I Was a Refugee. Now I Drive a Truck to Obtain My American Dream.

• Suud Olat got here to the US in 2012 from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.
• After getting his bachelor’s diploma, he determined to get into trucking to purchase a home for his mom.
• He says the American dream is all about having the liberty to work arduous to realize your personal objectives.

Dadaab is a camp in northern Kenya, the place primarily Somali refugees dwell. I had been in that refugee camp for 20 years — my household received there once I was a child — when UNHCR, the UN Refugee Company, and the US authorities gave me resettlement. I used to be in my early 20s.

I used to be the primary of my household to return to the US. I used to be resettled in Nashville, Tennessee. I used to be on my own then, as a result of once they make a resettlement, they take the household to the US individually. You resolve who’ll go first, so I used to be the primary of my household to go. My dad and mom got here in December 2016.

I began working at a warehouse in Nashville, the place I used to be making round $9 per hour. Then I grew to become an American everlasting resident, I moved to Minnesota, and I received my citizenship in 2018. 

‘I am an American now, what am I going to do?’ 

In 2019, I received my bachelor’s diploma in worldwide relations and political science at St. Cloud State College, in Minnesota. Then, I ran for metropolis council in Minneapolis in 2020. It was a tough time to run, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the protests triggered by the homicide of George Floyd, particularly for me, a refugee, and operating for workplace for the primary time. I misplaced, however it was a terrific expertise.

Within the meantime, I volunteered and did some advocacy work for organizations like ONE Marketing campaign, a non-profit that fights excessive poverty based by Bono, the singer for U2. 

Then I mentioned, “You already know what, Suud, mother and pop, they’re each virtually 70 years outdated, and so they’re right here in Minnesota. It’s essential purchase a home for your loved ones.”

So I went to trucking college, and that is how I received my industrial driving license in Salt Lake Metropolis. I went to Salt Lake Metropolis to get my license as a result of it was sooner and cheaper than doing it in Minnesota. It price me round $5,000 for the entire course of.

Then, after college, I discovered work for an unbiased trucking firm via buddies who had been already within the enterprise. 

I received into trucking as a result of my mom mentioned “You have been doing numerous good work for the neighborhood, it is time so that you can work for your self. When are we going to purchase a home?”

In order that’s my dream, shopping for a home for her. 

‘America is a rustic of labor’

You may make some good cash by trucking, whilst you journey throughout America. And it provides you some form of flexibility. I have been to 48 states, which I feel is very nice, and I make about $1,000 every week earlier than taxes, working as an unbiased contractor for an organization owned by a household.

It is a arduous job. You might drive 600, 700, 800, generally 1000 miles a day, however I adore it as a result of I got here right here to work and you may be unbiased, and work as a lot as you need, and make good cash. I’ve a level, however it’s arduous to discover a high-paying job as a refugee.

And even though they are saying that America is racist from rural locations to massive cities, I have never had anybody disrespect me but. The job might be tense, and once you’re a brand new driver generally you panic, however everybody I met was keen to go the additional mile to assist. 

I haul every thing apart from hazardous supplies as a result of that might require a further license, and I haul in virtually each state. I’ve pushed from Washington State to Dallas, Texas, and from Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey to Miami, for instance. Often, I am on the street for one or two months, after which I’m going house for 10 days. 

There’s one thing very American concerning the arduous work of being a truck driver. America is a rustic of labor. And also you get your truck, your license, and dwell the American dream, since you’re making good cash, and also you obtain your dream. Some folks come into trucking to purchase a home, some folks come into trucking to purchase one other truck.

Freedom is among the issues I did not have. I’ve a level, I am an American citizen. I can drive the truck wherever I would like. This type of freedom is simply one thing that I might by no means get wherever else on this planet.