Study Hall from School News Network
Join our rotating cast of journalists, school leaders, teachers and students to explore what's happening in school districts across Kent County, Michigan and beyond. We dive into the issues, challenges and changes related to public education today, and highlight the fabulous teachers and brilliant, creative students who make our schools such exciting places to learn.
Study Hall from School News Network
WHS & WMU graduate’s mission: to be a voice for refugees
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Mehran Najafi is deeply grateful to have come as a refugee from war-torn Afghanistan to the United States, where, he says, “you get to have a normal life.” Now a U.S. citizen, the graduate of Wyoming High School and Western Michigan University works with abused and neglected teens and hopes to work for the United Nations helping other refugees around the world.
We talked with Mehran about his four-year journey to America and his efforts to bring the rest of his family, who were approved for refugee status until the Trump administration suspended the program.
For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at SNN@kentisd.org. Thanks for listening, and happy studying!
Welcome And Meet Mehran
SPEAKER_00Well, hello everyone, and welcome to Study Hall from School News Network, your window into the public schools of Kent County, Michigan. I am your host, Charlie Honey, along with our audio and visual mastermind, Max Wickland. We're here with a remarkable young man, Mehran Najjafi, who came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor refugee from Afghanistan. We'll talk with Mehran about his arduous journey to the U.S., his lights-out education at Wyoming High School and in college, his work with local adolescents who have endured trauma, and the challenges faced by his family back home in trying to join Mehran in his new life here. Materon recently graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in international comparative politics. He plans to get a master's degree and work on behalf of refugees to give them the same kind of help that enabled him to build a good life here. In a recent School News Network story, reported by Aaron Albanese, Mediron said, I don't forget where I came from. People supported me, and now I want to support others. His work and aspirations, however, come in the context of an administration that has drastically curtailed refugee resettlement in the United States and the federal support that refugee agencies receive. So welcome Avon.
SPEAKER_01Hi. Thank you so much. It is an honor. Thank you for having me. And I'm um very, very happy to be here.
The Relief Of Feeling Safe
SPEAKER_00Well, really happy you could do it. Uh we appreciate it. So I'll start with an easy question. How do you like life in the United States?
SPEAKER_01Oh, um, amazing. Um at one point um I couldn't believe like being in the United States. Um you get to be just you you get to have a normal life. And uh a life like everybody. And um a life like everyone deserves. Everyone deserves, but unfortunately not many people have to experience a normal life. And so just being a normal citizen, just being a normal person, doing your daily job, go to school, go to work, um something beyond uh reach at one point for me. And now um I get to live that. Um so it makes me happy every day. So just all that normal, regular stuff feels just great to you. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um it it it was it was a dream come true, just just being normal, um, just being able to go to school, just being able to work, um, just being safe, um, not worrying about when the next bomb would drop next to your house. So yeah.
Trauma-Informed Work With Teens
SPEAKER_00Wow. Some things that probably most Americans just take for granted, just living a regular old life. Um so you you're you're doing some really interesting work right now with local uh youth at uh a local agency. Uh tell me about this work you're doing, Matehan, and and what kinds of young people you're working with.
SPEAKER_01Um so I work at uh DA B Logic at ST Johnson with uh uh mostly adolescents, youth um from uh 13 to 17 years old. Um uh and these um people have experienced severe trauma in their life. So um we um I'm a lead uh I'm a youth development specialist. So um I'm there to help them um build life skills, uh to help them uh emotionally to uh do supervisions to make sure that they're they're safe at all times, um, and to help them build um daily habit, habits that that um help them in the future. So um that comes from schoolwork, that comes with um even um chores, daily routines, um studying, just outing, um, and being there for emotional support as well.
SPEAKER_00And they've experienced trauma of some kind in their lives.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Um so we're at trauma, um trauma-informed and trauma responsive or uh organization. So these youth that I work with, most of them, um all of them um have been abused. Um all of them um have lived um uh away from their parents, from their um um and and at some point they've been neglected by their parents, many of them. Um as sad as that is. Um and and so um we are there to help them, to be there for them, um, to say that hey, um you're not alone. There's people uh that care. Um we're there to to support you, to help you, and to be there for you.
SPEAKER_00So what draws you to this kind of work made on?
SPEAKER_01I used to live at an an independent living program. When I arrived as an uh unaccompanied uh refugee, um I lived in uh transition living programs, in programs like this. Um so I understand and I know how it feels to be uh in in those kinds of programs. Um I was living in um ILP, independent living program with Bethany Christian Services. Um and and so um I still have my contact with the people that worked um with me, that was in the house, that supported me throughout, um, from school, from even transportation to school. Um from everything, just being there and saying, hey, you know, you're not alone. We're there to support you. Um to just um celebrate your birthday with you. It's as simple as that, but that means a lot for for for the youth, for us, and and so um that's what draws me to that work. And it's um always not an easy job, but it's rewarding. And at the end of the day, I go home content with myself, saying that maybe I had a little impact, and that was positive. Yeah.
Refugee Resettlement Funding Gets Cut
SPEAKER_00So and at some point you yourself worked for Bethany working with refugee youth, is that correct?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. I worked uh for Bethany Christian Services for about two and a half years. Uh first I worked at the same house that I used to live. Um, so when um uh in 2021, when the Afghan people, when the the Afghan government fell, so we had a lot of unaccompanied uh refugee minors that that were brought in directly by the United States. And so uh my coach, my previous coach at that that house uh knew me and uh they contacted me and said, Do you want to work here? I spoke the language and um I was out of the program, so I was happily joined them. Um at one point there were 10 Afghan youth unaccompanied minors living in that house. And I I started working there. Um I get to speak their language and um connect with them very well. It was it was great for me and for them too, because they they had someone that spoke their language, they had someone that uh understood their struggles of where they're coming from, of why they're here, um, of how uh the culture is. So um I I worked there for for two and a half years. Um I I changed um a little bit later on um for the last six months of working with with uh Bethany, I worked with families that and I was uh employment specialist, helping them to uh be self-sufficient, find jobs, help them maintain jobs, um, and help them with the transportation um so that they have um a good life. They started it it was it was uh fun and it it helped it made me happy because um from the very start, from the very moment that these refugees arrived in the United States, I get to work with them within the first ten days of their arrival. So I get to visit them, I get to meet meet with them, uh I I get to go to their house, I welcome them, um, and I started working um on classes, employment classes, and then um three months, two months in, we actively started searching for jobs for them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So why are you not working for Bethany anymore?
SPEAKER_01Um the my previous job, uh the when when the administration changed, we knew that it was coming. So it there was a very stressful time for the organization that the program is going to end.
SPEAKER_00The federal administration.
SPEAKER_01Yes, the federal administration. And the the they cut the program funding. As a result of that, uh all of the the program was completely shut down because there was no new refugees arriving in the United States. Um but but prior they shutting the whole program down, uh I had my supervisors and their supervisors, the caseworkers, um, they resigned because it was a very stressful time for the organization and we knew it was coming. So I resigned from that position. Okay. And few like a month, two months late later, the entire program shut down, and all of the people who were in the office, they lost their jobs.
Leaving Afghanistan At Age Thirteen
SPEAKER_00So um it you didn't have a choice. It was just kind of took it the program went away. Yes. The funding went away. Um so let's talk about your journey here, uh, Mira. And I want to touch on you're you're going to be visiting your family soon, I understand, but first I want to talk about how you came here, when, why, and how you came to the United States from Afghanistan.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Uh in 2015, um, I left Afghanistan. And when I left Afghanistan, I was 13. I was 13 years old. When I left, um, I was living in a small village called Javori, uh, and it's the Ghazni province. So I left there um and I was 13. Um, I came to Kabul, um, and a few months later I arrived in Indonesia. And and in between I took the boat, a small boat, overcrowded with a lot of people, uh, to get to Indonesia. Um, and by the way, it was all with the help of a smuggler. Um, I didn't have uh proper documentation. Uh at one point we stuck at the airport for a whole week, more than a week. And um that was in Malaysia. Um the Malaysian authorities would come every day and be like, you need to go back. You're they they had our passport, um, they wanted us to go back and book a ticket. And so we were in contact with the smuggler and they helped us escape from the airport.
SPEAKER_00Before we get too far into this, uh why did you leave? What was it that drove you out of Afghanistan?
SPEAKER_01Uh, because of war, because of violence, because of the Taliban, because of um it was not safe anymore. And it was a decision made my by my family that um it is no longer safe for you, especially if you're um a young um kid. It is it is it was not safe because of war, because uh wherever our people went, um bombs followed us everywhere.
SPEAKER_00Um you said our people. What do you mean our people?
SPEAKER_01So I am um Hazara and uh Hazara ethnicity and Hazaras in Afghanistan uh have been so f in 19 from 19 um from 1890s uh there was time that um 62 percent of Hazara population were massacred and killed. The rest were sent off to to very remote areas. So from that time, um because we different religion, we were Shia, and most of the the Taliban they are Sunni. So they they were surrounding Hazara population, they were targeting Hazara people, and um all of the most of the the suicide bombings that were happening uh in Kabul and Ghazni and every province, it was targeted mostly towards um the Hazara community. So um even if you did study, even if you did work hard, um, you get nowhere.
SPEAKER_00So why just you, why not the rest of your family?
SPEAKER_01Uh because of funding. Um just um for me to get to Indonesia to go to the uh International Organization for Migration and the UNHCR, uh it costed around uh almost$7,000.
SPEAKER_00United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNICER. Okay. All right. How much did it cost? I'm sorry.
Hazara Persecution And The Cost
SPEAKER_01Um around$7,000. Okay. And that is a huge sum of money over there in Afghanistan. Um for me to get there, we had to sell our land. So it was not enough for my entire family to to travel. That was a hard decision to make. Um, but my family decided that I should leave.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so uh you came uh you were smuggled out and you came to Indonesia and you were at a detention center in Indonesia?
Streets And Detention In Indonesia
SPEAKER_01Yes. Correct. That's correct. For the first two weeks, I get to sleep on on the on the streets because when I registered myself and I went to the the the office, the UNHCR office, they registered me and asked me to get out. They said, go out and talk to your friends. Um but the sad part was that I had no friends. I knew no nobody. I couldn't speak English fluently, I couldn't speak um Indonesian at all, and I knew no one. Uh but there were a lot of other people that were uh camping out outside the um the immigration office, and so I camped out with them on the streets. Um two, three weeks later, they came in uh and then they took they took me to a detention center, a detention camp. Um I knew that for the first time I'm going to this detention camp, I'd be locked up. Um but even that I was happy because the streets were bleak, it was dark, there was no place to sleep when it was raining, it was loud, and so nobody would be happy going to a jail, basically. But I was happy going to a jail because I get to sleep on a bed maybe. Um and and it you do go to that detention camp um for doing nothing wrong, just for being a refugee. But it was the policy that okay, you're being locked up for three, four months. Um, and and then after that, you're free, but your freedom is limited still. A few hours a day, you get to go outside and you have to come back. You have to write your name, you have to sign the paper, where you're going, why you're going, and then you have to be back at that time. Otherwise, you get to be locked up in your room for two weeks.
SPEAKER_00So it was a grim existence. How long were you there and how long when did you come to the United States?
SPEAKER_01I came to the United States uh June 12th of 2019. Oh okay. And I arrived in in Indonesia um November 22nd of 2015.
SPEAKER_00So about four years altogether took you from to get from Afghanistan to America? Yes. Fly over here?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yes, I did.
SPEAKER_00So um what uh program brought you here uh that you were able to settle here?
SPEAKER_01Um the uh unaccompanied um uh refugee minor program. Okay. Uh it's uh with the refugee resettlement program. Um I came through that program uh to Michigan.
SPEAKER_00Is that program still in operation?
SPEAKER_01No, it's not. It's um uh independent indefinitely suspended. The entire refugee resettlement program is indefinitely suspended.
SPEAKER_00So you came to the United States in 2019. Why did you come to West Michigan and Wyoming in particular?
SPEAKER_01Um it was not my decision. I did not have a say. Um I was just merely happy because um getting a re resettlement if you're a refugee or getting a resettlement is like winning a lottery ticket. I know a lot of people that are there for 10, 15 years right now. I'm still in contact with those people. Uh people that that traveled with me at the same time, they're still there. And 11 years later. So um it was like winning a lottery ticket, and they don't tell you where they're going to take to you. So they just dropped me off in Michigan.
SPEAKER_00And did you have an agency locally that helped you settle here?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Um, so um Bethany Christian Services. With the help of Bethany Christian Services, I was placed in foster care um in a program called um ILP or um independent living program. Um I lived there for for a year, that program.
SPEAKER_00And you went to Wyoming High School?
Starting Over At Wyoming High
SPEAKER_01Yes, I went to Wyoming High School.
SPEAKER_00And tell me about how that went for you. Um how tough was it to adjust, and um how did they help you to adjust here?
SPEAKER_01Oh, um I can talk about Wyoming a lot. I love Wyoming High School. I was still in contact with some of my teachers. Um it was uh it was hard to fit in at first. It was hard to find friends, um because I grew up in a different environment, different culture, um, and I was not confident enough, couldn't speak English fluently. So it was very hard to find friends. But it was easy in some ways because we had I had so many good teachers that they would come and sit with me. Uh when when the class session is over, they're teaching and they're asking the students um now independent time. Um the teachers came and sat next to me and asked, did you understand? Like what which part is difficult for you? Um, or just merely sometimes, how are you doing? And and I had long conversations with my teachers. They would ask me questions, um, they would um show me how to write, show me how to read properly. So I had a a lot of support.
SPEAKER_00Were there any other students from Afghanistan?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Oh god Yes. Um there were uh two other um uh students from Afghanistan. Okay. Uh yeah, we were close friends, and um uh I was with limited English that I had at that time, uh I was the translator. There yeah, one of them was sitting next to me, uh, the teacher is teaching and I'm translating. It is back and forth. Uh but yes.
SPEAKER_00Did you get involved much in the um social life of the school or the extracurriculars at the school? Um or were you just working?
SPEAKER_01Not a lot. Uh just working. I was working uh full-time job. Uh full-time job? Full-time job.
SPEAKER_00What was that?
SPEAKER_01I was working at Mway, um at uh just uh warehouse. Yeah. I was uh a crew member standing on the line from 3 to 11 every day. Um I did I did um for one semester, I was in BPA, Business Professional of America. I I I tried that in high school. Um went to a couple of competitions and it was right before COVID. We were we were supposed to go to a different state for our competition, and yeah, we couldn't.
SPEAKER_00But you were recognized as some was some sort of award at Wyoming, right?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. Uh so I got couple of awards. Um the the the last award that I got was um it was called Alpha Wolf Champion of Character. And um they it is student based it is surprising to me because um students get to vote including teachers uh for people who embody um kindness compassion and uh uh graciousness so um very last day um they gave me an award for that so uh and why did you need to work full time at Amway here going to school? Um to support my family back home yes um even though I was in program and ILP program and ILP program helped me with um housing helped me with food but um I needed to work so that I can take care of my mom. When I came to the United States uh I told my mom that that's it you've you worked your entire life and now it's my turn yeah and my sisters my sister went to college um back home and I supported them to go to college um from high school so and honestly I'm very proud of that I would say so my proudest accomplishment ever um to be able to support my family yeah yeah and I think you did pretty well academically didn't you um I I I I was trying my best and it was it was because um yes hard working was hard yes I was exhausted yes I was tired all the time but what I what kept me going was this thinking of what a privilege or what an honor it is to be tired for the things that you once dreamt for the things that you were asking the universe for because in the refugee camp we were not allowed to go to school so that four years we're not allowed to work we didn't go to school we didn't so it was it was my dream I could not wait so that I go to school I could not wait so that I I work and even when I was tired I was like that is a privilege that is an honor to and a privilege to be tired for something that you begged the universe for you wanted that so that kept me going I was like yes so I didn't get to go to school I knew how how important it is to get an education so I tried my best I stayed awake maybe until 2 a.m many nights working on um my my homeworks um at very last uh year of my high school I I took AP English I took um AP history yeah it was hard but I was ready for it uh and it it all worth it at the end so you're going to school then you go to work at Amway from 3 to 11 then you come home and you do homework till maybe 2 a.m.
SPEAKER_00And what was your grade point average? 3.96.
Afghanistan Falls And Family Flees
Border Awareness In El Paso
SPEAKER_013.96 okay that's about as good as you can do um and um this got you a medallion scholarship at Western Michigan correct yes full tuition that's uh their most prestigious marriage best scholarship that uh Western offers right um and um that that year um it was a cohort of 12 people that got that scholarship um so for every they for all of the their admissions they choose like 200 people or something and then that drops down to 60 people and then you do an interview that drops down to 30 people or something and then they make a final decision of who gets that scholarship um I don't know how but uh I was part of that 12 people and I was very very lucky um I was very lucky or just working your tail off that too maybe so yeah talk about your time at Western um now you studied uh international uh politics correct yes international comparative politics and um you did some quite a bit of volunteer work tell me about that especially your work uh as regarding working at the border um yes I started college uh with with the thought of I might drop out uh even though I had a full right scholarship and I was also um a CTA scholar so Citay scholar is uh for people who've experienced foster care and and there I had uh a one-on-one campus coach that I met with him um um every week uh at the start of college was when Afghanistan fell I had all of my family members in Afghanistan back there and I stopped I thought that okay I cannot do this I have to go work full-time job maybe more than full-time job so that my family uh they're taken care of because we made a decision that Afghanistan is no longer safe for them when Afghanistan fell um one of my sisters uh she was a journalist she studied uh journalism so it was absolutely not safe when Afghanistan fell um to the Taliban yes uh because of the Taliban and uh so they it took them two weeks to cross the border to Pakistan um and they crossed on foot they crossed how many people in your family uh so I eleven family members but six of them initially traveled to Pakistan okay um and my oldest sister with with her family three kids and her husband they stayed back and then they joined my the rest of my family uh a year later but when they went to Pakistan um it they needed support because uh in the International Organization for migration is not operating in uh Pakistan only the UNHCR does so the IOM is usually helping and supporting with housing with food with all of that in other countries but uh they're not operating in in um Pakistan so that meant that I had to to help them because they're also not allowed to work because they don't have any documentations um so I thought that I have to go to work so I went to and I took my uh commercial driving license that's funny when when I say to people when they look at me I say hey like uh when they say give me a fun fact I say I own a commercial driver license because I thought I'm going to be a truck driver. But with the help of the university and with the help of the CT scholars and my other scholarship um we worked it out. I sat with uh with those people with my uh the dean of um call honors college I sat down with my campus coach uh we worked out on me only taking 12 credit and working full time so that I can support my family um and that worked out pretty well working full time for uh Bethany yes for Bethany for Bethany Christian services and uh during my time I visited the border once it's called the um border awareness experience border awareness experience okay and um that is a a class that is a class I took the class in springtime but at the end of the spring we we get to go to uh El Paso Texas for for two weeks uh that is uh the Leonards College specifically um offers those classes study and state so study in state you go to some people choose Disneyland uh some people choose um there's a there's a bunch of classes that you can take and then at the end of the class you get to experience that and I chose border awareness experience uh because I was very passionate about it um and I went to El Paso Texas uh and I lived in an anunciation house with those immigrants that came through the border and part of that was we went to a courthouse we get to talk to um lawyers we we went to um an ICE office we get to talk with them ICE office agents okay yes uh uh border patrols we did our research before going there even but um we lived in this house and I get to meet a lot of people and and hear their stories of why they're coming of why they're there and what did they tell you why they were coming um because of um poverty because uh because their country was not safe because of gang violence uh and one day we went to this uh church uh a big gymnasium that we're taking people in and helping them with food with water Texas is hot and and this is all in June so in May June so we have those people c come in there's hundreds of people around the Annunciation house there's hundreds of people around this big church and we're taking in gymnasium to help them with water and food and we could only shelter around a hundred people but there were probably more than a thousand people and I never forget there was this little girl from the back of the fence that was crying and asking can you wash can you wash my my shoes because uh because it was full of mud and I washed it for her but we couldn't and and give her some water but there was a lot of people piled up and just sleeping on the ground sleeping on in tent just it it was i it was very hard for me that day because it it brought me back to Indonesia but but it was a a great experience I think an experience that everybody needs to probably experience because it makes you feel for other people it makes you see and feel them and feel their pain hurt but it makes you alive it makes you a person a human so and you were seeing in them similarities their experience trying to get to the United States your experience trying to get out of Afghanistan and flee the violence there. Yes is that part of what solidified you to go into working with refugees yes yeah absolutely um when uh even when I was under the protection of UNHCR United United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and IOM the International Organization for Migration we didn't have any voice. People are there in those conditions many of them in closed camps uh for for years ten years um I know people that that went there and got married in those camps and now they have a kid their kid is eight years old not going to school um they're still there by the way yeah um I have one person that that traveled before me and we we get to be best friends we're still in contact uh he arrived um in Indonesia before me and he's still there to this day and he didn't even receive a um resettlement if he gets a resettlement that's another two and a half years or more or three years of interviews of background checks of um medical checkups there's there's a long process even if he gets it today it takes two to three three years.
Family Approved Then Flights Canceled
SPEAKER_00And it's already been seven years since you were in Indonesia. Yes. Wow so this brings me back to your parents at one point they had received permission to come here I understand is that correct?
SPEAKER_01Yes so when Afghanistan failed um I tried here everything I could to so that they can uh I applied I filled out documentation so that they can come to the United States and when they went to Pakistan they also registered with the UNHCR the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees and they had a point of contact that my mom said well my son is in United States want to go to that country and be resettled. Thankfully they received that that um interview they received their um resettlement um four years from 2021 they went through the the process of getting resettled to the United States until now until last year um so many times they had to travel go to a different city to go for the background checks to do the interviews to do medical checkups and um all of them was confirmed all of them was said they were wedded they were confirmed to come to the program through Smaritas I got contacted Samaritas Local Resettlement Agency yes okay um so Semaritas contacted me and said um your family's coming to to join you in the United States um and they asked me if I can uh get a housing for them um I got housing for them I got um and I was so excited so I bought a bunch of things I was like waiting for my uh young sister um yeah my youngest sister is 15 and she's ninth grade I got housing for them uh three bedroom apartment um TV couch bed all of that and I'm waiting for the them to come they also know that they're coming they've their suitcase packed they bought everything they said goodbyes my sister said goodbyes to their friends and my younger brother said goodbyes to their friends my mom everybody and come the new administration the first day in office uh President Trump he suspended the refugee resettlement program indefinitely just sus suspended it's yeah suspended it so um their flight was scheduled for February 10th and he suspended the the the suspension took place uh January 27th of 2025 just like a week less than like two weeks yeah just two weeks before they their flights um everything got canceled to this very day and I I I got stuck with the house that I signed a 15 uh 15 month um contract and lease so they still want to come over yes and you're going to see them soon hopefully hopefully yes I that was the original plan I uh I did everything I could I applied for visa um and because of the war right now uh all of travels have been cancelled the war between Pakistan and Afghanistan? Yes okay so there's uh the war they started an open war they announced it like a week ago yeah and uh when I contacted the counselate in Chicago for my visa uh they said they're not issuing any visa right now and it might take more than a month and I applied two weeks ago for a visa so that I my my plan was to go um March 8th but um that's no longer an option I have to wait longer and I don't know when um another part of it is all of the flights that go to Middle East have been canceled due to the bigger war the United States with Iran and Israel all of and Iran had all of the other countries including Qatar Dubai all of the flights that goes to Middle East either goes to Doha Qatar or goes to um Dubai and all of the flights have been canceled. So even right now um I do not know when I would be going.
SPEAKER_00Are you in contact with your family then?
SPEAKER_01Yes I am okay you must miss them a lot oh yeah absolutely the last time I hugged them um in person was more than eleven years ago.
SPEAKER_00Wow but you're going to persist and get over there and what are you what are the chances that you can help them get over here um the way things are right now?
SPEAKER_01It's not very hopeful but it it seems dark. I'm not very hopeful that they would be arriving to the United States sometime soon. Hopefully they do there is still a pending case uh um before the court because uh they said the case is all of those people who were wedded to the program refugee settlement program and their flights were scheduled there's a case that all of those people need to come to the United States so if the the the Supreme Court um it's not before the Supreme Court yet but if the court rules that yes we made a promise to these people they were fully admitted to the program um and they were clear they were background checked they were everything's complete then they need to come if they rule that then there is a possibility yes.
SPEAKER_00So this is a court case the people that were already voted to come like your family the uh the case is that they should be able to come because they were previously approved and this is what you're hoping.
SPEAKER_01Yes and there's 12000 people that were approved and that were their um flights were canceled.
Becoming A Voice For Refugees
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. So to to wrap up um what what are your future plans um in terms of your education and your work?
SPEAKER_01I I was waiting to go home and then come back and figure that out. I was planning to go get my master's in um international affairs um so that um and diplomacy and hopefully work with the United Nations um especially uh the UNHCR the United Nation High Commissioner for refugees um because I'm a refugee because I know how it feels to be a refugee um and I want to advocate for them I want to be a voice for them um because and I want to carry their stories with me and tell to the rest of the world that these people matter them and that we should do everything we can to support refugees to support these people um but refugees and immigrants they're like me they're me before we label them um it's I mean politics I understand but um before we label them um before you call me a refugee or an immigrant in here I feel like before that I'm a son to an amazing father that was the wisest person I I knew he didn't go to school at all he was a second grade dropout but yet the wisest person I've ever known a great son to a mother who's kind who worked hard her entire life four beautiful sisters right um you get to label me but you never had a cup of coffee with me you never know before that I'm a student I worked I and I'm a worker I worked full time job maybe sometimes two full time jobs right I'm a productive member of the society I love playing soccer um you know nothing about me and yet You demonize me. That's upsetting. But but still with that, I want to continue saying that these people are sons, these people are daughters, these people are just normal human beings that if they get a chance to have a normal life like I do, I know, I know for certain that they do great things for the rest of the society, for the rest of the community. So yes, of course I want to be an advocate for them.
SPEAKER_00And you are a United States citizen, correct? Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um thankfully I got my citizenship three, four months before President Trump sat in office. I know right now that a lot of people, uh their ceremonies have been canceled. I um even their citizenship is in in in danger to some extent.
Choosing A Name That Means Kind
SPEAKER_00And you chose a new name for your citizenship name. What is that name or what does it mean?
SPEAKER_01It is Mehran. Uh and uh it is taken from the word meh, and that means kind. So my name means to be kind.
SPEAKER_00I'd say it fits it fits you well. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you. Well, thank you so much for your time with us, um, Paihan, and uh thanks to our listeners at School News Network. Hope you enjoyed our conversation. Will join us next time for Study Hall. Until then, be well and don't forget your pencils. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you.
