Field Notes
Informant’s personal details
Name Aisha
Gender Female
Age 32 years
Country of Origin Syria
Level of Education College
Occupation Social worker
What were the influences that caused you to migrate to the United States?
Family reunification was the main reason for her immigration to the United States.
Her husband had earlier migrated to America in search of greener pastures. Since he had already secured a good job, it was essential for her and the children to join him.
She felt that she would be in a position to find better employment opportunities than there were in her native country.
Her children would get a chance for better education opportunities.
What are some of the advantages that you have acquired in migrating to United States?
She overcame loneliness and the burden of bringing up children alone
Her children accessed formal education and gradually adapted to a new languages and a new system of education.
She had a chance to exercise her religious freedom,
Had better access to better medical attention as compared to her native country where health services.
What did you find to be very important about your immigration experience?
Adapting to a new way of life without fully abandoning her native values and beliefs.
Learning new language in the United States while retaining her native language.
How did your immigration experience affect you family relationship?
Family members were separated and this affected her family relationship negatively.
She felt isolated in a foreign country.
She lacked social connectedness that she enjoyed back in her native country.
Experienced different cultural tradition relating to marriage
She found it difficult to adjust to an alien culture
There were changes in obligations of the family members
What are some of the economic challenges that you experienced?
Challenge of beginning life anew in a new country.
The cost of immigration was quite high
She needed adequate finance to hire a bigger house
Initially, she could not secure a good employment despite her relevant qualifications.
What impact did racism have in your life as an immigrant?
She felt isolated in social gathering because of her race.
Her children were often stereotyped and left out in sports by their peers in school.
What challenges did you encounter as you adapted to the life in United States?
Adapting to new ways of living, new styles of dressing, new languages and environment was difficult.
Deviating from her former cultural experiences to a new style of life to ensure a sense of affiliation in United States.
There were conflicts with her neighbors’ due to clash of values and customs.
In what ways have your values changed as a result of immigration experience?
Sharing of duties irrespective of one’s gender.
She came from a strong Islamic background. She was therefore very conscious on women code of dressing but she adapted to United States Style of dressing.
She also consented to her children going to swimming, an occurrence that would not be the case in her native country.
What impact does the immigration experience have in your life?
She learned new values that she incorporated into her life.
Her children had better chances of acquiring uninterrupted formal education.
Her children had learned new languages and this would offer them better chances of employment in the future.
What are some of the social pressures related to education experience and religious beliefs that you encountered?
Pressure to adapt to religious beliefs in United States while abandoning the native mode of dressing.
Pressure to learn the new languages.
Pressure to seek for employment