Where There Is a Will, There Is a Way

Many families who immigrate to the U.S. face difficult circumstances in their new country in the beginning. I am a recent immigrant to the U.S. For the benefit of others, I am sharing my experience in terms of challenges I encountered upon my arrival in the U.S. and how, by the Grace of Allah, I was able to overcome them.

Upon my arrival in the U.S., I faced a very difficult situation. Being a senior citizen, I found myself quite unfit in the new society and thought that it was the end of my active life; I had been working in a responsible position in Karachi, Pakistan before I left for the U.S. Reflecting upon my situation, I then thought that being an Ahmadi, I must contribute to the Jama’at and my community and should not sit idle. My journey started with a lot of prayers to Almighty Allah and regular letters to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (may Allah be his helper) for prayers for having strength to become a useful person. Alhamdulillah, now I am a very busy person doing a lot of work in my community—serving humanity in different areas. Some of the work I am involved in is as follows.

I started opening our mosque and the attached library and compiled a list of all the books available in the library—more than one thousand—and ensured their proper placement in the shelves.

I made concerted effort in getting driver’s license for my mobility. Alhamdulillah, I received my driver’s license and now I own a car.

Simultaneously, I registered myself as a volunteer in Seven Trees Community Center, San Jose, and started serving food to seniors and helping them in other ways. This left a very positive impression on people and they started taking interest in me. This provided me an opportunity to politely introducing Islam and Ahmadiyyat to them and dispelling misconceptions about Islam.

I also started coaching citizenship classes to a Vietnamese group at the above-mentioned community center. In appreciation of my services towards the community, I was awarded the Best Volunteer certificate.

I also became a volunteer at Seven Trees Public Library and helped them in holding book sale events at different occasions that provided me another opportunity to interact with different people.

I also continued volunteering for our Jama’at activities such as attending Tabligh stall at the local flea market and participating in preparing and serving food to homeless people in association with other religious groups.

Currently, I am working in JobLink office as a Job Assistance Coach at Sacred Hearts Community Service helping jobless people to find jobs and helping them in other areas of human services such as clothing, food pantry, etc. At the community center, I am also trying to learn Spanish from my fellow staff as well as taking computer classes to further enhance my skills.

By way of all these human services, I feel satisfaction and thankfulness to Almighty Allah. I would like to say to my fellow senior Ahmadi brothers not to give in to the odds and be a productive part of the Jama’at and society. Not only will this keep you active by serving the less privileged persons of the society, it will also provide a way of Tabligh of Islam and Ahmadiyyat. May God help us to succeed in our endeavors and give us the strength to serve the mankind.