Becoming American: Teenagers and Immigration

In my country, it was always war. I saw people dying. I saw people without arms, eyes, hands—without heads. I was scared. My country, Kosovo, is not a strong country. We finally got away, but I was upset. I left my family in my country. I left my stuff. We went to Macedonia to a [refugee] camp, then to Fort Dix in New Jersey, then Arizona. We went back to Kosovo, but there were no jobs and no money. There were not even roads. We left again for California.

— Arsim Mustafa, age 14