Most Sudanese come to the U.S. to escape decades of civil war. Whether they are from the north or the south, they want a safe place to raise their family. Many of these immigrants come as refugees. As you can imagine, it is really difficult to get a visa. Of course it helps if the person has a lot of money. Then they can make the paperwork go faster. Some people spend years at refugee camps on the borders with Kenya and Egypt. Others can take a more direct route. Either way, they have to scrape together all their resources to come to America. Once they arrive, it is really difficult to ever go back again.
We left behind our family members, like our grandparents and other relatives. We left friends who did not have the opportunity to come here like we did. We left our familiar home, our clothes, and our lifestyle. For example, even though we still practice Islam in the U.S., it is not the same. The holidays are not as joyous as they were in our country.
We found a new way of life. We have to use cars to get everywhere. We can’t walk like we did in Sudan. We found modern schools with a lot of resources. Here boys and girls go to school together. We also found freedoms that we weren’t allowed to have in Sudan, like freedom of speech. Most importantly, we found peace and safety.
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The cost of a round-trip plane ticket from Sudan to NYC is $1,627.
The average per capita income in Sudan is $2,500.