Sameeha Khan
12th grade
Warren
Hello, my name is Sameeha Khan. I am Bangladeshi-American and lived in Michigan my whole life. I joined this project because I wanted to make an impact for Asian Americans and bring their stories to an educational setting. The purpose of the project drew me in as soon as I heard about it. A fun fact about me is I’m the eldest sibling.
Hena Begum grew up in Bangladesh and was there for 19 years before immigrating to Michigan. Her father was the first to immigrate through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, otherwise known as the Green Card Lottery. One of her hardest struggles was the bullying she faced because she struggled with speaking English, and she also shares how the relationship between her culture and education impacted her and her identity. Overall, she feels that America gave her a lot of opportunities, but she highlights the importance of preserving one’s culture.
Newarun Nessa recollected her life in Bangladesh and how her husband came to America with an OP-1 through the Green Card Lottery, and he applied for the rest of the family to join him. At the time, there weren’t many other Bengalis, and they felt they couldn’t fit in with the general population due to their lack of English. She also opens up about how she really appreciated America’s welfare programs and how they helped her family as they came here for a better quality of life, proper education for her kids.