you

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help me?" I'm like, "Okay, here we go again!" But if a

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five-year-old can, you know, establish

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himself in terms of writing and reading

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then anybody can do it. And if my mom can

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do it, who didn't speak the language at

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all, who's an older lady, who took forever

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to learn, then it's possible for anyone, so

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I leave you with that. Bye,  everyone.