John Youkhanna is an immigrant from northern Iraq. He wanted to move to America because his son has special needs. Additionally, it eventually became too dangerous for him to stay in Iraq. This is his story.
Mr. Youkhanna’s journey started off when he would meet many American soldiers at his store. They would go there to him to ask questions, usually about people in Iraq. He developed a good rapport with the soldiers. Eventually, they offered him a job as a translator. He began his job on May 1st, 2003 for a salary of only five dollars per day – not even enough to pay for gas in his car! In 2006, after working on hundreds of missions for the soldiers, the security situation became too dangerous for him to stay in Iraq. RPGs and bombs were going off frequently. With the support of his sponsor in the Army, Mr. Youkhanna moved to Jordan. In July of 2008, he got his visa to the United States.
After moving to the US, Mr. Youkhanna lived with his sponsor’s wife in Fayetteville, North Carolina. His biggest challenge was getting used to American culture and language. After two months, he moved to Raleigh to join a refugee program. He got a job as a cashier in a Food Lion in January of 2009. The next month, he began working with soldiers at Fort Bragg to teach them what they need to know about Iraqi and Middle Eastern culture and practices. There are very specific ways in which the soldiers must show respect to the different leaders of Iraqi communities. It was his job to train the soldiers on these practices.
Mr. Youkhanna described his current life as “wonderful”. He said that the most important event in his life was when he got his house through Habitat for Humanity. Getting his house saved him a lot of money and gave his family a better place to stay. He was so grateful for his house that he chose to both work for Habitat as well as donate a portion of his monthly salary to them.
