Time transcripts of Yusuf

[00:00:00.00]	Hello, my name is Yusuf Mohammed, and I'm from Somalia. 

[00:00:09.00]	I came here when I was twelve, and I am 21 now, I am in college.

[00:00:16.06]	Doing good. 

[00:00:20.07]	The hardest thing that I overcame, or you know, that I had to learn a lot

[00:00:28.80]	was English, you know, learning English itself.

[00:00:32.10]	Because I went to school back in Africa but not all the way to...

[00:00:40.14]	I went to like until first grade, that's the only thing I remember.

[00:00:44.15]	I went to school from first grade

[00:00:48.16]	and then we moved to America, and then coming here,

[00:00:52.16]	I was 12 obviously they're not going to put me in first grade, 

[00:00:54.99]	so they had to put me somewhere around 5th grade, 

[00:00:57.99]	and basically other stuff I just had to learn, you know, I had to learn English.

[00:01:04.19]	Or else, you know, they're going to drop me. I'm going to stay in 5th grade for a while.

[00:01:08.70]	So the hardest thing was just, you know, learning English. 

[00:01:13.10]	I spoke Swahili, I spoke Somali, but English was just something different, 

[00:01:19.45]	something that I never heard. I used to watch American movies, 

[00:01:23.20]	but the English, it was very difficult.

[00:01:28.28]	You know, so, I tried, you know, everything just to, just learn the word, the... 

[00:01:40.34]	I remember back in Middle School, once I fought a kid 

[00:01:43.70]	because he asked me something, and I thought he was cursing at me.

[00:01:48.37]	And I just went up there and "boom" stuck him, 

[00:01:50.99]	because I thought he was saying something about my mother.

[00:01:56.38]	And then they used to call me nicknames and all that, I just...

[00:02:00.40]	All that was not really a big deal, because

[00:02:04.41]	the whole English was something,

[00:02:08.43]	something new to me, something that I don't even recognize.

[00:02:13.44]	But I became, you know, the second year, when I was in America, 

[00:02:17.20]	I started picking up, pretty quick too, you know because

[00:02:20.47]	I used to sit home and just watch the cartoons and,

[00:02:24.90]	because a teacher once told me "You want to learn English? 

[00:02:28.00]	Watch our cartoons, you know, be like American, do what the Americans do." 

[00:02:34.40]	And that's what I did, I started watching the cartoons and what... 

[00:02:40.00]	Following, you know, what the American system is about, 

[00:02:45.65]	just follow what the Americans do, and that's what I did, and I followed, 

[00:02:50.30]	I watched a lot of programs on cartoons my second year. 

[00:02:54.40]	When I came out, I was, my English was already off the hook. 

[00:02:59.00]	In 6th grade I remember I used to make 4.0s. 

[00:03:03.20]	Like I never even had a year where I had like 3.9, just straight 4.0s.

[00:03:09.99]	And my writings, and the teacher used to put my writings on the wall and be like 

[00:03:14.67]	"Wow, look at this guy." 

[00:03:16.50]	He's been here for a year and already writing something like this. 

[00:03:19.00]	I continued on doing things like that. 

[00:03:23.50]	I was overachieving, just doing, you know, what I came here for. 

[00:03:30.33]	Because to me it's like an opportunity.

[00:03:32.78]	There's a lot of people who are in my country who don't have this opportunity. 

[00:03:38.00]	And for me, to do something like this, it was... 

[00:03:42.20]	I mean to be give this opportunity, to come to America...

[00:03:44.95]	Look I was born in a place... I was born in a village, you know what I'm saying?

[00:03:48.83]	In a village where there is no school, nothing. No running water, no electricity.

[00:03:54.10]	Now this is not the Amish or something, 

[00:03:56.00]	this is just some serious jungle stuff, you know what I mean? 

[00:03:59.65]	I was born in a place like that. 

[00:04:01.37]	Today I'm in Ohio State, one of the biggest colleges.

[00:04:06.90]	It's just something that I never thought of, something that I never thought would happen.

[00:04:12.90]	But you know, coming to America itself was one of the great things.

[00:04:16.92]	From that day, you know, when I knew,

[00:04:20.92]	when I knew that I was given a chance to come to America,

[00:04:24.94]	I thought to myself "I've got to make a difference. 

[00:04:27.95]	I've got to make a difference not only for me, but for my country." 

[00:04:31.11]	That country you know Somalia has been... You know most of us, 

[00:04:37.00]	if you see with a Somali student, all of them have a story to share. 

[00:04:40.04]	Either the war, or the problem that was going on. We all have different stories,

[00:04:44.99]	you know what I'm saying? And that country has torn a lot of families apart.

[00:04:49.00]	You know? Today if you see, we Somalis are scattered around the world, 

[00:04:54.50]	because of just little misunderstanding between, against tribalism, these little tribes.

[00:05:01.03]	It's just another genocide, but you know, because the world doesn't recognize it, 

[00:05:05.95]	they just go on and put it as Civil War or Tribal War. 

[00:05:09.05]	This is not Tribal War, this is genocide, and you know, I'm, my whole goal is... 

[00:05:15.25]	I came here, I was given a chance and I want to make a difference, I want to be somebody.

[00:05:21.09]	It's not like I want to be famous, or be heard of on CNN, 

[00:05:26.11]	but I just want to make... I want to, I want to have a chance to...

[00:05:33.14]	Convince 5 people that we can make a change and we can make a difference, you know?

[00:05:38.88]	You don't have to be billionaire.

[00:05:41.60]	Just, I want my voice to be heard, 

[00:05:44.14]	and I want all the Somalians out there, their voices to be heard. 

[00:05:48.00]	We all cry the same cry, you know, most of us young generation,

[00:05:54.60]	who we are, like from 18 to 21 we seen that. 

[00:05:58.68]	We seen the problem, we seen the war, and what it has done to us. 

[00:06:04.10]	So I want this, something like this where we can share our thoughts and our ideas

[00:06:13.37]	on how to come up with a better government system, 

[00:06:16.33]	even if we have to follow the American system, at least it works. 

[00:06:20.00]	It worked for 200 years you know? 

[00:06:24.22]	And so that's about it, that's the hardest thing. 

[00:06:30.50]	The English itself and coming to America is something very exciting, 

[00:06:36.50]	something that I never expected to happen, but it happened.

[00:06:41.99]	And like I say man, this is just...

[00:06:45.52]	I'm in college you know? I want to go all the way, 

[00:06:48.70]	I want to finish college and I want to make a difference. 

[00:06:51.90]	Not only here in America, but also back home. 

[00:06:55.80]	If I can't, like I say, I list 5 people... 

[00:06:59.10]	If I can change their mind, or their idea, if I can do that, 

[00:07:04.50]	then I can die freely, you know? Because I did something, 

[00:07:08.48]	I changed a couple people's view to something. 

[00:07:12.00]	So that's what is literacy about?

[00:07:16.00]	This is what we learn, this is what the whole, the learning is about. 

[00:07:22.00]	The beauty of education is to share, you know?

[00:07:25.64]	Once you get educated, if you just keep it to yourself 

[00:07:29.10]	then you are the only one who knows about it, but if you share...

[00:07:34.44]	If you share it, everybody benefits from it.

[00:07:37.67]	See an example is like the guy who invented the light, you know, he...

[00:07:46.50]	I forgot his name, but he tried, let's say he tried 9,999 times

[00:07:53.73]	somewhere around there. He tried those many times, 

[00:07:58.90]	and every time he tried, the light, it didn't work. 

[00:08:02.75]	Either it burst or something happens to it, it didn't work. 

[00:08:06.76]	Then you see, he never gived up.

[00:08:09.77]	Imagine if he had just tried a couple times and was like 

[00:08:12.20]	"Ah, you know what, it doesn't work." He would give up on it, but no. 

[00:08:16.70]	He keep on trying, keep on trying, keep on trying. 

[00:08:19.04]	And you know what? It worked. It worked now today he left what? 

[00:08:22.99]	Lights everywhere. Because of him now we have electricity everywhere. 

[00:08:27.10]	That's how it is you know. Somalia.... 

[00:08:29.05]	America once tried us, they tried to help us, once you know.

[00:08:33.86]	It didn't go well, but they run away from it and since then it's just a chaotic country. 

[00:08:41.90]	And people do whatever they like, you know, piracy, killing...

[00:08:47.18]	Just innocent people for because of some reason.

[00:08:49.90]	And hopefully I think we should learn from that, that it self is learning. 

[00:08:56.00]	History sometimes repeats itself, all these genocides and everything, it repeats.

[00:09:01.95]	Let's not ignore, you know, what other countries are going through 

[00:09:06.80]	because they are other countries, let's not do that. 

[00:09:09.40]	Let's focus on every country, even if we cannot help,

[00:09:14.01]	at least have a word or something to spark, to put something in somebody's mind, 

[00:09:20.04]	to think that you can change, that you can change the country. 

[00:09:24.70]	Or you could at least give them, give the people the idea that it's changeable.

[00:09:28.50]	That something can happen.

[00:09:30.05]	And you know, like I say, I'm not a very smart guy you know, 

[00:09:34.70]	but I became, first year, the second year when I was in America, 

[00:09:39.08]	I start speaking English clearly. I understood what everyone was saying, 

[00:09:43.80]	I start making 4.0.

[00:09:46.13]	A person like me, who grew up in a village 

[00:09:48.13]	where there is no water, no electricity, doing that? 

[00:09:50.99]	If I can do that, they can change a little bit in the world, 

[00:09:57.00]	they can do something different, and...

[00:10:02.17]	That's what I want to share, I hope you guys don't find it too boring.

[00:10:06.24]