by Lynne Abraham-Yadlin, Home Team Coach
The first year of resettlement is almost always the toughest for a refugee family. Moving to a new country far from family and friends, adjusting to a new culture and a new language, struggling to find a job, struggling to fit in at school, trying to build a new life nearly from scratch—it can all be discouraging and overwhelming. But despite the odds, over the year that Home for Refugees' Home Teams spend with their families, we get to see many victories too.
Rajon Rizvi arrived in the United States in December of 2021 with his wife and then 2-year- old son, after escaping from Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul in August of that same year. He was paired with Home Team 55 and moved into an apartment near his sister in Garden Grove, California. In Afghanistan, Rajon had worked as a Cultural Affairs Assistant for the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Government managing and writing grants for exchange programs. Always independent and extremely resourceful, Rajon was able to find an entry level job in the U.S. with Deutsche Bank that enabled him to pay his rent and care for his growing family, which included the addition of an adorable daughter born on April 9, 2022. But it became clear quite quickly that Rajon was looking for something more. “I wanted to get into a career that would provide long-term prospective for growth," he said.
Through a connection to a mentor he met at a speaking engagement, Rajon became aware of Salesforce, a company that, as described on their web site, “makes cloud-based software designed to help businesses find more prospects, close more deals, and wow customers with amazing service”. This mentor suggested that Rajon might want to equip himself to apply for a job with Salesforce, but made it clear that this would involve passing an extremely rigorous exam which would require a deep and broad knowledge of IT and a specific skill set that Rajon didn’t really have. Undaunted, Rajon began the preparation process, working with his mentor and studying to prepare for the exam, despite working a full-time job and working overtime on Saturdays just to make enough money to survive.
Rajon spent months studying whenever he could find the time: nights, weekends, the occasional Federal holiday. It took three tries, but eventually Rajon prevailed and was able to successfully pass the rigorous exam. His hope now is to find employment at one of Salesforce’s many locations and to be able to provide for his family in the way he was accustomed to back in Afghanistan. He is currently looking for employment as a Salesforce Administrator. He’s hoping to start with a smaller company to get some work experience, and he is also already studying for the next level certification, hoping this will provide a wider variety of job opportunities.
*Names changed for security reasons.