Original subtitles

♪♪

- Where are you from?

- Huh?

- Where are you from?

- Where are you from? - Where from?

- Are you from Iraq?

No?

Where are you from? - Where from?

- Afghanistan? Where are you from?

- Where from?

- Syria? - Syria, yeah.

- Syria. - You are from Syria?

Syria, say, "I am from Syria."

Say, "I am."

- I am Syria. - "From Syria."

- I am from Syria.

- Very good, Syria.

And then you speak Arabic, right?

Arabic? - Arabic?

- You speak Arabic, your language?

- Do you speak Arabic? - Arabic--

You speak Arabic, right? Say, "I speak--"

- Do you speak English? - Yes, I speak English,

but I do not speak Arabic.

Do you speak Arabic? - Anna, do you speak Arabic?

- Do you speak Arabic? Say yes.

- Yes. Do you speak Arabic?

Yes. - I am--

I speak Arabic. Arabic.

Okay, any...

♪♪

[phones ringing]

- How are you prepared for their arrival today?

- I'm fine. - This is for today and this is for tomorrow.

One, two, three, four. All these people arriving.

[phone ringing]

They're coming at 12:30.

They're supposed to be here.

[phone ringing]

[phone alert]

Okay, let's see. Okay, I'm coming.

Do you have five or you have seven?

You should have five.

When people come to us,

they have eight months to be self-sufficient,

and that eight-month clock starts

from the moment of arrival.

- Hello!

[Sawsan] - It's very intense.

- Let me begin by telling you the purpose of cultural orientation.

One of the purposes is to help you build life skills

that you will need during your first eight months in America.

[speaking Arabic]

- Can you think of some times when you might need

to say your address in English?

Hello, 9-1-1? - Police.

- Police, okay?

- So now I'm gonna have you all introduce yourself

to both the class and to me.

- Hello, my name is Maria.

I am from Syria.

In my country, I was a student.

- I want to know more about getting a job.

Um, and also maybe after that,

I want to get back to the university.

[woman] - We have a lot of families coming this month,

so there will be a lot more Syrian families in the neighborhood.

Yes, here. Yes.

- You have to be willing to accept

the first job that's offered to you.

♪♪

[train whistle blows]

[vehicle door closes]

[dogs barking in distance]

[knocking]

- Hello. - Hello.

[Rebecca] - Okay, I'm gonna call an interpreter.

[automated voice on phone] - You entered August 1, 1981.

[Rebecca] - I'm going to activate his food stamp card.

- Your card is ready to use.

- All right. Me and you go to grocery.

Yes. Yeah.

Okay, let's go. - Okay.

[engine turns over]

- Vegetables.

Potato? Yeah, let's go get some.

- Okay.

[automated voice on phone] - Please continue to hold

for the next available interpreter.

[woman on phone] - Hello, this is an interpreter for Arabic.

- Hi, uh, my client's with me. We're in the grocery store.

I might just need you to figure out what he needs.

Let me have you on hold for right now.

- Oh, wow.

- So I'm just gonna explain how

to, um, read the prices.

- Okay.

Uh...

- With the milk?

- Milk, yeah.

So, for milk, we have full fat.

It's gonna be this one.

And then we have reduced-fat milk

and then we have low-fat milk and then no fat.

Yeah. No, we don't want that.

- Ah, you-- I mean, "I need yogurt."

- Yogurt, okay.

Plain yogurt, Greek yogurt.

This one is plain and all these other ones have flavors.

- So, uh, we are used to, in Syria,

having yogurt, uh, from, like, lamb.

- From the lamb, yeah.

- Like a goat, goat, made from goat.

- Greek yogurt is the best we're gonna get.

- Okay. - So let's do the cheaper one.

[ice cream truck music playing]

♪♪

[doorbell rings]

- Okay? - Okay.

- Okay.

- Hi. - Hi.

- Hi?

[laughter]

- Hi, how are you?

- Hi. - What's your name?

- Omar. - I am Linda.

- Omar? - Omar.

And what is your name? - Linda.

- Linda.

And what's your name? - Ahmad.

- Ahmad. And you?

- My name is Sedra. - Sedra.

- Uh, how are you? - Mm-hmm.

- My from Syria. - Mm-hmm.

- Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too. - Nice to meet you, too.

Hi, how are you? What's your name?

- My name is Omar. - Mm-hmm.

- My from is Syria.

- Mm-hmm.

- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too. - Nice to meet you too.

- My name is Mohamad. - Your name is Mohamad.

- My from... - My from...

- ...is Syria. - ...is Syria.

- Nice... - Nice to meet you.

- Mm-hmm.

Nice to meet you, too.

- Yeah.

- Uh, Linda. - Linda.

- I am Linda. - How are you, Linda?

- Good. - Okay.

Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you, too. - Nice to meet you.

- No.

[door opens]

[phone ringing]

[woman] - IRC, may I help you?

[indistinct chatter]

- 17 things you need to know?

I can give it to you in Arabic. - Yeah.

- 'Cause I think they need to know what's--

what's, like, the basic service and stuff.

I will get you the document. I'll give you--

I give it to them in Arabic and they can understand it.

- Yeah. - Yeah, I'll give it to you.

- Okay, thank you.

[indistinct chatter]

- Do you want me to bring it to you or can you carry it?

[electronic voice] - Extra small.

Extra small.

- The dog eats.

[phone chimes]

I eat vegetables.

[phone chimes]

[door buzzer]

- Hello. - Hello.

- Hi, everybody. - Hi, Cate.

How are you? - Good, how are you?

- Good, thank you. - You got a haircut.

- What? - You got a haircut.

- Yes. - Okay.

Looks good. - Thank you.

- I was hoping we could do some kindergarten words.

"Am." - I am.

I am 14 years old. - Very good, perfect.

Madiha. - He.

- He. - He... he.

- He? He what?

- He...

- He my husband.

- He is my husband. Is.

"To be" is the verb.

I am, you are, he is.

[Madiha narrating in Arabic]

- Go. - He, she, it want.

- "Went."

[Madiha narrating in Arabic]

- I-N-G, present. - Yes.

♪♪

- Um, do we have... Diombe?

No.

- Let's go right over here.

[woman] - Is this your card? Yeah, Evan, hi.

- Yeah, that's correct.

- Okay.

- He's gonna teach you Arabic. - Sounds good.

- Can you tell me what the last job you had was?

- He used to work in Syria fixing cars, you know,

mechanical or electrical things in the cars.

- Right, I would love

for you to be able to go right back into car repair.

I would absolutely think that that was great.

Unfortunately, that is not going to be possible

for the first job in the United States.

I know a lot of mechanic work and car repair work requires

a lot of different types of licensings or certifications.

My focus is just on the first job,

so the goal will be to have a job

that allows you to help pay your bills

while you are learning English.

Um, so are you are both in the employment program,

which means that you both need

to be-- be preparing for working.

Yasmen could work some days at one place, and, Khaldoun,

you could work in a different place,

and you could be alternating so that someone

is always home with the children.

That usually works best

in terms of an employment plan for the family.

So, we'll focus on Khaldoun first for now,

but I need you to start mentally preparing yourself

for the idea that you will be working as well.

So, now I'd like to know if there's anything medically

that would make it difficult for you to work.

- He says, this is the drill, where he got the drill.

And they cut it out from that side.

Sometimes--

- Is there anything else medically

that I should know about?

- The... They took it with the--

Not the wrench. - Pliers.

- Yes. - Okay.

And so I'm just gonna make a suggestion

that I want you guys-- [door opens]

- Hey, time's up.

We have, like, several more appointments.

- Oh, okay. - Thank you much.

Whenever Khaldoun's done, he needs to go see Eli, uh,

because your social security cards came

and you need to sign for them and then they need

to get on the bus 'cause they have an appointment

at 2:00 at their home.

- Go with Eli. I think you wanna leave.

♪♪

[Yasmen narrating in Arabic]

[children shout indistinctly]

[Danielle] - Using your map

and your knowledge of the building numbers,

you need to lead us to the address on your sheet.

So remember, we're looking for 3-4-0.

- 3-4-0.

[speaking Arabic]

[car horn honking]

- Look, the red hand means we cannot cross right now.

- Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

- Okay, is it okay now?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Come here!

- Okay, so what is this place?

Yeah, post office, good.

Can I ever put cash in the mail?

[speaking Arabic]

- Yes. - Yes.

- No! - No.

Never put cash in the mail.

Let's go to the next address.

- All right, number one.

What types of jobs does the IRC find for you?

"A," the IRC finds jobs that you want to work?

The IRC finds jobs that are the same

as what you did in your country?

Or "C," the IRC finds jobs that are entry-level

and help you become self-sufficient?

[child crying] [man speaking Arabic]

[Kelitah narrating] I think the hardest thing for me sometimes,

especially in the higher English classes,

is that I have to almost destroy the ideas

that they came here with because what they've done back home

doesn't often translate to what we do here.

So the question is, why do you...

[man speaking Arabic]

- Why do you... - ...want to...

- ...want to... - ...work here?

- ...work here? - Very good.

And you're answering, to be self...

- To be self... - ...sufficient...

- ...sufficient... - ...and...

- ...and... - ...independent.

- ...independent. - Very good.

All right, so the job we're applying for...

[Batoul] - Me and my sister, Maria, we didn't work before.

It's my first time now.

I hope to be working in the technology field.

That's my dream.

And maybe, uh, have a car.

- This website is great for you guys because both of you

almost finished college, almost finished.

So, Batoul, you went to school for engineering.

What kind of engineer? - Telecommunications.

- Telecommunication.

So the job we're applying for is for cashier.

[Iman narrating]

[TV beeps and turns on]

[Iman narrating]

[phone alert]

And I left February 2013--

2014.

And after two years and two months, they came.

[Aya narrating]

- She said that after six months, she can bring us.

She will get her asylum and she can bring us.

That's what the lawyer said to her,

but, um, the truth,

that she waited, like, two years

and she didn't get her asylum.

[Maria narrating]

And we have to do all things by ourselves.

And we didn't know anyone there.

- I have to take care of my two sisters.

They are younger than me and they were still in school.

At first, it was really hard, but we, like...

We had to do that.

♪♪

- He wants to loan some money.

- No, we are in class right now, so this is not

the appropriate time to talk about it.

- Let somebody get by.

- Okay. Do you have your EAD card?

The employment authorization document?

To go to the bank-- Right, hold on.

The bank is requesting your EAD card

in order to open the bank account.

But there's a photo ID.

So I can talk about this with you at a later time.

You can call me and you say your name

and your telephone number and you say "interpreter."

And I will call you with an interpreter

and we will make the appointment.

You can also say "motarjem." I understand that.

Okay, yeah.

- "Hello, hi. How are you?

Interpreter." - Okay, okay, yeah.

[Kelitah] - So we, of course, do our best to get you a job

that'll be able to pay for your bills,

but in America, most times, husbands and wives work,

not just the husbands.

[man translating to Arabic]

- All right.

Can we move on?

When you're going to an interview, never ever...

[man translating to Arabic]

...wear jeans.

No, you cannot wear that to an interview.

- No?

- Your pants are okay, your pants are okay.

Those are okay. Your shirt, no.

You can't wear any of that.

I'm sorry, Khaldoun.

All right, so I'm going to have you

practice your handshake with me, yes?

[laughter]

Oh!

Okay, okay. Too--

Too much, too much. It's okay.

He tried to break my hand.

Okay, just like that.

Not tight. Okay, good.

- Hello, how are you? How are you?

- Let go, and stop holding hands,

stop holding hands, stop holding hands.

- I am good. How are you?

- Oh, my! Okay.

Tell me about yourself.

[Khaldoun knocks on desk]

Ceramic? - Ceramic.

- Construction.

- "Can-shuck-took."

[laughter]

- It's okay.

Look, it's a "C."

- Ceramic? - Construction.

- "Sheran-teck-shun."

[laughter]

- Ceramic. - So, listen!

Tomorrow, class starts at 10:00 a.m.

What time are you gonna be here?

Very good.

Buh-bye. - Bye.

- Buh-bye.

[Mohammad narrating in Arabic]

- Hello, how are you? - Hello, how are you?

- Nice to see you, Mohammad. - Hi, how are you?

- Down here. We're all in the same color.

- I know. - Just like we planned it.

- How are you? Nice to see you.

- How are you? - Thank you.

- Nice to see you.

Are we not shaking hands? - Yeah.

- No, you know, Americans want to shake hands.

- Sometimes. - Always.

Americans always want to shake hands.

- Okay, so, thank you guys for waiting.

I'm really sorry that, um, it took so long,

but I wanted to meet with you because Hannah and Evan

are both not here this week and we want to talk about work.

So you were supposed to go to work on Monday, correct?

But you didn't go.

- Can I speak? - Not yet.

- Okay. - Okay.

Thank you for asking, though.

Okay, so you arranged a ride for the two of you

to go with a friend to work, is that correct?

- The work hours...

...uh, too much for him. - Mm-hmm.

- His standing.

- Did you or did you not go to work on Monday?

- No. - Okay.

That is your choice.

However, there is a consequence for that.

Then what you should have done is come here yesterday

and asked for me, asked for Rebecca,

and explained to us that the ride

you had arranged was unable to take you.

Instead, you made a personal choice

to just not go and not tell anybody,

and that's the problem we have.

This is not a punishment. This is a contract you signed.

- It's any job. You have to accept...

[both] - ...the first job.

- And to be clear, there are state

and federal rules that we are obligated to abide by.

- So the first punishment is a verbal.

This is your verbal warning.

- The second warning will be that your money will be withheld

and that's what we're trying to explain to you.

If you want IRC to help you...

[man translating to Arabic]

...and you agree to the job offered, you have to go.

And if you don't want the job, you need to be honest

with your employment specialist

and say, "I don't want this job."

- I want to emphasize that we are here to help you.

We do not like punishing you.

- Okay. New page. - New page.

So go home to your wives and your children

and go to bed and come back tomorrow for class.

So go home before we get mad again.

Go, go, go.

- Are we going to Hilton? Are we going to Hilton?

- So keep going.

It's not downtown. - Yes?

- Going downtown? - Yes, ma'am.

Thanks.

[elevator beeps]

- Mohammad!

All right, so Dr. Brady will come in

to see you shortly, okay?

- Shh.

Ayman.

- Ready?

- This or there?

- Right here.

[sucking air] - Two here? One?

- Yeah, yeah, but you can't--

After I clean, you can't touch.

Be almost over.

- Ooh.

- You all right?

It's a needle.

You gotta get it.

- I don't want to.

- Here, look-- look over there, look at your mom.

Look at your mom.

- Okay.

- One more.

One more. Don't move.

All right. See, that's not bad.

It's not bad.

Excuse me.

- Thank you.

- Hello, hello, Mohammad. How is everyone today?

How's school going? - It's good.

- So...

how often are you having nightmares?

[woman translating to Arabic]

Um, how does that compare with how many nightmares

you were having before,

before you arrived in this country?

- Four times in a week.

- We do know that people, including children

that have experienced psychological trauma,

can have symptoms like this, um, and for younger kids,

it's not as big of a deal to them, but for older kids,

there can be a lot of embarrassment about it.

And so the treatment really is therapy.

Maybe some medications that we could try to help out Mohammad.

You're in agreement? Good.

[Khaldoun narrating in Arabic]

[cell phone buzzing]

[Evan on phone] - Hi, Khaldoun?

- Uh-huh? - This is Evan.

Okay, we're working with a staffing agency

and they have not, um, they have yet offered a job to you.

Um, if an opportunity comes,

I'm going to talk with your caseworker.

Okay.

[horn honking]

[brakes squealing]

- Good morning. - Good morning.

- Morning. - Good morning.

- Good morning.

- You wanna call the police? - Hello?

[boys imitating bombs exploding]

[boys continue imitating bombs exploding]

- This is the house.

This is another house. This is a third house.

♪♪

[elevator buzzer sounds]

[Aya narrating]

[Aya narrating]

- And there was our neighbor with his little daughter,

and when we were in the elevator,

she "hided" behind him

and she was whispering to him,

"Are they dangerous?" because we were wearing hijab.

And that's very sad because this little girl

have these strong ideas in her head.

[Batoul] - When we were living alone without parents,

we could do anything we want,

but after coming and living with my mom

and my stepfather, they want to take care of us.

They are really scared of, uh... everything.

♪♪

[laughter]

[laughter]

[on radio] - This is "The Takeaway," I'm John Hockenberry.

Thanks so much for listening, and I trust

you followed all the drama this weekend.

How there's suddenly an asterisk and some fine print

next to the "Give me your tired, your poor" message

greeting immigrants at the U.S. borders.

[woman on radio] - President Donald Trump delivered an order on Friday

stopping all refugees

and visitors from some countries

from entering the United States.

[man on radio] - In just the last 24 hours,

Trump has suspended all refugees

from entering the United States

and suspended immigration for the next three months

from seven countries that have Muslim majority populations.

- Oh, no.

Oh, my gosh.

[phone ringing] IRC, Sawsan.

Hi, Ruben.

No, it is the single women who came here and they're

supposed to be followed by their family members,

and suddenly, their family members are not able to come.

Okay, sure.

- It was just signed on Friday.

It's still unfolding, so I don't really know.

- At least get a state ID because I don't want her to get the I-94,

and suddenly at the airport, you never know what will happen.

Do you need anything else? - No, I think that's good.

- Okay. - Hi, Sawsan.

- We called about the Syrian support group.

Nobody came. - Oh, my goodness.

- I don't know-- it was, like, right after Trump's order,

so I don't know if that's why people stayed away.

One of the families said their son was sick.

Um...

Is everything else going okay for the family?

[Sawsan translating to Arabic]

[woman speaking Arabic on phone]

- Thank you so much. - No problem.

Done?

I am originally from Baghdad, Iraq,

and I came as a refugee

and I understand that when you're coming from a war zone

and you feel like you reached your haven

and you're gonna be safe, and suddenly,

this place is not haven anymore.

And you add to it, soon will be their eight months,

so this is where, in resettlement,

it's like you're not supported

and you're, like, most on your own,

so it's too much for them.

It's too much to be, um, really handling and, um...

Um... I hope we pass this period.

I don't know how it will go, but, you know, I have--

I have no answers, but it's really tough times

and hard for-- for people, for all of us.

Yasiin?

- I think the hardest thing is realizing

that we're bringing people from another country

and we're telling them that we are helping them,

like, I'm gonna move to America and I'm gonna live the American dream,

and yet you get here, and the American dream

is nothing like what TV or movies tell you.

And we want to be the greatest country

in the world, but we don't treat people

like we are the greatest country in the world.

[speaking Arabic]

[cell phone ringing]

- ...they change.

Like, you can-- you can see that

in their talk and their, like, behavior that...

I feel like the day that I come here,

I feel that it's my country, really.

And I'm worried, really.

I'm thinking, like, if one day, some decision come up

and we have to go out, I don't know where to go, actually.

I don't know.

- For me and my sisters, we are considered

as permanent residents,

but my mother, she is-- her case is pending asylum.

She, like...

She is scared that she might not be accepted here.

It's really scary for us.

[cell phone ringing]

[knock at door]

Come in.

Hi.

Hi.

[coughing]

[woman speaking Arabic on TV]

- Okay, what is nine times one?

Nine.

- Ooh... baby time. - Hey.

What is nine times two?

- No. - It's okay, come on.

You are smart. You are smart, come on.

And this one is-- what do you call this one?

- Cut, cut cake. - Piece, piece of cake.

Cut is like this. - Oh, yeah.

[cell phone ringing] - Multiplication.

- Multiplication? - Like, do you know,

like, nine times six?

- You just have to.

♪♪

[indistinct chatter]

- Let's say it again. Ready?

[all] - One, two, three, four, five, six.

- Good, stop. Sneak peek to tomorrow...

- Okay.

Can you read the sentence, Ahmad?

- "I see with my eyes."

- Very good.

- 4 divided by 1/5.

- Let's take a look at your colleges.

I know the big school is what?

- Is UMBC. - UMBC.

What is it about UMBC that you like?

Okay.

Does your sister know that?

- Yeah. - Okay.

- So let-- let us continue our conversation from last week.

A stereotype had to do with a generalization, yes?

Do people see one person act one way

and they believe that everyone in that group is the same?

That is one of the things

that we are exploring with this conversation.

Why do some people get treated differently than others?

[indistinct chatter and laughter]

- How old are you?

- Eight. - Eight.

- How old are you?

- Nine years old.

- Where are you from?

- My from is Syria.

- You have hair. - Yes.

[laughter]

Yes, I like my hair.

- Are you excited about going to grade six next year?

- Yeah, I'm excited. - Yeah?

You've been doing really good in fifth grade.

- Yeah, I like reading.

My teacher gave me paper.

- Mm-hmm. - Yeah.

I give it to teacher, she said good.

- Is this?

What?

[rap music playing]

♪♪

[music playing on phone]

[church bell ringing]

- This is a clock. A clock can tell time.

60 seconds...

- One minute. - ...is one...

- One minute. - ...one minute.

- 60 seconds. - 60 seconds, okay.

- Okay.

Okay, do you understand or no?

I understand or I don't? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I understand?

[Madiha narrating in Arabic]

- Hi. Can I get Madiha?

Hi, Madiha. - Oh, hi.

See you tomorrow. - See you tomorrow.

- Hi, how are you? - Good, how are you?

- Good, you know. Haven't seen you in a while.

- How are you, Leah? - I'm good.

How about yourself? - Good.

[Madiha narrating in Arabic]

- Wanna get in your car seat?

- I had this idea, and I was talking

to some members of my church, and I would like--

given that you're such a great cook,

I thought it might be a nice idea

if you cook a meal for-- and we sell tickets.

And we would use the money from the tickets

to pay for the ingredients, and then whatever money

was left over, would be to help support you guys.

And then thought that that might be a good idea for the church

to-- to come together and also to help you.

- In cooking? - In cooking.

Is 100 people too much? Is 100 people good?

Are you good to cook-- - 100?

- 100.

[murmuring]

- 100? - Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Thank you, Leah.

- You're welcome.

Hopefully, this will open a path for you

to maybe cook for other people, to start a catering business.

- Yeah.

- And maybe you can take orders and cook.

- Yes.

- Okay, okay.

Bye-bye.

This is a big step.

Really, I hope these families will be okay,

but it-- it takes time.

- Sawsan, you have time? - Yes, I have time.

Yes, come on in.

- Hi, how are you? - Hi, how are you?

- Hi, I'm doing okay.

Thank the Lord. - Thank you.

- Stop sign, stop sign.

School? - Yeah, school.

- Yeah.

[honking horn]

[laughing]

[Leah] - I have some good news.

So I told you we might sell 100 tickets.

I think we've sold 125 tickets.

- 25. - 125.

- 125. Okay.

- Are you okay with that? - Okay, okay.

- You're good? - Yes.

- Okay.

- No. - No, not that.

We may have to go somewhere else and get that.

Good? - Yes.

- So we'll get 130 of those? - Yeah.

[speaking Arabic]

- So Mr. Derry's just given me a map of Syria.

And it has your hometown. What is your hometown?

- Daraa. - Daraa.

- Uh, Leah?

I want this... one.

- You want that? - This.

- What do you want me to do with it?

- One.

- You need another pan? - Yes.

- Okay, I'll be right back.

Use as many as you want. - Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- Wow.

- Morning, you can come in.

- Hi. - This is Riley.

- Hi. - And Ethan.

And this is Mohannad and Mohammad.

- Mohannad and Mohammad. - Yep.

- Lemonade.

- Hi! How are you? - Good, how are you?

- Good. - This is my mom.

- Oh, hi. - Hi.

Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you too.

- There's a lot of people here.

Do you know how many are coming?

- 150. - 150?

- Hey, guys, so this is Madiha.

- Hi. - Hi.

- Nice to meet you. - Madiha, this is my dad.

- Mohannad, nice to meet you. - Yes.

- We're gonna do the English classes.

Have you started those yet? - No.

- Where is it?

- In Baltimore, downtown.

- Downtown Baltimore? - Yeah.

- How are you gonna get there?

- The bus. - Yeah.

- Hello. Hi.

- How do you say that? "Kah-bah"?

- Kubbah. - Kubbah.

- This is very sweet.

- Harissa is...

- Hot spice. - Exactly.

- What was the rice seasoned with?

- Advieh. - How long did it take you?

- How long was the trip? - Oh, how long?

[man translating to Arabic]

- Uh...

- From like 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., walking.

- Daraa. - From here.

18 hours in the airplane.

- Yeah. You know Irbid? - Irbid!

- But you speak Arabic good.

- Hello. My name is Mohammad.

I would like to thank this church

for setting up this dinner.

I would like to thank Leah

for help me and my family in many things.

And Mrs. Cate and Deborah and Elizabeth

to help me learn English.

Thank you.

[applause]

- Hello, everyone.

[audience] - Hello.

- I am Mohannad.

I was eight years old when we left Syria.

I don't remember very much about Syria.

We were all happy when we know we were coming to America.

I am happy now. I like school.

My teacher is good and I have friends.

My brothers like to live here, too.

Thank you.

[applause]

♪♪

[indistinct chatter]

- Look.

Oh, congrats! - Yippee!

♪♪

[indistinct chatter]

[applause]

[laughter]

♪♪