Zafir seems to have settled into teen life in America quickly, speaking fluent teenager: football, driving, what's trending on social media.
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| Pakistan native Muhammad Zafir, a refugee from Pakistan, chats with his mother and sister while at Catholic Charities' prayer luncheon (Photo: Joe Lamberti/Courier-Post) |
Source/Credit: Courier-Post
By Phaedra Trethan | September 27, 2017
Excerpts:
Before they came from all over South Jersey to Camden, the refugees who gathered for lunch with Bishop Dennis Sullivan had come from all over the world to South Jersey.
Pakistan. Eritrea. Iraq. Myanmar. Ethiopia. Uganda. Syria.
Each of them had fled their respective homelands, escaping war, religious persecution, oppression and natural disasters, and settled in South Jersey with the help of Catholic Charities. They met Wednesday with Sullivan at the nonprofit's Haddon Avenue headquarters for lunch, prayer and to bring attention to the plight of refugees worldwide.
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Muhammad Zafir is a 19-year-old high school senior who arrived from Sri Lanka with his mother and sister in February. The Ahmadiyya Muslim family had fled religious persecution in their native Pakistan.
Zafir seems to have settled into teen life in America quickly, speaking fluent teenager: football, driving, what's trending on social media.
"When you can talk about football, you can make a lot of friends," he said, smiling.
He's unlocked another unlikely secret to bonding with his new American schoolmates, too. "I picked as my favorite team the Cowboys," he said. When a reporter pointed out that might not be a popular choice in the heart of Eagles country, he laughed.
"I know," he said. "But everyone likes the Eagles here. If I like the Cowboys, they have more to talk about with me!"
The difference between the America he imagined and the one he now calls home is like "the fake against the original," he said. He's grateful to speak and worship as he pleases, both freedoms he did not enjoy in Pakistan.
His mother and sister, Nimra Ahmad, "love it here — who wouldn't?" even though his mother is worried about her son learning to drive.
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Read original post here: USA: Ahmadiyya Muslim refugees 'share the journey' with South Jersey, world
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