[Music] - My name is Mais Al-Nima, or Mais Al-Nima, depending on who I'm introducing myself to.

I'm originally from Iraq.

I really see myself as a global citizen.

I've been here for 10 years to the mark.

I moved to Denver in 2014, and now we're in 2024, which feels crazy.

It's the longest period that I've been in one place.

This is like a recent thing in my journey.

Identities are complicated for me, and I don't really believe in them, which I think it's a controversial thing to say in our day and age right now in how social media frames people and kind of forces us into boxes.

If I were to choose one, I would say I'm an Arab woman.

I was in Iraq until I was 11.

I left in 2004 after the American invasion.

And so, we were there when the initial invasion happened, when there was kind of a war happening.

And the reason I say kind of a war because as a kid when I was 10, it's still very muddy in my brain of there were a lot of bombings, and we were out of school for, I think, seven months or six months.

I think just the framing of the whole war was absolutely nonsense.

There was no basis to the claims of weapons of mass destruction, and it was very much a plot to remove someone in the government who, mind you, I grew up really knowing that he was a bad guy.

And my family very much raised me to be politically conscious and not to say the same thing that were being discussed at the household outside because that would get all of us in trouble.

I grew up very much the tomboy.

I was like, "No, I don't want to play with dolls.

I want to be out in the dirt, on bikes, and running around."

So, my favorite thing was we had this huge tree in our backyard, and I don't even know what it translates to in English.

It's just a type of fruit that I've never seen anywhere but in Iraq.

It's called nabug.

I don't even know the equivalent of it in any other dialect in Arabic.

I just know that it was called nabug and it was my favorite fruit.

My cousin and I's favorite thing was to climb on that tree and shake it so that it would fall on our backyard and we could just pick it up.

And that was literally my favorite thing.

I'm like, "I'm going to go pick out nabug," and just eat it all day long.

That's probably my fondest memory in Iraq, and that was in my grandparents' house on the maternal side.

The war was still happening.

My parents really tried to stick it out.

My dad specifically really wanted to stay and see what's going to come out of the country in this really rough period.

So, he really believed if we just stick it out long enough, things will start to get better and be more livable.

But things just kept deteriorating.

So, we waited a whole year after the invasion of Baghdad specifically to try and see where things are going.

Things started really escalating instead of getting better because then you had the American forces and you had some sectarian stuff going on.

It was just absolute and utter chaos.

And it was really weighing on our family, and specifically on my mom.

We're a very matriarchal family.

I remember one of my core memories was me and my sister.

We used to go to the same school.

And one day, we were at school and there was this loud bombing.

It was very, very close to our school.

And our house was just down the street.

And I remember they let us go after that because they weren't sure what was going on.

And I just remember walking down the street to go to the house, and I see my mom running crazy down the streets because she thought the bomb might have hit our school.

And so, I think that was the last straw for her and for my family of we can't live in this terror day in and day out.

And she's like, "I can't send my kids every day to school not knowing if they're going to come back.

That's not a reality I'm willing to live in."

And so, we moved to Syria.

The caveat with that though is that my dad stayed in Iraq.

And so, he couldn't find a job in Syria.

The economic conditions there were worse than it was even in Iraq, if you believe it or not.

It was just me and my siblings and my mom.

And so, that was the time, because it was so hard, they were thinking about an alternative so that we can all five of us be together again.

And that's when my dad found a job in Kuwait.

And so, we moved to Kuwait from Syria and stayed there for six years, and then came to the US.

There was a lot of stops, but I felt like I never was in a refugee camp.

And I know a lot of people who have been, and that's just like a whole other level of hell to escape.

I get that sentiment, especially as a queer woman.

And just thinking of how different my life would have been if I wasn't in a place that was embracing and had laws that actually protected me and my partner.

My first landing was in Ohio.

My mom had an uncle there who had a vacation house just outside of Cleveland.

And so, when we first landed, that's where we stayed.

We came and visited a couple of times before we actually settled in Denver.

I think it's a unique state in terms of we're starting to see diversity more and more in the more recent years.

There is something to be said about Coloradan's kindness, I think.

And there is a feeling in me that as someone who has witnessed the state grow and has been a part of its growth of seeing its full potential in a way.

I think Colorado is really charming in that sense because it does have a uniqueness to it that is hard to put your finger on, but it's there.

And it's kind of like getting shaped and formed still.

And there's just a joy in me to feel like I get to witness the transformation of it as it just kind of goes through these stages and more people move in to it, whether they're immigrants or people from all over the US, and just kind of make something out of it.

But there's a laid-backness in Colorado specifically that I find really charming and really appealing.

And as someone who loves the outdoors, it's just the perfect place to be.

I think we're all here to find community.

I think we're all here to form connections, and we're social beings.

And we understand ourselves through relationships, and through people, and through interactions with them.

In any stage in my life, that was always kind of my why, whether it was conscious or unconscious, is to connect with people, and build community, and make them feel seen.

I do speak English and Arabic.

I have experienced culture back home and I have experienced it here.

I am queer and I can understand a more collectivist culture approach to queerness.

I have a lot of that duality that I feel helps me understand people as people and helps me listen to people.

I think that's what moves me.

People move me and community moves me, and facilitating that environment for folks and pushing for better systems based on that too.

And advocating for people to have a seat at the table.

Find your people and find your community.

And the system is going to be really confusing.

You might stumble on the first couple of years, but that's normal.

I think we forget that that's normal.

The world will try to convince you that your only value is to be productive in society and that you only earn the right to be here if people see you as valuable.

But you've made it through all this way.

You are valuable.

Every human is valuable.

You're no different from any other person here.

You don't need to work overtime for that recognition.

I understand the need for money, but for recognition and to be the model immigrant, that's the hardest narrative that's put on you here when you come here.

You have value as a human, and you deserve to be here just as much as anyone else.

- My name is Egle Metsaev.

I'm from Lithuania.

My last name is Russian.

My husband is Russian.

So, that's already some issues in that sort of thing.

Russians and Lithuanians don't get along whatsoever, obviously, for all the political things that's happening right now in the world.

Actually, he grew up in Lithuania too, but we met in Denver.

First time I came to the United States is in 1997.

I traveled a little bit back and forth at the time, and then I started school here in 2000, and lived here since 2000 permanently.

I was 17, turning 18.

I just graduated from high school.

I played basketball.

I tore my ACL two years prior that, and in Lithuania, we didn't do ACL surgeries as we do right now.

So actually, the first time I came to the United States, I came for the ACL surgery.

I got the surgery there, rehabilitation afterwards, then moved back from Florida, back to Lithuania, played basketball again, went to college, worked A year into that, I decided that it's a little bit too much because we don't have college sports, so we go professional right away after high school.

I had basically three full-time jobs.

I was studying mechanical engineering, went to engineering school, had a full-time job, worked at an advertising company, and played basketball.

So, after that, I decided I still want to play basketball, but it's a little bit too much, so I called back my agent, and he contacted the school's universities in the United States, and then I got a handful of coaches calling me, inviting me to their schools.

I used to live in Florida, so I thought Florida and the whole United States will be exactly the same, not necessarily the ocean, but it's the same country, so it will be the same.

I picked a school in North Platte, Nebraska, and until I got there, I literally had no idea I was going to Florida without the ocean.

One thing that was very different is how diverse the United States is.

And because we're talking about immigration, I think America is actually the most friendly and accepting country in the world.

You come in and be like, "Oh my gosh, I love your accent.

Where are you from?"

They're so friendly.

And actually adapting here, it's much easier than anywhere in the world.

When I finished my bachelor's degree, I worked for a year, and then went back to school, got my master's and tried to find a job because with every higher education that you get, you get a work visa for a year.

I started working or looking for a job, and I was unemployable because I had too much education, not enough experience.

I was babysitting kids at the time because that's the only job that I could get with everything that I had.

So, I was packing, and I thought, I'm going back because I'm not doing this kind of job with all the education that I had for the rest of my life.

And then, the family that I worked for, they had a construction company.

Super kind people.

They literally-- The lady brought the computer, brought to her office, and she said, "Now you work here."

So, that's how I got into the professional world.

I work for an oil and gas industry right now, and been there since 2000.

I'm very passionate about oil and gas.

I'm very passionate about energy because America grew up, always had a very stable environment.

I grew up in the environment that in wintertime, we might have no energy.

We might not have hot water.

We might not have heat.

So, to be energy independent, it's so important that people here take for granted.

So, to get higher up, it's much more possibilities here than it is in Europe just because it's smaller countries, smaller companies.

If you're not born there, it's really, really difficult to get to their very high positions.

In comparison to the United States, if you work hard, you can make it.

I have a pretty good job.

I've been in this industry for a long time.

I have a lot of women friends.

And I think the bigger thing why we have less women in oil and gas is because 50 years earlier, it's not that many women went to college to get those kind of degrees, right?

But there are actually more and more women that actually do these things now, and they do have executive positions, and they do have all this experience.

When you're choosing the candidate, usually you have more men applying for the same job than women, or color, or diversity in general.

I think the child care in the United States, I think that's a big limit for women coming into the workforce.

And so, I grew up, as I said, in Lithuania.

Maternity leave is two years.

So, you get full salary, and you do get your job back when you come back.

And you can come back earlier, but that's what government gives you.

I think in Europe, the minimum is six months.

In the United States, it's zero.

In Lithuania, daycares, we call them kindergartens.

From when they are one year old to they start going to school to their first grade, it's free.

It's all government funded.

And you can drop the kid as early, I think it's like, let's say, seven in the morning, and pick them up at seven.

And it's all government funded.

So, you have a place to go.

Right now, in Denver, if you live downtown Denver, for one kid, the child care is $2,500.

You have two kids, that's $5,000.

And I think that cuts out a lot of women, and that takes a lot of women out of the workforce because you have to do something with a kid.

If the United States would have free, like they have schools, child care, too, I think a lot of these women, or people in general, immigrants that are coming in, I think it would be easier for them to get a job if they would know-- if they would have something to do with their kids.

I actually had this conversation last week with my boss, and he is an immigrant, too.

And I was like, "If you can bring the people in, but you give everybody a job, it doesn't need to be a fancy job, while they're looking for another job, that would be really helpful."

When you're an immigrant, or even moving from state to state, and you're coming here, you don't know.

You don't know what to go ask for, and you don't know what to find them, you don't know how to get there.

When they bring those buses, or when they send people here, it would be super helpful, I think, for everybody, United States included, if they can connect people with those groups that are helping but can put them on the right track, that can give them advice of the areas that they can move to, that it's less expensive for them to start, that can connect them with some jobs to start with, maybe some communities that help with the child care.

Where are you coming from?

I would suggest to find a community where you're coming from.

It's always somebody knows somebody, so find people that you can be familiar with.

Start talking with the people you know.

How are they doing that?

Do they have kids?

If you have kids, can they help you with daycare?

They usually have infrastructure to do all these things.

If you will find the people and start working, people will help you.

I had people babysitting my kids, and they would bring their kids into my house.

They will do laundry at my house because they didn't have all these options at their houses where they lived.

Just find your community and find with the jobs that has that kind of community.

- What makes me happy is about potential, and what people are capable of, and specifically for me, what youth and young adults are capable of given the opportunities that could come their way.

I've had an opportunity come my way.

Not only was it myself that took the initiative for those opportunities to come to fruition, but I had a lot of support, whether I knew it or not, at that stage.

I'm happy to be here because of people that believed in me that I knew in my life and my lived experience, but also many, many other people that did not meet me personally that have given me this opportunity to be where I am today.

My name is Yoal Ghebremeskel.

My family and I came here with a diversity visa, a lottery system.

I was at the age of 12 at that time.

I attended Merrill Middle School and South High School, both Denver Public Schools, became a Daniels Fund Scholar, and attended the University of Denver, where I got my BA degree in International Studies.

And ever since then, I have been doing work in East Colfax neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.

And currently, I run a nonprofit center called Street Fraternity with a mission of providing a place of brotherhood and personal growth for urban young men.

I was born and raised in Asmara, Eritrea, where I grew up until the age of about 11, 11 and a half.

I'm 38 years old now, so there might be some memories that'll come back and that may make you miss it.

However, I've been here for 26 years now, and this has been a home for me.

Denver and Aurora have been my home throughout my teenage years and throughout my adulthood life, so this is home.

How Colorado came into play for our family was that you had to have someone that can sponsor you to be here.

And for us, it happened to be a distant family member that lived in the state of Colorado here in Denver.

And so, all I remember landing in the US was Chicago O'Hare Airport, really dark, and then coming into darkness and nighttime.

Here in Denver, Colorado, we had a distant family member as part of that diversity visa, the lottery visa system.

We had to have someone to sponsor us, and in our case, it was a distant family member that lived in Denver, Colorado, which is why we settled here in Denver.

And so, that earliest first memory was going down on I-70, getting off on Quebec, and seeing the open field on the left and seeing the houses on the right, and then not understanding what city I'm coming into and what life is going to bring my way.

I went to Merrill Middle School at first, and then South High School, where I played soccer at South.

I think the setting for me, middle school, given that I was going to an English second language school, I was not the only one that was an immigrant.

And so, I was surrounded by many different cultures, and traditions, and religions in the space of the school setting.

I think I just have a sense of moving along and getting along with everyone, regardless of what situations, or obstacles, or challenges may come to my way, or regardless of what I may hear on the school bus, or I may hear on the bus stop, or I may hear on the soccer field.

The reason for leaving was very simple for us.

My mother had applied for this lottery system, diversity visa, to immigrate to the United States, and that's how I got here with my family.

The United States was the option of applying to for this lottery system.

And so annually, there's numbers that are given for diversity visa lotteries through the US government, and my mom had chosen to apply for that.

It was to have better opportunities and to have education.

Well, having received the Daniels Fund Scholarship, this man, Bill Daniels, one thing that stuck from that experience was integrity and potential to give back to community.

I didn't know what those words meant when I was in 11th grade.

However, I did know with that scholarship, I could have attended any college or university in the nation.

For me, it was important to stay in the state close to family.

At the same time, I had a close community as well, all the friends that I made during my middle school and high school years.

So, it was important for me to stay close to Denver and not move far away so that I could be close and tight with family and friends.

So, when you ask about purpose, it's like, all right, how can I be of benefit?

It was my last year at the University of Denver, my last two quarters that I started volunteering at a local refugee resettlement agency.

And from there is when I was introduced to the East Colfax community and neighborhood.

I didn't know anything about East Colfax neighborhood, not even the greater Denver metro area up until I started volunteering for this refugee resettlement agency.

My connection to doing the work and the current work I do is that sense of belonging and community, not only for myself, but also something that's missing for youth and young men in our community.

So, I am happy to be here.

I am happy to have had the opportunity to live here and also happy to have the opportunity to do what I feel like is my part or what has been my purpose and continues to be my purpose in the work that I'm doing with this local nonprofit organization called Street Fraternity that has been providing a place, and a space, and time in a very rough neighborhood of the Denver metro area over this last 11 years.

It is in our space that we have seen many young men between 14 to 25 years of age who have had similar backgrounds as myself or came here as refugees from different parts of the world and also local-born young men who live in that nearby East Colfax corridor.

As I mentioned for myself, being happy to be here, even when I mentioned that I can have disappointment, the disappointments I mentioned about are maybe potentially lost opportunities to support youth and young adults in the past.

I've had many opportunities that have allowed me to be in the space that I'm in, doing the work that I'm doing.

If I was to have words of wisdom to youth and young men in our communities, it would be that there are many out there that believe in you.

And so, if you find those opportunities, take advantage of it and reach out to those adults in your community.

Whatever you may be dealing with, it could be a small thing or a major life event that there's someone out there and more than someone.

There's many people out there that care.

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