Anahi Felix

Deborah Robertson
Dance 1010
21 October 2015
Life History Interview
I chose to interview a really good friend of mine her name is Shahedeih Safi she is 20
years old and she comes to the same school as I do at Salt Lake Community College. I met her
my first year and semester in college we took almost all the same classes together, we became
really good friends even till this day. I chose to interview Shahedeih because it's someone I know
and is culturally different from me and based on some stories she has told me from when we met
I can tell she unprivileged. Her culture is completely different from mine, she dresses different
than me and most people I have seen.
Shahedieh was born January 8, 1995 in Afghanistan, her religion is Muslim. She was
over there for about 7 years. She was born in Afghanistan and was only there for a few weeks,
then she moved to Pakistan. In Pakistan thats where she grew up and stayed for 7 years. She
remembers many experiences from over there. Due to her religion being Muslim makes her who
she is and is a big part of her life. The Muslim religion consists of a person who follows the
Islam religion which is based on the Quran. The Quran is believed to be the verbatim of God that
is revealed to the Islamic prophet of Muhammad. She told me that in her religion it is necessary
to dress appropriate covering their heads with a cloth that is called a hijab. The hijab is used to

dress modest around non members of the family and in front of men and once they hit puberty as
well.
As she was telling me about the hijab she told me a memory she remembered being over
there at Pakistan when she was little she remembers playing outside with her friends she was a
little girl and since being a girl you had to have male accompany her she once dressed like a boy
so it looked like she was boy just to play outside with her friends without being watched. She
didnt wear her hijab or clothing girls wear, she tried looking like a boy to be able to be with her
friends. I thought that was funny and very smart of her to do that, it reminded me of things I
would do as a little girl I played with a lot of boy toys and hung around a lot of friends that were
boys because it was always fun to play exciting adventurous games. I thought we had that in
common when we were little girls.
She said there are men called the Taliban that go around looking and asking people who
they are with women had to be accompanied by a man. It had to be a father, brother, uncle or
some family member. Women were not allowed to be alone women are very vulnerable to being
hurt or taken advantage of. Women have to be accompanied by a man to always be protected.
In Afghanistan she grew up with her family living in her grandpa's house, she described
the house as a really big house pretty much a mansion and a gated area. Her grandpa was a very
well known man there he was rich, he helped out those in need and the poor a lot. In that house
that she lived in they also had about 5 families living there together. When she was explaining
her home I was very amazed and interested that her home was very big and she lived very well.
Shahedeih explained to me that I would probably imagine that where she lived was very dry and

no green, but over where she lived it was green, she described it as looking kind of like the
country and hot.
Just as the war of 911 began her father brought them to the United States. My obvious
thought was she came over here to the U.S for protection from the war or her family got
threatened, but it wasnt really because of that. Her father worked aside with her grandfather and
they both worked together with the U.S military. Helping them out with some information and
translating. Her father stayed in the U.S for about 16 years before he brought his family the
United States. Shahedieh said her father wanted to bring them here for a better life, and
education and wanted his family to stay in the United States so he petitioned for them to come
and the government helped them out a lot. She says the government helped them a lot for living
here and going to school. My thought on her moving here I was happy to hear that because I
think that if she would have stayed a few more years longer over there her family would
probably experience some scary things with the war going on.
When my friend moved here to the U.S she explained to me that her life at first was a
little hard, having to learn the language good, being dressed different from others. She would
questioned a lot of things. She said she would get bullied at school because of how she looked
and people would call her terrorist. She did not understand why people would call her killer and
terrorist. She would go to her parents and ask them, when her parents explained to her on why
people assumed to thing she was a terrorist she was confused and sad. She was upset that one of
her people had cause this war and now people think that they are all the same or have the same
intentions, and it was not true.

As she was growing up here in Utah she started to adapt to this country and how things
work, it is different over there compared to here she said the food, language, clothing was
different here from what she knew back at home. I asked her if she likes it here, she told me she
did that she practically grew up here and learned to grow and adapt here it's her home now. I
asked her if she has had any bad experiences here in the Utah or the U.S based on how she looks
she said she has. She said she has been called terrorist, was bullied, and out in public people
make really rude comments to her because of how she looks.
One time she said she was going home from school on the bus and as she was getting off
the bus a man ran after her chasing her screaming at her, she pulled out pepper spray and sprayed
the man. There was another time where a man hit her car with a bike and got mad at her and
came to her window swearing telling her to go back to her country she was terrified and took off.
My friend said she doesnt always have bad experiences but it has happened and she feels
sad and disrespected. I asked her what makes her different here that she can't do that people
normally do here. She told me she isn't allowed to party, drink, date and not allowed to go
dancing except only with her family or women in the same religion. Her parents get to decide
when she gets married and to who. In her religion and culture it is the parents who decide who
she marries. She says family always comes first no matter what, I asked her if she feels
comfortable being out in public she told me she does, and that here she doesn't always need to
have a man accompany her. Overall she loves it here she says family always comes first and she
feels really safe here, this is her new home and she has grown up here most of her life and
wouldnt mind living here for the rest of her life.

I have learned a lot interviewing my friend, I know her culture was very different from
mine but it is always fun to learn their background and where they come from because it is what
makes them unique, different and who they are today as a person. She is a very smart and strong
girl. I respect everything she has told me about her life back at her homeland and her culture. I
can relate to her in some ways just because I think that we both are underprivileged because I am
not from here, I am from Mexico and we are both females and can be discriminated in many
ways and similar way. It's because we are from different places, our sex, and the way we look
that we dont get treated like a regular white person from the U.S. we both agree that family
always comes first because our families are always going to be there for us no matter what and
support us.
There were some assumptions I already guessed that she might have gone through for
example her being called a terrorist its a common thing I would hear from people just because of
how they look and where they are from. But I dont think they are all the same, everyone is
different and just because they are Muslims doesn't mean they are terrorist. There were thing she
told me about her culture that surprised me or was interesting to me like her customs back at
home like whey they had to be dressed a certain way, and why they had to always be
accompanied by man and the rules they have back at home. I learned so much from her and
learned a lot of her religion and culture. I think it is a beautiful culture and I enjoyed
interviewing her and talking about her life, I have a lot of respect for her the way she lived was
new information for me.