Yusa C. Parcali ’21
Spring 2021
After her husband received a Green Card, Zehra and her family immigrated to the United States in 2004 with the desire of providing higher educational and living standards for her two children. Having been in the United States for 17 years, Zehra’s family has received citizenship in their new home and now enjoys a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, while both her children are now college graduates.
Zehra, who is now 45 years old, immigrated to the United States in 2004 after her husband’s Green Card application got approved. She was born in the city of Balikesir in the Turkish Republic. Although they lived a fairly comfortable life in Turkey, Zehra and her husband decided to move to the United States with the future of their children in mind. “The living standards in the United States would be much better than that of Balikesir… we were specifically thinking about you and your sister’s future and wanted to make sure you guys would have good educational opportunities.” They specifically chose to move to Houston, Texas because a family friend residing there recommended it due to its low cost of living. The family arrived in the United States with “only four or five pieces of luggage” and very little knowledge of English.
We came here without any English or higher education, and now we are middle class
Once Zehra arrived in Houston, Texas, their family quickly became acquainted with the local Turkish community in the city. “Although there is a big Turkish community in Texas, only 2 or 3 families were willing to help us… not many people were willing to help.” As a new immigrant with no credit score, Zehra’s family essentially needed co-signers for most of their crucial purchases ranging from signing a lease for an apartment to purchasing a car. Having friends that were already established in Texas was incredibly helpful in the process of settling into their new country.“It was an interesting adventure having to adjust to a completely new life starting from scratch.” While they lived in Turkey, Zehra’s family owned a house and a car; however, once she moved to Houston, it was especially like starting life all over again. Starting with nothing was naturally a very difficult situation to overcome, “there was a time after we moved here where we actually considered moving back to Turkey.” When Zehra first moved to the United States, she and her husband had to work long hours while also taking language courses at Houston Community College. However, they decided to power through the difficult first couple years because they didn’t want relatives back home to feel like they failed in the United States.
Before moving to the United States, Zehra “expected America to be like the movies,” specifically like New York City. However, suburban Houston was very different from this expectation. While living in Turkey, Zehra had gotten used to seeing people walking around in the street. However, when she arrived in Houston, she was shocked by how little interaction neighbors have with each other. “When a person moves to a new country, at least for the first two years, you miss your home country a lot.” Naturally, she missed seeing the same city life that she was used to seeing in Turkey. Additionally, being far away from family and friends led to her feeling “very lonely” in her first year here. Regardless, Zehra believes that she felt welcomed in Texas. “Americans are very loving and welcoming… in Texas, I’ve never experienced discrimination.” Even though language was initially a significant barrier for her, she mentions how everyone she has met has been very accommodating for her. “I feel like I can easily communicate with my managers and never felt like they treated me differently.”
Six years after immigrating to the United States, Zehra and her family received their American citizenship. “once you become a citizen you feel safer in this country… you say to yourself ‘I’m American now.’ Even though we came from Turkey, we got used to the culture of this country. You essentially become ‘mixed’.” She now identifies as “Turkish-American,” however, she still keeps close ties with her native country. “We try to visit every 2-3 years or have my parents come visit us in Texas.. we all miss it. I mean it is my homeland.” Although her children have spent a majority of their youth in the United States, she still wishes that they maintain their cultural heritage. “According to me, no matter where you are from, you must teach your kids your home language and heritage.”
I’ve grown to feeling like I’m at home when I am here.
Now having lived in the United States for 17 years, Zehra has fully assimilated into American life. Her daughter recently graduated from college and her son is a college senior. She isn’t considering moving back to Turkey anytime soon, because she believes that it would be difficult for her to readjust to life back home in Turkey. Her best advice for new immigrants is to “learn English like it is their native language” and attain “extra education like going to college [because] education is a good investment here.”