Transcript of Yusuf

Hello, my name is Yusuf Mohammed, and I'm from Somalia. I came here when I was twelve, and I am 21 now, I am in college. Doing good. The hardest thing that I overcame, or you know, that I had to learn a lot was English, you know, learning English itself. Because I went to school back in Africa but not all the way to... I went to like until first grade, that's the only thing I remember. I went to school from first grade and then we moved to America, and then coming here, I was 12 obviously they're not going to put me in first grade, so they had to put me somewhere around 5th grade, and basically other stuff I just had to learn, you know, I had to learn English. Or else, you know, they're going to drop me. I'm going to stay in 5th grade for a while. So the hardest thing was just, you know, learning English. I spoke Swahili, I spoke Somali, but English was just something different, something that I never heard. I used to watch American movies, but the English, it was very difficult. You know, so, I tried, you know, everything just to, just learn the word, the... I remember back in Middle School, once I fought a kid because he asked me something, and I thought he was cursing at me. And I just went up there and "boom" stuck him, because I thought he was saying something about my mother. And then they used to call me nicknames and all that, I just... All that was not really a big deal, because the whole English was something, something new to me, something that I don't even recognize. But I became, you know, the second year, when I was in America, I started picking up, pretty quick too, you know because I used to sit home and just watch the cartoons and, because a teacher once told me "You want to learn English? Watch our cartoons, you know, be like American, do what the Americans do." And that's what I did, I started watching the cartoons and what... Following, you know, what the American system is about, just follow what the Americans do, and that's what I did, and I followed, I watched a lot of programs on cartoons my second year. When I came out, I was, my English was already off the hook. In 6th grade I remember I used to make 4.0s. Like I never even had a year where I had like 3.9, just straight 4.0s. And my writings, and the teacher used to put my writings on the wall and be like "Wow, look at this guy." He's been here for a year and already writing something like this. I continued on doing things like that. I was overachieving, just doing, you know, what I came here for. Because to me it's like an opportunity. There's a lot of people who are in my country who don't have this opportunity. And for me, to do something like this, it was... I mean to be give this opportunity, to come to America... Look I was born in a place... I was born in a village, you know what I'm saying? In a village where there is no school, nothing. No running water, no electricity. Now this is not the Amish or something, this is just some serious jungle stuff, you know what I mean? I was born in a place like that. Today I'm in Ohio State, one of the biggest colleges. It's just something that I never thought of, something that I never thought would happen. But you know, coming to America itself was one of the great things. From that day, you know, when I knew, when I knew that I was given a chance to come to America, I thought to myself "I've got to make a difference. I've got to make a difference not only for me, but for my country." That country you know Somalia has been... You know most of us, if you see with a Somali student, all of them have a story to share. Either the war, or the problem that was going on. We all have different stories, you know what I'm saying? And that country has torn a lot of families apart. You know? Today if you see, we Somalis are scattered around the world, because of just little misunderstanding between, against tribalism, these little tribes. It's just another genocide, but you know, because the world doesn't recognize it, they just go on and put it as Civil War or Tribal War. This is not Tribal War, this is genocide, and you know, I'm, my whole goal is... I came here, I was given a chance and I want to make a difference, I want to be somebody. It's not like I want to be famous, or be heard of on CNN, but I just want to make... I want to, I want to have a chance to... Convince 5 people that we can make a change and we can make a difference, you know? You don't have to be billionaire. Just, I want my voice to be heard, and I want all the Somalians out there, their voices to be heard. We all cry the same cry, you know, most of us young generation, who we are, like from 18 to 21 we seen that. We seen the problem, we seen the war, and what it has done to us. So I want this, something like this where we can share our thoughts and our ideas on how to come up with a better government system, even if we have to follow the American system, at least it works. It worked for 200 years you know? And so that's about it, that's the hardest thing. The English itself and coming to America is something very exciting, something that I never expected to happen, but it happened. And like I say man, this is just... I'm in college you know? I want to go all the way, I want to finish college and I want to make a difference. Not only here in America, but also back home. If I can't, like I say, I list 5 people... If I can change their mind, or their idea, if I can do that, then I can die freely, you know? Because I did something, I changed a couple people's view to something. So that's what is literacy about? This is what we learn, this is what the whole, the learning is about. The beauty of education is to share, you know? Once you get educated, if you just keep it to yourself then you are the only one who knows about it, but if you share... If you share it, everybody benefits from it. See an example is like the guy who invented the light, you know, he... I forgot his name, but he tried, let's say he tried 9,999 times somewhere around there. He tried those many times, and every time he tried, the light, it didn't work. Either it burst or something happens to it, it didn't work. Then you see, he never gived up. Imagine if he had just tried a couple times and was like "Ah, you know what, it doesn't work." He would give up on it, but no. He keep on trying, keep on trying, keep on trying. And you know what? It worked. It worked now today he left what? Lights everywhere. Because of him now we have electricity everywhere. That's how it is you know. Somalia.... America once tried us, they tried to help us, once you know. It didn't go well, but they run away from it and and since then it's just a chaotic country. And people do whatever they like, you know, piracy, killing... Just innocent people for because of some reason. And hopefully I think we should learn from that, that it self is learning. History sometimes repeats itself, all these genocides and everything, it repeats. Let's not ignore, you know, what other countries are going through because they are other countries, let's not do that. Let's focus on every country, even if we cannot help, at least have a word or something to spark, to put something in somebody's mind, to think that you can change, that you can change the country. Or you could at least give them, give the people the idea that it's changeable. That something can happen. And you know, like I say, I'm not a very smart guy you know, but I became, first year, the second year when I was in America, I start speaking English clearly. I understood what everyone was saying, I start making 4.0. A person like me, who grew up in a village where there is no water, no electricity, doing that? If I can do that, they can change a little bit in the world, they can do something different, and... That's what I want to share, I hope you guys don't find it too boring.