The World from PRX

First Days

Global Nation is partnering with the South Asian American Digital Archive to tell the stories of your first days in the United States. If you like these stories, find more like them at First Days Project.
Gilli Danenberg in second grade (L) when she first arrived in the US from Israel at the age of seven, and Gilli now, age 14.
Education
‘A lot of lies came out of my mouth that year’
Born in Afghanistan, Sonita Alizadeh got a full scholarship to go to Wasatch Academy, a boarding school in the heart of Utah.
Culture
Afghan teen rapper goes from poverty in Afghanistan to eating sushi in the US
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Music
Hip-hop until dawn marked this Colombian singer’s days in the US
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Conflict
Fresh from Burundi to America — this man is watching war break out from afar
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Culture
How Dalí and RC Cola helped a poet laureate find his way in the US
Eighth grader Tanzid Sakib goes to public school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He arrived from Bangladesh at the age of 10.
Education
Tanzid Sakib’s first experience with an American school literally left him on the floor
The author, with her extended family, in India.
Culture
Her first days in America were lonely, but this immigrant from India built a life here
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Conflict
Memories of fleeing Vietnam, landing in Idaho and asking people for candy
The Truong family arrived to the United States not long after fleeing Vietnam in 1975, when the then-capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell to the North Vietnamese army. Thu-Thuy Truong, far right, places bunny ears above her brother, Sy.
Conflict
New to America, this young Vietnamese refugee wanted to ‘erase’ his past
Kenneth Rowe is in his early 80s, lives in Daytona Beach, Florida, and still does 60 push-ups every day.
Culture
Escaping from North Korea was just the beginning for this American immigrant
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Books
She ‘escaped’ to America, but the pace of life, and even the words, made her miss home
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Culture
Nothing challenged my readiness to live in the US more than a chicken sandwich
Author Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka, and then moved with her family to Birnin Kebi, Nigeria, to avoid civil war. Here Munaweera stands with her mother, Mali, and younger sister, Namal.
Books
After escaping turmoil in Sri Lanka and Nigeria, her next hurdle was surviving LA schools
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Global Politics
When this Palestinian man first came to the US, the bus rides were tough but ‘The Patriot’ gave him hope
Eight-year-old Susan Cruz enjoying her first Christmas in the United States in 1978.
Conflict & Justice
What does it take for a Salvadoran girl to make her way in America?
Abu Eghan at Ohio State University, shortly after arriving to the United States in 1979. Back then, he says, he thought he would get his degree and head back home. But as the political situation in Ghana grew worse, his friends and family warned him not t
Lifestyle & Belief
How music helped one Ghanaian fight off loneliness during his first days in America
Marjorie Agosin
Lifestyle & Belief
First Days: This Chilean poet recalls hiding in a closet to avoid going to school in Athens, Georgia
Cheng Imm Tan at home in Boston.
Lifestyle & Belief
First Days: She went to bed hungry on her first night in the US
Lesya Pishchevskaya, from Ukraine, speaks at a rally in December near the Ukrainian consulate in San Francisco. Pishchevskaya, who works in the tech industry, is also part of MaydanSF, a local group supporting opposition-led protests back home.
Global Politics
First Days: For this Ukrainian, protests back home are a call to action in the US
Lesya Pishchevskaya, from Ukraine, speaks at a rally in December near the Ukrainian consulate in San Francisco. Pishchevskaya, who works in the tech industry, is also part of MaydanSF, a local group supporting opposition-led protests back home.
Global Politics
First Days: For this Ukrainian, protests back home are a call to action in the US
Lifestyle & Belief
A Taiwanese immigrant’s first days in America were about getting by
Paul C. Lo is the first Hmong-American federal judge in history. He came to Colorado when he was 11 years old.
Lifestyle & Belief
The first Hmong American judge didn’t always acknowledge his roots
William and Alice Bradford in the doorway to their home. The couple is portrayed by real life couple, Chris and Norah Messier.
Lifestyle & Belief
Pilgrims recall their first days in America as immigrants
Fatima Barisu, a refugee from Somalia, on the day she arrived to Minneapolis in 2007 to be resettled.
Conflict & Justice
Picturing the lives of refugees in the US, starting with their first night here
Karim Shamsi-Basha, who moved from Syria to attend the University of Tennessee in the 1980s, stands with his father, Kheridean Shamsi-Basha.
Lifestyle & Belief
In his first days in the US, a Syrian Muslim connected with Americans through the Bible
Vladimir Voina, a journalist from Russia who moved to the US in 1989, sits at a journalism reunion in Boston with reporter Peg Simpson.
Arts, Culture & Media
Journalist Vladimir Voina on leaving Russia, buying beer, and the ‘foolish’ US government shutdown
Global Politics
First Days: South Asian Americans share stories of first days in America
Lifestyle & Belief
First Days: Deepak Singh on arriving to America and southern hospitality
Arts, Culture & Media
First Days: Top San Francisco Chef Hossain Zaré Khiabani on Having Thick Skin and Moving to America From Iran
First Days
Arts, Culture & Media
What’s the story of your first days in America?
Pari Noorbakhsh in Davis, California, within a month of arriving in the United States from Iran in 1978.
Arts, Culture & Media
First Days: Pari Noorbakhsh on Leaving Tehran, Looking for Cowboys