My name is Sajjad Jawad and in my third visit to the U.S. on January 2010 I intended to make the U.S. my final destination to resettle in this new community for myself , my wife and my two kids.
Despite that I visited the U.S. twice on September 2004 and February 2008, it was hard for me to adjust with this huge transition to live in the U.S.
Through my work with the Civil Affairs American Army deployed in Iraq, I got the required documents to travel to the U.S. as a Special Immigrant.
Also, I worked in the United States Institute of Peace as the Senior Training Program Specialist and I started to train the senior Iraqi officials on the concept of peaceful conflict management.
Through my two jobs I was supporting a huge number of Iraqis and became famous as the guy who is helping the Americans to establish a new free democratic Iraq and finally I became part of the sacrifices to establish democracy in Iraq.
The procedures in the Iraqi Embassy in Baghdad were smooth and well organized and I was able to travel to the U.S. within a few months after submitting my documents to the U.S. Embassy that coordinated with the International Migration Organization (IOM) too.
The IOM explained that they will allocate my family in Indianapolis and not in Virginia as I was originally planning for considering the high cost of living in Virginia.
Seeking advice from my friends in Virginia, I had been told that Indianapolis is a wonderful city and the cost of living is cheaper comparing to Virginia.
Upon my arrival to Indianapolis it was clear that I will smoothly adjust to the nice community here in the city of Indianapolis, one of the most beautiful cities that I ever saw in my life where the green spots are everywhere.
After two months I received a car from the teacher of my son in Nora Elementary School as appreciation for my volunteer activities to help the students speaking Arabic in this school.
Later on, I received another car from the mosque that noticed my volunteer help to my neighbor refugees and the mosque informed me that they will give a car as a gift for helping all refuges around me.
So in five months I received three cars where I use two of them and the third one was a permanent gift that I am keeping to this moment. The nice thing that very time the donor was filling the car with the fuel to show complete appreciation for complete volunteer support to others.
The leader of Catholic Charities, Gabrielle Neal, offered all support to find me a suitable administrative job, but most of the jobs were variable jobs and finally Gabrielle offered me the full time in the unique Catholic Charities as an Employment Assistant.
Through Gabrielle I was connected to a special program that allows refugees to buy their houses regardless of their credit history and I purchased a nice house and moved to it on December 2012.
Many other refugees adjusted in the community of Indianapolis and they started to buy their houses.
The refugees expressed their admiration for the standards of living dominating the community of Indianapolis and in the great nation of the U.S. where all laws decreed to support all categories of community starting from children, women and old people.
I am an optimistic person, but after living in Indianapolis I became more optimistic and I feel that I can be a good source to help all people.
Iraqis are not experts to live abroad or in exile, but the U.S. became a real home of peace for me and for my entire family.
*Sajjad currently serves as Manager of Employment Services.
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