Date: August 6th, 2022
Interviewee: Rashed Matin
Interviewer: Subat Matin
Location: Manassas, Virginia

MATIN: Today is August 6, 2022, to tell me your life story.

RASHED: Hi, my name is Rashed Matin. I was born in Bangladesh in 1966. In my childhood,
actually, I spent my childhood in, mostly in Bangladesh, the capital city of Dhaka. That's where I was born up until my 20s, 26- before my 26th birthday and I was actually migrated to the United States in 1992, January 1992 and I got my student visa in December 1991, right after the Christmas Day 26, December 1991 and since then, I've been living in United States and I just went for like a few times, to Bangladesh to spend my time with my family there.

So going back to my childhood, I was at this primary school in Bangladesh, it's called Shahjahanpur Railway Primary School, where I started my third grade level, this is good. Before that, I was actually homeschooling with my parents. My parents used to teach me math and Bengali and English at home so from the very beginning of my life, I actually been through a war that is in 1971. So, I have actually lots of memories. The war on that war was between Bangladesh now, which used to be called East Pakistan and the war actually broken out between East Pakistan and with Pakistan. Now, that country is called Pakistan. So even though this war was not that long, it was only nine month long war. But this war impacted me a lot.

It's like, it's like a scar in my memory because when I was like five years old, that time in 1971, when they were bombing, the city of Dhaka, the city used to rattle like, like earthquake and that's why made me very scary during that time and my other siblings, I have two other siblings that time, my two little sisters, one is two years younger, and the other one is three under three years younger than me and we all were sort of frightened during the nighttime when we used to go to sleep. So besides that, the other notice that I have during the war is just moving place to place just to survive the war with my parents, so we actually leave three or four different places, mostly suburban Dhaka. So, the war doesn't impact us a lot. So, I have one good memory about the prewar night which is March 25, 1971.

That night, actually, there were lots of gun fires all around Dhaka city because East Pakistani people which were mostly men, which were basically Bangladeshis then they were unarmed and basically helpless. They were gunned down, killed indiscriminately all over Dhaka including rickshaw pullers, day laborers, students, especially students, because the students are the most vocal about the West Pakistani occupation in Bangladesh, and West Pakistanis persecution on Bangladeshis. So basically, that night we spent our night in a different area where we used to live, I remember, my parents grabbed me in the middle of the night and let us know all my siblings and us that we have to get out of the house as soon as possible. In the middle of darkness, there were no electricity, nothing and we were crossing through the very dark night just to escape the violence of East Pakistani army that started indiscriminate, feeling all around Dhaka. So, I spent that night with my family in a different neighborhood where majority was Bangladeshis not what not West Pakistan is. Basically, they are all do Urdu speaking and the of course East Pakistanis are Bengalis, they're Bangla speaking. So that is the night we I remember, we fall asleep in the middle of night, as we were very, very young, that time hearing lots of gunfire and fires all around the city. But my... what I heard from my parents, that they were not, they were not able to sleep on all night because they were up with other people who took shelter in that small house. And every was everyone was actually frightened, everyone was scared to death because there were gunfights all around the city, between Bangladeshi police and Pakistani, which is West Pakistani army.

And I'm not going to all details about that night, but that is the most memorable night of my childhood. But after that, the war broken out just before just after that night, which is March 26, which is of course, the, the day of... excuse me, Day of liberation of Bangladesh, which was marked March 26. So, after March 26, we started moving from our place where we used to live in Shahjahanpur, Dhaka to Khilgaon which is like the suburb that time and Faridpur there's another district of Bangladesh and another place also in Khilgaon, three different places and I have lots of good and bad memories about the war because I was hearing bombings, gunfights almost daily basis, like fighters are in the sky, dog fights and stuff like that.

So, nine months of war actually, I, since I was very small that time, I don't remember a lot of things, but I do remember I mean these major events during the war and nine months long war at the end of the war, the Pakistani army, the West Pakistani army, surrendered with the help of Indian Army in the city of Dhaka and I have a very good memory about the soldiers that were passing by our house where we used to live in the suburb of that Dhaka the of course the house was rented. It's a small, actually I shouldn't say houses a small one room apartment where usually five people together my father and mother and we three the three of their children's and the Pakistani soldiers while they were passing through the railway tracks on the station on by the rail... railroad, we were standing and we were waving Bangladeshi flag and we used to shout Jai Bangla that means victory to Bangladesh and the surrendering Pakistani armies they were they used to say the same thing. Jai Bangla, which is victory to Bangladesh, and they were actually laughing and smiling at us while they were actually surrendered, unarmed. But at the same time, these very soldiers caused a lot of brutality all over Bangladesh, they burned a lot of villages. They kill a lot of people, they actually raped a lot of Bangladeshi women, even children and they carried a lot of atrocities all over Bangladesh.

I'm very sorry to say that the Bangladeshi mukti bahini which is called the Freedom Fighters of Bangladesh, they also fought back and killed a lot of Pakistani armies here and there, because this terrain was very unfamiliar with lot of Pakistani armies. And since they were from kind of dry area, Bangladesh is Bangladesh is very marshy and muddy area. So, they couldn't keep up with their pace in the war. So, Bangladeshis fought back and they couldn't actually fight. We've done the dishes that we they were actually supposed to, but then the Bangladeshis win at the end, because the Bangladeshis were fighting for a good cause, which is their freedom, because they were always prosecuted by Pakistanis. I'm not going into deep of details about that persecution. But there are a lot of a lot of discrimination, a lot of persecution, a lot of unjust social injustice going on all around is Pakistan, which is Bangladesh, they were dominated almost everywhere, even though Bangladeshis where the majority of the population there, but they were always thinking about themselves as superiors, and they were imposing lot of things including their language on Bangladeshis. Bangladesh is very good heritage, language, a very rich language are most likely words number eight, eight, language population wise. And it's a very rich language, but they say Bangladesh is official language is not Bangladeshi, it should be Urdu, which is Pakistanis language, and that was imposed to Bangladeshis. And that was the first revolt that Bangladeshis made in 1952, the university students at the University of Dhaka by the way I'm also from the same university in procedure of Dhaka. And I'm very much honored and proud to be the university student at the University of Dhaka because they made the students in 1952 of 21st, February 1952. They made their ultimate sacrifice in order to start a revolution, which actually created a country on December 16, 1971, which is our day of victory in Bangladesh.

So, speaking about my childhood, besides this war memories I have, I have actually a lot of good and bad memories. I'm not going to go into all details about my bad memories. But the memories that I have is basically poverty because my father used to work for a government organization which government office. And he was like, like I should say, an upper division clerk. And he, he used to make a very little amount of money, which was very difficult to support our family. And we have of six members family, for my three of my siblings, and my parents, of course, so it was very hard for him to support the family from the very beginning. And my father was very honest person and the Bangladeshi system, the official system is very corrupt. It has lots of bribery.

Every single place you go, government or non-governmental, you have to go through some dishonest process, which is bribery, you have to either give bribery to them, or you have to get bribery from them. So, no matter what you do, if you bomb if you go to any government place, somewhere, somehow you have to give someone money in order to get your work done. Otherwise, your work is not going to be done. And at the same time, if someone works in a governmental office, or some private offices, they expect bribes from others, and especially the government, people, the majority of the people that time because due to their property and stuff like that, these two, take bribery, and the society was very corrupted. I'm not saying that all people are used to take bribes in the government offices. But I should say majority of the people used to get bribes from others in order to get their work done. But my father was a very honest person, he never ever touched any bribery money or did any kind of dishonest act. And due to that, whatever he used to earn, that was not enough for our family to support.

My father, while also he, he was actually whatever he earned, he gave this money to my mom, at the very beginning of the month, and my dad used to have hard time spending the money because the money was very limited. And it was not enough for the whole month. We used to him used to get the monthly payments from the government. And I'm not going to go to all the details of our poverty. But what I can tell you right now is my mom tried her best to spend this money, this very limited money in order to meet all the expenses. But I remember when I was very young, the money was running out like in either 15 or 20 of demand. Then the rest of the month was very difficult for us. And sometimes my mom used to send me do friends or family members houses, to borrow money and to buy daily necessities for us.

My mom also was a very strong woman because she never gave up I. At the poverty, we were facing, she never gave up. She stood strongly. She used to work hard as a housewife just to support our food, clothing, all kinds of things. And she never worked out outside of our house, but she used to support.
our daily necessities. Whatever we she could. The one thing I remember. Some days, when there was no way to borrow money from other my other friends or family, she used to stack her up newspapers, old newspapers, and she used to give it to me, and tell me go sell them and get some money from the stores where you sell the old newspapers and buy a rice and other food. So that's what I used to do from my very beginning of my life. I was also as the eldest child of the house, I took on lots of responsibilities from my childhood.

Like when I was like fourth, or fifth graders, I started to go to the bazaars, which is marketplace in order to buy the daily necessities, like fish, groceries, vegetables, every everything that we need. So, I remember I used to go to the bazaars early morning. When my father used to go to office, sometimes he couldn't actually buy your stuff early in the morning is to go to office, I used to go to the bazaar barefooted in the morning, and I used to buy like fish, vegetables and rice and other daily necessities by myself as a fourth, fourth, or fifth grader, I was very young that time and our struggle and didn't end up there.

Just after 1971. In 1974, there was a famine, broke...broke up, all around Bangladesh. And the famine was so devastating. I was seeing people dying all around Dhaka because these people were just flocking to the capital city coming from the villages, all around Dhaka other districts, they were so poor, poor, they couldn't support themselves over there where they used to live because they didn't have enough food or clothing. And Dhaka was the only place where they can find some food or guarantee or some food from the government, some places, but not everywhere. So, there were places, many places in Dhaka, where government used to make teacher is one kind of food, they used to make teacher is basically just rice, rice, lentils and some other vegetables. That's all they used to cook for those people who used to line up and get some food just maybe once a day. And I also see saw a lot of people who were like, like half naked because they didn't have enough clothing to cover themselves. And also saw a lot of people.

I mean, just like dead on the capital cities, every city here and there because they just died out of malnutrition, hunger or other sickness. They were so lean and teen. I mean, they were I mean for me they used to look like a living skeletons and also saw a lot of people where we used to do robberies, mugging. What, and also, yeah, they used to steal people houses out of poverty, or to support their family, I really don't know what to call what used to cause them to do that. But these people who were actually stealing money in order in order to support themselves, what used to get caught, and a lot of people were killed publicly because public is to punish them on the street, because they were the law and order situation was very bad. in Dhaka during 1974, the year of famine, and out of there parties, I have seen a lot of vandalisms in different houses a lot of street fighting a lot of kills, actually a lot of girls, and two after 1974. It actually 1975 the fishermen got better, because Bangladesh got a lot of support from countries, the European countries, especially United States, the supported a lot in Bangladesh, actually getting better than 1974. And at some point, there were a lot of corruptions, also, they were actually stealing the people in higher authority. They're also stealing money that was actually sent to poor people of Bangladesh, and they were making a profit out of those.

Those supports from other countries as a relief. So, the corruption was there all the time, you know, the,
in Bangladesh the time I spent in Bangladesh was actually still struggling to, to stood to, to stand on his own food, because it's a war torn country. And people were still living in poverty, mainly and at some point, in early 70s, Bangladesh was world's poorest nation, most likely, number one, and gradually became number three and it was a time of struggle. As a lower middle class family from Bangladesh. We have been through a lot of a lot of poverty. A whole of our whole time, my father sold mostly all of his land that he used to own, which he could have said, but in order to support his family, he sold them just to support us. And few other parties that we have been through, I can actually tell you right now, my mom, actually, she used to re-stitch our pants, especially my pants, because I didn't have that many fans. So, when the pants were torn, my father didn't have enough money to buy a second pair of pants.

I have just one or two pants, I believe. So, she used to re-stitch them when they were torn during the War of Bangladesh in 1974, and especially 75’ and 76’. So, I was like just fourth grade at that time. So, the other memories that I have about our poverty and struggle in Bangladesh is at some point my father couldn't actually. Support, support our living. So, he shared the apartment, the government department that we had from the government, he shared with another family and just to rent another portion of the apartment with another family so that we can get some money from them in order to get some money to support our family. So that was another struggle and poverty that we had during that time period. The other memories that I have, of my childhood is, it's a good memory, I shouldn't say all the bad memories, we used to go to our countryside, especially my grandmother, mother's side, grandmother's house in Bangladesh. And when we was fifth and sixth grader, we used to go to the countryside and it wasn't very nice village where we used to spend our summer vacation or winter recess time periods.

Those are the most memorable time because we didn't use to see the struggle of the city of darker with a village life is totally different. You don't you don't struggle day to day. It's like an open field, fresh food. Nice people, simple people around you, you don't forget about your day to day struggle, or your fight for life. So, the best memories of my life are those days that we used to spend in the villages of Bangladesh, my father, my father's side, grandparents’ house and my mother's side and grandparents house in Bangladesh, they're basically villages. And also, we used to take overnight trains and those train journey was very memorable for us as young kids. To my, when I was, I passed my seventh, eighth grade, seventh eighth grades yet my parents actually were not able to get me a private tutor because all my friends, most of my friends had private tutors, because they were able to support somehow. But I, I always I was always struggling in my class because I did not have any private tutor who can actually show me stuff like math, or other subjects that I needed help with. And basically, I was just supporting myself with my education, as much as I could. My mom used to teach me math and science with whichever she could. But her education level was not that high that she could teach me all the way she was just like think temporary Pass, which is called metric lady from Bangladeshi school. My father didn't have enough time to sit and educate me at home. So, I was struggling in the high school and my
junior schools all the time, especially like math and English and other subjects.

So, when I was in eighth grade, my mother's side, grandfather, he said that since you're struggling in the school, especially with math and other subjects in English, of course, I could teach you just for one month during the Ramadan time Ramadan vacation that type Bangladesh, all the schools and college and universities used to be closed for the whole month. So, he said you can come with us and spend your time in the in her house in Bangladeshi village, and I can teach you all the difficulties that we have, so that you can overcome the difficulties in your school. So, when I was an eighth grader in 1979, I remember I spent the whole Ramadan time. And he used to show me how to resolve the most complex mathematical problems. And he used to teach me the grammars, English, little bit of science, and of course, little bit of astronomy, because he is loving astronomy, my father side, grandfather. And by the way, he was a headmaster, which is the principal of a government school.

It's not only one school, multiple schools in Bangladesh, or he would use to transfer here and there. But during that time, in 1971, he was retired. And he had all his time to educate me, just for one month. So after that, Ramadan when I came back, the subjects that I was not able to do good. I was actually failing some grades because I didn't have any guide proper guidance, to resolve my issues, and to learn properly because, you know, Bangladeshi schools, I am not that group, good in, in class, they don't show everything in the class, like United States schools. So, you just learn a little bit from your school, then you have basically study home life from your either from private tutor or from your guardians, whoever guides you. So, after coming back from the village, after that Ramadan month of Ramadan, I remember I actually did very good in math. And I learned how to resolve problems of mathematics. And, of course, the other subjects like English, or science. So, I was basically I was a, there was actually a turning point of my life, that one month actually changed a lot of things, I actually understood how to do a lot of things by myself by myself.

And when I was a ninth and 10th grader, I didn't have any private tutor at all. So, whereas all other friends, most of my friends, like I should say, 70 or 80% of my friends, they all have their private tutors, and guides. So, I, I actually, I was able to study a lot as at the same time, one of my cousins who became a doctor later, he supported me a lot. Especially the subjects I needed help with the physics, chemistry, math, science, and the other subjects that that needs a lot of like, technical solutions. So
my parents thought I'm not going to do a very good results due to, I didn't have proper guidance. In 1982, when I passed the Metric relation, which is 10th grade passing is called SSC Secondary School Certificate exam. I really did very good. That was, I stood first division. First Division is the very highest level of grading of Bangladesh. And I did very good and that result was extraordinary. No one expected me to be that good because they thought that I'm either a bad student or I didn't have seen because I was lacking proper guidance. I wouldn't be able to do good, but I somehow, I put, would myself that I'm actually a good grader, which is first division that our highest grade of Metric relation Secondary School certification. So, everyone was surprised with my results in 1982, SSC result, Secondary School Certificate. Then, in 1984, I passed the Higher Secondary School Certificate, which is equivalent to United States 12th grade the HSC results was also I, I had a good read. And I even though I didn't have any private tutors, or any guide, I actually started by myself, because that time I really learned how to how to learn things, and how to study. And basically, I was by myself, and I was almost self-dependent learning.

And I did good in the schools, the high school, which is higher secondary certificate, HSC. After finishing my high school exam in 1984, higher secondary certificate exam in 1984, I was trying to get into good in universities, but those universities were very competitive, especially University of Dhaka, and some other universities that I also applied for. And also, the exams were very tough and they were like, I mean, due to some corruption, there were some pre selections. So even though you're passing the entrance exam, the other people are already pre-selected by the people of their choice. And I mean, those are actually those are the difficulties that I was facing, in order to get a get in, admitted in getting to get admitted into a renowned university that are on target. So, what I did is, I spent my good two years just to get admitted into good universities around the Dhaka. But I was not able to able to get admitted into any of those universities due to high competition. And sometimes I should say, the corrupted educational system stuff. So, what I did is I actually started my Bachelor of Commerce degree under one of the colleges in University of Dhaka, which was not directly the University of Dhaka, which I was actually I was referring to, but this is also a degree that was given by University of Dhaka, so it's called in City College, Dhaka City College. So, I started my Bachelor of Commerce, from the City College, even though commerce was not my subject, I was always trying to get a degree on his science, like physics, or astrophysics, or other subjects that I actually used to like. So just to get a degree from University of Dhaka. And I started, Bachelor of Commerce there. I found the other subjects other science subjects were very hard for me in order to get into due to high competition. And of course, there are other issues that I couldn't get into.

So, I finished my after losing two years of education because I was just running here and there just to get admitted. After losing two years of my education, I graduated from City College, which is under the University of Dhaka and that was back in 1988. Each I, I was actually looking for my masters that time. So, my results were not extraordinary. But the result I had, I actually I was qualified to join a two to get admitted into University of Dhaka itself, my dream university. So, I appeared in the exam of the entrance exam, and I passed it. And I started my master’s, master of commerce under University of Georgia. So, one thing I can I should have mentioned during my education when I was 11th grader, my father was still working in the same position, the government, upper division, clerk, I,
I... I started doing my tutor, a tutor, tutoring, the private tutoring, I used to do tutoring for different level graders like sixth seventh eighth graders, and sometimes can pay 9th graders. So, I used to do private tuition, or private tutoring. Almost all the time, during my high school, 11th grade 12th grade, even after my become better off commerce, time just to support myself and my family as much as I could do. That time, my father got a raise from the government, our financial condition was a little bit better than before, because I used to support a little bit. In the family, at least I was, I was not important for my father at that time, because I was supporting myself. And I used to contribute a little bit to my family as much as I could do. And so, when I pass my Bachelor of Commerce in 1988, so I used to do all the tutoring and stuff like that in order to support and, by the way, that time, my siblings, my two other sisters, they also got admitted into college. And that was also even though education is free in Bangladesh, is it's not that free, but they used to pay some fees every semesters.

But in order to support their education, my parents, used to spend a lot of money for their transportations, books, and other necessaries. So, basically, we were three brothers and sisters used to go to college at the same time. That was a huge expense. And my very youngest brother was in the high school that time. In 1988, when I passed my BCom exam, I actually joined in a private company, I still remember that company name is called Trio Trade. And I was looking for something other than my private tutoring, so that I can get into the corporate world. So, Trio Trade was my first company. My... I work for that that company for one year, I remember in 1988, so I used to go to college. I mean, in University of Dhaka for my MCom and I used to go to that company, as a freelancer. I used to them actually used to like me a lot. And they gave me all their samples. So, I was basically a salesperson of that company and a freelancer, they gave me a business card used to call sales executive card. So, I used to go, even though it's not executive like just a salesman, so, I have all the samples of the items they used to sell basically there, they were selling the internal communication system which is intercom and your phones for the houses and telephone PABX system. So, I used to have a box of sample in one bag and the other bag I used to have my college in books and stuff.

So, whatever I felt, I was in the class, I was actually going during the gaps of my class periods, I used to go to different places in order to execute my sales, different clients. So, I was actually on the run all the time during those college years. And so, I was selling like door to door houses and in the evening to sell those door phone systems and during the daytime I was going to office to office to sell the telephone PABX and intercom systems and I was able to make good money I should say compared to whatever I was making during my tuition, I mean to private tutor years. So, in the first job that I used to do, I used to remember my salary was only 1200 Bangladeshi taka per month. If I make convert that into U.S. dollar, that time, it should be safe 60 to $75 U.S. dollars for the whole month. So that was my money for the whole month. And I was actually running all day, six days a week, just one day I have I head off. So, a good thing about that is I used to have some time to study because there was not a full time work in that company to trade. It was just a freelance freelancing over there. So, after a trial trade, I made good money up there just to support my me and my family.

That time because I was also getting some money from the sales as a commission. And I was able to support better. In 1989, I joined in another company and I was doing the same thing. Same sales, execution, same products, but it's a different company since the other company, the trial trade that I used to work for, they went bankrupt. So, and that company gave me a little bit more opportunity than the other company. And I was able to make. Much better money than trade and I was able to save some money just to be able to support me and my family 1989 I was making better money than before with that company. The new company that I'm talking about. The name of the company is Pacific associates. And I was able to support my education as well as some expenses. I was able to bear some expenses of my family. So, there was better than before. What I realized that time is that time if I stay in Bangladesh, I have to, maybe I have to work in a private company like that, which is very hard to make some money. And also, if I join in a government company, and if I get a chance, then there are a lot of corruptions, a lot of bribery and stuff, which I really didn't like. So, I actually asked myself whether Should I stay in Bangladesh or get out of Bangladesh in order to get rid of these kinds of social problems in Bangladesh. So

I decided to get out of the country, no matter how, in order to get rid of my party, because my family was still struggling and in many different ways. They're not keeping up with the expenses. As we grew older, our expenses are lower. And my father is the only earning member. And my mom, sometimes he used to try to work outside, but that didn't work out. Because she has to support a lot of things at home.
So, my father was the only other earning member of the family. I, when I decided to get out of the country, I targeted many countries where I can study for free as a government scholarship, so I, one of my uncle's he suggested me that if you should try for government scholarships, that comes from Ministry of Education, Bangladesh, so I got a scholarship at university in Algeria. And that time, I started learning French, and Arabic, because those two languages are required for that education. So, 1987 and 98, beginning of 1987, I started French in order to get the government scholarship. And that was the target. While I was in University of Dhaka. I completed five semesters of French, from Alis Francis in Dhaka. And they were actually in conjunctions with the University of Dhaka. And I did very good at learning French, for five semesters of education, I got a good certificate there.

So, I was hoping that that will help me find the Nigerian government scholarship. Unfortunately, Ministry of Education in Bangladesh, they failed to absorb 66 of these students who got the government scholarship for Algeria. And all my struggle all my time, in order to learn French and a little bit of Arabic was in vain at the end of the day, because they couldn't absorb those six students, including me for the government scholarship. So, I was not disappointed. I started to learn Russian this time, in order to avail Russian government scholarship that time a lot of Bangladeshi students were used to go to Russia in Moscow, to complete their higher education degrees. So, I will just be imitating them in order to go to Moscow, Russian universities to study so I started learning Russian that time. And I started, I started like, I should say, like five, six months Russian cultural center. Unfortunately, I was not able to make any of the government spot scholarships, that's available for the students because of the high lobbying. And I should say, there was also a corruption because they only picked the students who they already knew in order to get into the university. So, there are a lot of potential political, political issues there because they used to choose people who were actually part of those political parties and stuff. And those are students were used to go to able to go to Russian universities. So, I failed that one. And I had now I started sending my applications to India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabian government scholarships, universities of those three countries. Unfortunately, I failed all three of them. And finally, I said, I mean, if I failed all these countries, then what I can do right now is, United States would be a good option. But I know universities are very expensive over there in the United States.

So, it was actually beyond my reach. But even though I didn't have enough money to support myself in United States, I thought of actually appearing into TOEFL Test of English as a foreign language. And that year in 1989, I also started studying for American universities, which is Test of English as a foreign language. So, I, I spent quite a time learning American English Test of English as a foreign language. And there was a little organization in Dhaka, who actually helped me study that. And in 1989, I passed with a good grade in Test of English as a foreign language and TWE was also with that, test of written English, I did good scores in both 1990. I, when I've finished those TOEFL and just have read English.
1990...90’... 9’, I started sending like correspondents to universities of United States, like in Florida, in New York, Texas, some other places. By the way, I did not mention one thing, though, when I was in my childhood, when I was growing up, I was very lucky to have American Cultural Center, which used to be called United States Information System, right next to our house, right next to our government apartment where I used to live. So, I used to go there, and I used to learn United States cities education system, a little bit of my studying book from their libraries. So, I already knew New York City a lot, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, all those boroughs in New York Cities and all the universities around New York.

So, I actually learned a lot of things about United States by also watching TV, television series this while which are like TV shows that call the United States. So, I was actually very familiar with American culture, in American language, and a lot of our lot of American places, just by watching those American TV shows from my childhood. So, when I said, when I passed the test of English as a foreign language and the TWE, I sent my scores to a few universities, and, and also, I had one of my cousins who used to live in Oklahoma that time, he said, I can get you in I 20, which is an application for university in Oklahoma. So, he actually submitted application fee in the university was University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, in where I was able to get admission paper and stuff, which is called a I-20. And I one day, one fine morning, I went to the Embassy of the United States in Dhaka. And I was actually interviewed by the visa officer and when he saw my papers, my I-20, my recommendation from inverse from my University of Dhaka recommendations from my professors and he actually liked and he, he gave me the visa to come to United States. So, I was actually very surprised. Even though if there was United States coming to United States was my dream, and I never thought of United States because the universities are very expensive over here. But when I was really surprised when I was given my visa, so quickly, that was the December 26, 1991. That day I received, my visa got my visa for the United States. So, I was very happy. And I told all my friends and family members that I got my visa to come to United States, and I should be able to finish my education over there.

So, I have the money that I needed. I was actually asking all my relatives and family members and my families, were not able to provide me with that type of money that I needed to spend for the first semesters in United States. I thought of myself that if I can go there, I can borrow my money from my friends, we’re already being in United States. So, when I flew on January 3, 1991, for that semester, for the spring semester of 1992, I had only $1,200 endorsed into my passport from Bangladesh.
So, I got my visa and flew on December, January 3, 1992, I got my immigration as an F1 student at the Los Angeles International Airport. I when I got into Oklahoma, from LA, I, I wanted to go to the university right away. So, one of my cousin's friend on my, he actually took me to the university. Unfortunately, what I was expecting that university was not that big, or the way I was expecting. I have, at the same time, the money that I was supposed to get for the semesters from my friends. And I, as I mentioned, I only had $1,200, that time that I was able to bring from Bangladesh, there was not enough for this semester. So, my friends were not able to actually provide me with anything, because they were all students that time.

So, I decided not to go to the university because it's not going to be possible for me to study. The education was very expensive, like 500 for the first semester was almost $5,000. I remember, that was a very huge, huge, huge money for me. So, when I was in Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, all my friends who used to live in New York, they actually asked me that if you want to do a job and go to college at the same time, New York City would be most probably be the best thing for you, because you're going to get some job there and you can also study for free as a as grant, but unfortunately, I did not have enough money as a foreign student to support myself. And I did not have any paper that would qualify me for grants the government grants. So, I actually started working over there in the New York City. Those are work sort of like the American hard work, you know, like, basically are our jobs like food deliveries or work is to work in a dark company, we stimulate dirt in that company. And I used to... I used to work grocery shops, and I used to work in a deli and I helped food company. That place I worked for a long time and I remember I used to cook also for the health food company. And I used to wash dishes, I used to, I used to mop floors. And I never gave up hope that one day I will make some money, save some money, that will actually give me an opportunity to go to American universities that will fulfill my dream to study in the United States.

I was actually struggling a lot to support myself. And at the same time, I was sending money to my family in Bangladesh, because they were still in very bad shape. Financially, they needed my support.
Actually, they needed a lot because my father was retired in 1995. And he didn't have nothing that time. So, I was working in New York City, hoping that one day I'll be able to be able to start my work again, I attempted like twice, and I got rejected both times saying that I do not have either my status to study or as a foreign student. My grades are not going to be qualified those kinds of things. Which actually didn't make sense. Even though I have a degree from University of Dhaka, I finished my master of Commerce, the first word from Bangladesh. So, I already have three years of a college degree from Bangladesh, that which I was trying to put into work for toward my degrees in United States. So, what I did after that, since I was actually not able to make it to you know, a United States in adversities I, I started to
I mean, I started to think of a better skill. So, I try, I was actually trying to focus on something like learning computers and stuff like that and all of a sudden, in 1996 I met my wife and I got married in 19- in August 1996.

And after getting married, I was still doing the health food company work is still doing that job. And I was still thinking of studying. Unfortunately, that time, right after my marriage, my first child born, and there was actually a little bit more struggle for me because it's more sport. And in 1998, my first child was born. And I was actually supporting my family in Bangladesh, and as well as my family over here. My wife never worked. So, I was supporting a family here in New York, and they're in Dhaka and tutor I was still thinking about going to college, but somehow it was not possible because I did not have green card yet. And the immigration pass process takes long time my wife wasn't green card holder that time. So, she you find for me, but it's not going to. I'm not going to get paper due to a is there a long waiting period of processing. So finally, I was able to get my green card in 2004 and by that time, I had another daughter. She was born in 2001.

I had a family member of four here in the United States, and I have my parents over there in Bangladesh with my brother, and I'm, and my parents and our supporting both families. In 2004, I actually decided to go to Bangladesh, because after 13 years of living in United States, I was actually dying to see my parents. And then my parents are also dying to see me and my children. So, I decided to go to Bangladesh for five months. That was a very long time. And my... I remember that time I used to work for a trophy company in New York City and I remember, the immigration officer was asking me when I returned from Bangladesh, are you sure you're going to get your job back? After five months of stay in Bangladesh, I said, Yes, my company that I worked for that, that my boss and my other coworkers, they actually liked me a lot. They, they said, they will allow me to work start working again.

So, in 2005, I, I came back in the month of February, and I decided that I have to since I have the green card now. I got my green card in 2004. And as soon as I got my green card, I went to Bangladesh. So, since I have the green card, now, I should study, I should start my study right now. So, I was working full time with that trophy company in Brooklyn, New York. I started my college fall 2005. I was able to use my credits that I received from University of Dhaka. And my subject was business management. And this, those credits were applied to the university that I went to the City University of New York, Brooklyn College, they accepted all my major related credits. That was very helpful for me. I was doing full time work and full time class in 2005. And I remember I used to buy a piece of pizza, and at the end of the day, like six o'clock in the evening, and I used to jump into the subway trains, and I used to get, like in 45 minutes, I was able to be at the class at my class.

That way, I was the I used to take my classes, but it was like 12 credits per semesters. And, and I used to take weekend classes as well. That's how I kept my full time status in order to get my grants from the government because I did not have any barriers that time as I was a green card holder. And I studied hard in the college and I was able to finish my college in another three years, which was 2009 and during this time, I was doing full time college and my owner, my boss and trophy company is called trophy world. He was very supportive. He gave me whatever time I needed whenever I need some break or some off, he gave he was very supportive. And also, I got lots of support from my family, my wife when I was finishing my education so I was able to get like all most of the subjects a great because I study hard and in 2009, I was able to finally I was able to graduate from United States university, that was my dream to finish my education and in September, in actually did not have, yeah, I, I graduated from University City University of New York, Brooklyn College and that time I was, I was 43 because I started mine started my college degree when I was 40. So, it took me another three years to finish mine, college. So, in 2009, I, I decided to get out of me York City, because I was thinking that this is not a good, good place to live, because the environment for the children was not that good. And the living was not as good as I was expecting for the United States. And I decided to move out of New York City and so I actually moved out of New York City in 2000... September 2009, August 2009.

In September 2009, I joined in a government contract job and I started supporting Department of Defense in the as a government contract. So, I was an American citizen that time and I was very proud of doing that because I, I was thinking that job is very prestigious, because I was able to support all the branches of the United States, military, United States, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, all the departments and I worked there for, like six years. And unfortunately, even though it was a very prestigious job, it didn't give me that much money because I was as a help desk analyst, that money was just like, a minimum wage job. And I was still struggling a lot. Because we $15-$16 an hour I was, it was very hard for me to support my family here to feed. Oh, by the way, I had another child that year 2010. So, I have five members here and five members in Bangladesh. I had my family's in Bangladesh, my parents, my brother and his wife, and two of their children. So, six members, over there five members over a year, I have to feed almost nine. Yeah, well, I have to feed nine mouths that time, and I was still earning $16 and I have to maintain to 2-3 cars that time.

So, it was quite a struggle for me and somehow, I was able to keep it up, you know, I never gave up. And I was looking for better than whatever I'm supposed to do. So, I always already had a college degree. And I was still doing a helpdesk analyst technical support job. So, I was thinking about changing that job into a different direction since I've been with the government agency for a long time, like six years. So, in 2015 I shifted my... shift in my position to a different position, which is software development. And I started gathering knowledge and I learned a lot of tools that I needed to finally I was able to join a professional software engineering in 2015 end of 2015. Yes, end of 2015 and when I was 50 year old, so, so my achievement is that I never gave up hope. And I was able to get my job at the age of 50. I became a professional that time. So, I came to United States just before my 26th birthday. But it took me almost 25 years to get a professional job, which is finally started in November 2015, which is, I should say, two starting to the 2016. So, I've been in the same industry, but I've been supporting a different government organization now and which is another, I should say, I'm very proud of it, because I can I can still support United States government and putting my skills into my profession. Right now, whatever I learned from my previous jobs. And since 2016, I have been a working as a software test engineer. I worked multiple companies during 2016 and understood working as a software engineer, and I think I'm doing good.

MATIN: When you were in Bangladesh, what was your opinion of America or Americans?

RASHED: America and America, Americans were always very close to me. Because as I mentioned, in my interview, I was watching those movies and stuff and everything I saw over here was very familiar to me. So, America, I, I loved America and still, I still love America, because from early childhood, I was actually learned everything about America. So, I still do.

MATIN: What did you hope to gain by settling in New York?

RASHED: As I mentioned in my interview, I was in Oklahoma City, but all my friends, most of my friends that time used to live in New York City. And they influenced me a lot in order to go over there to make my living, because they said you have more opportunity there. Because you do not have papers. Over here. If you come, you can get shelter, without having any document you can work and make some money and support yourself. That is the only reason why I actually moved out of Oklahoma City and came to New near and actually I realized New York City is the best place for immigrants because I didn't see that much of discrimination. I was actually treated like every other Americans. I was able to support myself by working job, I mean full time jobs over there.

MATIN: What surprised you about New York and American culture?

RASHED: The culture, the culture of surprise was a little bit different. The surprise was like this. The back when I was living in Bangladesh, the society was not that open. They were like more conservative. But in when I came to New York, I see the society is much open. And you're you can express all of your expression that you want to make. You see all kinds of people are accepted everywhere. And I found a New York City is the capital of the world because everywhere I go and everywhere I have been, I see people from all over the country and I mean, I do not. I never thought of this kind of diversion.

That's not possible in my country because my country is only for our people by Bangladeshi people. So, when I came to New York, I was surprised seeing that New York is not America is like the world. So, I basically see the whole wide world right in front of me that I did not expect. So, I did not feel like I'm I came to America, I felt like I'm getting to somewhere that the whole wide world belongs. So, it's like capital of the world that's all I can see. Because I see so much diversion. So much so many cultures, so many different foods, so many different people, you know, their opinions, their thoughts, and their inclusion in the society, that actually really surprised me, because I would never expect it that.

MATIN: How did you... How did you have to adjust to the American lifestyle?

RASHED: How did I address the American lifestyle?

MATIN: Adjust

RASHED: Oh adjust. It wasn't hard for me to adjust because I am from a very, very crowded city, which is Dhaka and the city I used to live in New York City, there was a very crowded city as well. So, day to day, life struggle is almost saying the way Dhaka used to run and that we near is to run. So, it wasn't very hard for me, for us to adjust myself into the society, which is very fast paced, but it's definitely much faster than Bangladesh. And it was much challenging than Bangladesh because the words that I saw were there, the hiring, and firing was very common, you know, so you, you do not have your job guarantee that you're working for long time. Some people are working for eight, nine years. And all of a sudden, like they got notice to get out of their job, you know. So, that kind of things I was actually seeing, and it was like, sometimes it was difficult for me to adjust that kind of society, you know, it's like it's a big change. In Bangladesh it doesn't work like that. I mean, you've been working for some places for that law, that many years, that long time and your job is gone, just by one day or for doing something wrong, or some kind of like this.

MATIN: When you were Bangladesh, did you hear about other immigrants coming to America?

RASHED: Yes. When I was in Bangladesh, especially the year 1989. There was a diversity lottery started. So, people every year, I think they gave Bangladesh like 5,000 people. It's a diversity lottery and everyone's actually flocking to the Embassy of the United States to apply to the post office to apply for those lotteries. And there were a lot of people who actually did not have an educational qualification, just they own those lotteries in order to get to the United States. But before that, there are a lot of students, and I knew a lot of students of my, my friends and other families, they were able to come to United States, but just getting F1 student visas. And there are some people I knew, like couple of people, they were actually getting business visas as well, to get to United States.

MATIN: What do you like about New York?

RASHED: As I mentioned before, New York City is called Big Apple. You get almost everything there. Whatever you need, whenever you need your food, your necessities, your day to day, life activities. You go you whatever you need, whenever you need, you go there, you will get it because it's the capital of the world. I mean, it is available, whatever you need, whenever you need. Your necessary necessities are there and you fulfill your necessities by getting it because all the controls are there and everything's there. You don't lack anything. That's all we can tell you. You feel like you're in every country of the world.

MATIN: Did you ever experience any discrimination?

RASHED: Yes, yes, that I actually, I faced discrimination in New York and out of New York too. Yes, I did face discriminations like. Most likely, it's because I have accent or because they thought that I'm not qualified. Because I have an accent, I look different sometimes. Those kinds of things that I thought discriminated me and I, every time I faced those discrimination, I try to stand up and talk and I saw some discrimination, discriminatory behaviors in in the companies as well as some places in the offices, especially after 9/11. I'll tell you more, about 9/11. If you ask me so.

MATIN: When you first came to New York, where do you find halal and Bengali foods?

RASHED: When I came to New York, halal food was not available everywhere in the early 90s because there are not a lot of Halal places, there are only some places. So, I found that a lot of people were actually not eating Halal because they can get Hello. At the same time, lot of Bangladesh's as Muslim they preferred kosher, which is Jewish, halal food and same since the Jewish people also follow the same book, which is Abrahamic religion. So, a lot of them the dishes used to buy kosher food from kosher places. And at the end of 90s, there are lots of color places all over the New York City. So, end of 90s there was not actually there was not a problem getting large food all over the city.

MATIN: What was the hardest part of coming to America and leaving your family in Bangladesh?

RASHED: The hardest part for me to live in Bangladesh and coming to America is getting deprived of the love and affection of the family and that actually very painful because I never stayed by myself. I was always in a family environment with brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, parents, and I have a big family over there. So that was the hardest part for me to live by myself with some friends, or a couple of family members in all around me. But I was always deprived of that love the raw love that I used to get in Bangladesh.

MATIN: When you first came to America, how did you keep in contact with your family back in Bangladesh?

RASHED: Beginning of nineties, only way to contact was by calling them from using TNT phone. And there was no cell phone, no mobile at that time and the other way was to send them letters. And I saw send them a lot of letters. I used to receive letters with stamps on and the GMT phones were very expensive. I remember the first call was $2.94, which is $3 a minute. So sometimes we used to. We used to get like there was a big cellular phone system. They used to bring home the satellite phones and we used to call using those phones we used to call Bangladesh a little bit less price. The there's some private people they used to do that business. But making phone calls to Bangladesh was very expensive. I spent almost 30% of my money, just calling my family. I used to spend almost 20 to 25 to 30% of my money at some point just to keep contacting them in Bangladesh, but I thought if I don't call them I, I don't feel their love and stuff, you know. So that's, that's why I used to spend a lot of money.

MATIN: What do your relatives back home think of you now?

RASHED: My family's back home think of that, me that I'm an established person over here in United States and they all recognized by struggle, also my achievement, and I believe they are proud of me. And my especially my parents, my father passed away in 2018. They always recognized my support for the family and they always appreciated my struggles over here and they actually realized how much hardship I have faced it both here and in Bangladesh all my life.

MATIN: Do you consider America or Bangladesh your home?

RASHED: I consider United States my home right now. Bangladesh, I am a since I'm an U.S. citizen right now. I took my citizenship in 2007 Since I am a United States citizen. If I go to Bangladesh, I may have just a foreign citizen right now since I gave up my Bangladeshi citizenship and I do... am... I am proud of being Bangladeshi American. That's all I can tell you. I'm very proud of being I mean a country being a Bangladeshi American and the reason why I'm so proud of is because Bangladesh has good cultural heritage and they have a good history of struggle and freedom you know those kinds of things.

MATIN: What kinds of Bangladeshi cultures did you keep?

RASHED: In the United States I tried to give my culture as much as possible. I in my... I mean my wife and my children, they were Bangladeshi clothing whenever they go to Bangladeshi parties and stuff. Also, we try to eat Bangladeshi food and also, we try to we try to keep in touch with Bangladeshi families, so that my family and my children they are always in touch with the other Bangladeshi families and keep their cultural activities together.

MATIN: What do you like about Bangladeshi culture?

RASHED: Bangladesh, as I mentioned, is the culture culturally and linguistically it's a very rich is worse eight majority of age... eight, popular language and it's very rich and Bangladesh has good cultural heritage and Bangladeshis actually are very, very friendly people their Bangladeshi people are very they welcome any people from outside from other countries. Well, in one word I can tell you is validation culture is very rich. And it's also very, even though the culture is kind of conservative. They but they always welcome the other people from other countries in Bangladesh and people whenever people visit from other countries, they are always they're always happy with that additionally, people the way they treat them.

MATIN: Do you see or think there are any problems with Bangladeshi culture?

RASHED: I don't see any problem with Bangladeshi culture. But I do see a problem with Bangladeshi politics, the politics and the government of system is still corrupt, corrupt. There are a lot of corruptions. And hopefully one day the corruption will go as people get educated over there. But there, I mean, there are a lot of social injustice. And a lot of corruptions, all of the country is still existed. Yes, and if Bangladesh can overcome those corruptions and social injustice, one day, Bangladesh will be one of the best places in the world to live.

MATIN: What is the difference between being Bangladeshi American and just Bangladeshi?

RASHED: What is the difference? Okay. The difference between being a Bangladeshi and Bangladeshi American. I don't see that much difference because I'm already a Bangladeshi American, I adopted almost all the cultures that United State has and I mean, I have all the practices that I do in Bangladesh. And I also do other practices of United States culture, like Thanksgiving and all other festivals that the United States has and I think I'm very comfortable with the American culture here. I don't, I don't have many difficulties or any differences and right now, I'm comfortable with both cultures right at this moment.

MATIN: How do your children and family see their identity?

RASHED: My family and children, they see their identity as Bangladeshi Americans and as I've mentioned, I, I'm proud of being a Bangladeshi American, and they're also proud of being a Bangladeshi American and my children and I'm 100% sure, since all my children were born in United States, they think they're more Americans than Bangladeshi Americans because of their birthplaces in America. So, if anybody asked them, Where are you from? Or what country you're from, they always proudly says that they're from the United States, or they're Americans. So, I think they're proud of being Bangladeshi American.

MATIN: Where did you meet other Bangladeshi people when you first immigrated here?

RASHED: Okay, in New York City where I used to live. The people, Bangladeshi people used to live in all boroughs, around New York City's all five boroughs. The place that I used to live in Queens and Astoria, there was basically a Greek immigrant area and when I was living, late 90s, when I was living in Astoria, I saw a lot of business were taken by Bangladeshis from Greek, and I saw a lot of Bangladeshis all around me in the shops, groceries, even in the religious places, mosques. So, I saw a lot of people all around me so every boroughs that I went to in New York, five places, I found some Bangladeshis everywhere.

MATIN: What is the Bangladeshi community like in Brooklyn, New York?

RASHED: In 90s Bangladeshi community communities were growing. They were sending their kids to the schools, and all the kids were learning English and American cultures and most of the Bangladeshi families that I saw were there they were struggling because since they are just migrated, they didn't have much skills or education. I mean, most of the families were actually very hard working. Some people were working seven days a week just to support their families. So, the families that I was seeing the Bangladeshis, they were very hard working. They do as much as they could just to support their families. They work hard. That's all I can tell you. They're very hard workers.

MATIN: What are some struggles or challenges that Bangladeshis faced in Brooklyn, New York?

RASHED: I spent like almost 10 years in Brooklyn before migrating from New York to Virginia. The challenges you're talking about are mostly financial and the other challenge they face was like cultural a lot of Bangladeshi's were actually struggling to accept the United States culture. So, they grew their children were actually being raised a little bit different way. The way they really didn't want to, and they were struggling a lot with their children, because their children were not actually being raised the way they were expecting to be raised, you know, that kind of things.

MATIN: When you were in school in Bangladesh, were you told of any stories or history of the time when Britain still had control over the Bengal region?

RASHED: Over which region Bangladesh...

MATIN: Bengal region.

RASHED: Oh, Bengal region. Yeah, we learned from the very beginning of our schoolbooks, East India Company, who actually took over Bengal, and they used to rule for quite a long time and the during the British period in Bangladesh, like almost 200 years, yes. The they rule very brutally, I can give you some examples, if you want to. One of the examples of their brutality was there was an industry called Muslin. The Muslin is actually a sari that's like an almost 12 year, yearlong sari that Indian women wear. That sari was so fine, you could put the whole sari in one small matchbox and that technology was not nowhere in the world, that time and for some reason, British government, the East India Company, didn't want this technology, or this industry to be spread out of Dhaka, that was in Bangladesh, the capital city of Bangladesh. So, what they did is they actually cut the, the people who were actually involved in this industry, they cut their hands off, so that they can spread their technology to other people in the other places of the world. So that was very brutal. But this is not only one brutality of the British government, the especially the East India Company, who was in power, they, they actually put a lot of brutality on the people of Bangladesh, they used to, in order to punish people, they used to hang people publicly. They used to... they used to kill people in front of the cannons, live cannons publicly, just to show that if you go against them, if we fight for your freedom, you will be killed, just like that. So, there were a lot of punishments just to get people feared them.

MATIN: Were you told of any stories about the Partition?

RASHED: I was told by my parents and grandparents about the partition of Bangladesh in 1947. Basically, that time, India was divided into two different parts. One is Pakistan, one is them Bangladesh and the current Pakistan is West Pakistan and Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan. And the British government, partition them on the basis of religion, and just the basis of religion. But culturally, these people were the same people. Just wow, India was the Hindus and Pakistanis were Muslims. So, during the partition, there were a lot of heartbroken scenarios like, people are getting divided into two different countries, like families being broken and, of course, before partition, there were a lot of fights, a lot of street fights, a lot of what is it called? Riots, and a lot of killings. You know, those are the violent things that took before partition in 1947.

MATIN: You talked earlier about the 1971 War in Bangladesh and genocide. Do you know anyone from your family or any friends that fought in the war or took refuge in India?

RASHED: Directly. I do not know any family member of mine went to India. But I heard lots of other family members of my families and friends, they actually escaped, especially the people who used to live in the borders of Bangladesh. They used to go to India, or just to take shelter, either for sheltering or being trained as mukti bahini, which is freedom fighters of Bangladesh, they were basically trained arm to arm training, from Indian authority, just to come back to Bangladesh to fight against West Pakistanis.

MATIN: What was important about Bangladesh’s history?

RASHED: Bangladesh, as I mentioned, historically, is a very rich country, is a lot of good heritage,
language, culture. And people, as I said, the best people in the world, you know, they're the most loving people at the same time, their freedom loving people, whomever imposed something on them, they always fought back. You know, either it's British people, or the Pakistani people. They always love freedom, and for the freedom, they can do anything. The freedom is the main thing from Bangladesh is remember I mentioned in 1952, they just wanted the freedom of language they didn't want to be imposed a different languages is not their own. They fought for it. And they do to that movement. In 1952, there was a new country, just because of the sacrifice of fewer students University of dark and 52’. There was a new country born. So, it's a very freedom loving country. They want freedom for freedom is number one, their number one priority of Bangladesh's. So, they don't they don't want anything unjust. They always fight against injustice.

MATIN: Do you know of any Bangladeshis that went to the Middle East to look for jobs?

RASHED: Yeah, I know a lot a lot of people. So, servant during the 60s and 70s, Bangladeshis started, migrate migrating to actually not I shouldn't say migrating. They were looking for work outside of Bangladesh. And the first thing they were thinking about is always Middle East, because there was the closest and Middle East that time said because of their oil industry. They had good salary. And they could actually provide a lot of jobs for Bangladeshis over there. So, a lot of Bangladeshis went to middle east just to work for different places. Just to work in the oil rigs are developments in the Middle Eastern countries. So, the Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, with Bahrain, United States, our United Arab Emirates, especially those Iraq, Iraq and Iran, these countries should be very grateful to Bangladesh is that because of the labor and support of the Bangladeshi workers.

MATIN: Do you know how they were treated, or what their life was like living in the Middle East?

RASHED: 50/50. Good and bad. There were some valid dishes were actually treated good. And at the same time, some I have lots of reports that a lot of Bangladeshi people were, were actually discriminated, didn't have any rights, no citizenship upper being living there for 20-30 years. And they were deprived of a lot of the basic rights and necessities of those countries. And they didn't ever actually a lot of countries, they never got their social justice or there that we actually enjoy in United States as immigrants. That was very unfortunate.

MATIN: Did you ever learn about New York or United States history in school in Bangladesh?

RASHED: Just a little bit, because the only thing that I learned from my childhood books I remember, there was in 1969, it's named Armstrong and doing in Aldrin and Michael Collins, being on the moon, and how they actually got into the moon. That is, that is the first story that I actually remember about the books from Bangladesh, textbooks and the other story, I remember, was one of the American boys who used to be called Joe Louis, I believe he was a boxer, world famous boxer and he was treated very bad on the street. And he fought back and he became one of the champions of the boxing, those stories, and some other storybooks out of the textbooks of the United States history and how they started over here.

MATIN: Do you know of anyone who would marry African American women or women of other races in the United States in order to get their citizenships?

RASHED: Yeah, I know few people who actually got their papers to marriage. They're in the United States. They're not Bangladeshis, they're either Africans, or their Latinos, or their white Americans. Yes, I know quite a good number of people who actually did it.

MATIN: Did you hear of Bengalis immigrating to different countries other than America?

RASHED: Do I hear people from...

MATIN: Did you hear of Bengalis immigrating to different countries other than America?

RASHED: People immigrating to the United States?

MATIN: Other countries other than the United States.

RASHED: Other countries other than the United States, in America, in America.

RASHED: Yes.

MATIN: What countries...

RASHED: Are you talking about? The other? Yeah, of course, there are other people all over the world is immigrating to the United States. Especially if you talk about New York, you'll see almost people from almost everywhere, or every country. Yes, I have seen like lots of Africans, Bangladeshis immigrating to other countries other than America. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry that I couldn't understand. Okay. But yeah, Bangladeshi is always look for opportunities. And since Bangladesh has very dense, mostly dense, densely populated population over there in Bangladesh, they always look forward to going to other countries and migrate. So, I have seen a lot of Bangladesh is migrating to South Africa, Australia, South America, some South American countries as well as Europe and United States, and of course, Middle East and surrounding countries.

MATIN: What was it like working with different groups of people in America?

RASHED: It is a very good experience and very positive experience because I was able to learn a lot of things from different groups of people from other countries. I learned a lot of their heritage, a lot of their cultures and as well as a lot of there they share a lot of their knowledge is with me, and I'm really grateful to them because I wouldn't be here able to learn all those things. If I were staying in my country, or in my country, which have been Bangladesh all my life, I was, I'd say, I am very proud. I'm very lucky and proud of myself learning those cultures, ah, and ideas from other peoples all around me,

MATIN: What was the naturalization process like for you?

RASHED: Okay, the naturalization process was very smooth. Unfortunately, the hardest part of the whole naturalization process is the waiting, the United States has the longest waiting period of the immigration process, which actually, is luck kills a lot of good time of a person who could have done a lot of things and that long waiting period. And if the United States wants to, if the United States government can actually take care of this process, the waiting period of being interviewed are getting the visa or the green card, if they can take care of that, it will be very nice and smooth for other people. But after getting my green card, the process was very smooth. It took very thing, everything very quickly. And I became a US citizen of the United States, quite very, very fast. But the waiting period of getting my green card was very long and that wasted a lot of my time.

MATIN: How did you feel when you became a citizen of America?

2:06-7 RASHED: I felt... felt delighted because there was my dream, to be a citizen of the United States. And I am very proud now that I finally become became the citizen of United States and, and which I consider world’s still... the world's best country, in the world. In order I mean, in every respect, like democracy, social and economy, economy, it economically every... every different aspects. This is the best country in the world and I'm very proud of being this citizen of the United States.

MATIN: Do you still reminisce about your life and Bangladesh?

RASHED: I... I do. But not a lot. I still have some friends and family members, here and there. I try to get contacting them as much as I could. And I cherish the memories that I have in Bangladesh and I love all the people around me from Bangladesh, my family, families, my friends, and I tried to keep in touch with them all the time.

MATIN: What is your favorite memory of Bangladesh or your life there?

RASHED: As I mentioned before, the favorite memory in Bangladesh was my childhood. That the good chunk of time that I spent in Bangladeshi villages because of their weather, they're so beautiful, is so green. It's a land full of water. Everywhere you go, you see reverse, everywhere you go see, you see with food, fresh food, vegetables, fishes, and top of everything, the people are very friendly, they're very loving, you know, and I always cherish those memories.

MATIN: How did you keep track of events that took place in Bangladesh after you left?

RASHED: Unfortunately, a lot of events nowadays, especially I can I actually forget because it's been so many years, but the major events of Bangladeshi culture I try to remember like the new Bangladesh New Year and the other things but my religious events I always try to remember them since I practice my religion, but Bangladeshi cultural programs I do not care keep up with it all the time. I only remember when my Bangladeshi, Bengali New Year takes place.

MATIN: Is there anything you would change about your life or your immigration journey?

RASHED: Is there anything that I need to change? Or ideally would change? No, I wouldn't change anything and I think the way I am right now, I'm fine with it and I... should I do not need to change anything? I'm quite good with it.

MATIN: Do you have any regrets?

RASHED: I do not have any regrets at all because I consider myself as a successful United States citizen, and also a successful family member since I was able to fulfill the needs and wants of my family in Bangladesh, as well as the family over here in the United States. So, I really don't have any regrets at all.

MATIN: What accomplishments are you most proud of?

RASHED: The most proud of... I'm... my most accomplishment in the United States is my education. Because I came to United States as a student, and education to pursue my degree in the United States is my priority and I focused on it. I started my education in the United States at the end of 40 and I never gave up and I finished it in when I was 43. And I actually got my good grades over there in the school and I think this is my greatest accomplishment, finishing my education in the United States. That was my dream. And I'm still looking forward to getting more education. If it's possible, if I have enough time, so that I can get my higher degrees, even though I'm over 55, I'm still looking to get into more education, I don't think it is late to learn something new or pursue more education in the United States. I think the more you learn, the more you get in states and it is possible in states, this is the only country where it is possible. It doesn't matter what age you start, and what age you end. It is the education is a lifelong journey. It's an endless process. You start from your crib to your grave. So that's what I believe in, and I'm still being positive that one day if I get chance, and pursue more education, the subjects that I like,

MATIN: is there anything else you want to share about your experiences or your life?

RASHED: I've got one thing that I can share about my life. It's more... it is more than sharing some events or some experiences like more like, like advice to people, if someone starts their life with struggle, and they're focused, and they're attracted to something, that if they're thirsty for the knowledge are there, they are attracted to something better, just like the life in the United States. They will achieve it that no matter what it is, because, you know, the theory of attraction says if you're attracted to something, you will achieve it somewhere someday, you know, so this is my advice to other people in Bangladesh or any other country in the world. If they want better life, if they conquer their poverty they can if they need to be focused, and they need to be disciplined, and one day they will be successful.