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On September 17th, we celebrated Citizenship Day, recognizing all those who have become U.S. citizens through the naturalization process. In July, Farah Hammodi*, health promotion coordinator at the ̽����ѡ (̽����ѡ) in Salt Lake City, became the newest U.S. citizen in our office. Congratulations Farah!

In addition to application assistance, the ̽����ѡ in Salt Lake City offers weekly citizenship education classes. Through these classes, refugees and other immigrants preparing to take the U.S. citizenship exam learn American history and geography, about the U.S. government, and improve their English vocabulary.

Photo: Anna Springer/̽����ѡ

Originally from Iraq, Farah came to Salt Lake City in 2013 with her husband and their daughter, fleeing the violence in their home country.

“After 2003, the war that happened in Iraq, it was not safe. My husband was working with an NGO that was helping the Iraqi political parties to train them and make them familiar with the Democratic system. It was very dangerous; militias were killing people if they had been working with Americans. It was not safe for us to stay there. So, we applied [to come to the United States] in 2009. [In 2013], after 4 years of waiting, we finally [came to the U.S.].”

Moving to Utah provided many opportunities for Farah and her family, but did not come without challenges. “The first few months were really hard because it was a big change for me—it’s a new country, new culture, I’m away from my family, we have no family members here. It was a really huge change for me. With time, I really love Utah; it’s family friendly, people are very nice to me, everything is working out for me and my family here.” Shortly after arriving in Utah, Farah began to work as an interpreter and her husband continued his education, pursuing a PhD at the University of Utah.

In 2014, Farah began working at the ̽����ѡ in Salt Lake City as the health program associate. In this role, Farah worked with Arabic speaking clients in interpretation, scheduling medical appointments and training other interpreters. In 2017, she became the health promotion coordinator, taking on more responsibility, including organizing an annual health fair and working with partner organizations.

“It was a learning process, I feel like ̽����ѡ helped me professionally to grow; to start as an interpreter and then step by step to grow, to become a coordinator with a lot of responsibilities. I’ve gained a lot of experience working here.”

In May 2018 Farah and her husband applied for citizenship, excited to experience all of the freedoms and opportunities U.S. citizenship provides—including voting in a democratic election, “I am very excited about being able to vote…I haven’t participated in any elections in my life, so I’m very excited for the next election, because I can participate now and I can vote.”

While waiting for her citizenship application to be processed, Farah turned to the two Department of Justice accredited immigration specialists on staff at the ̽����ѡ in Salt Lake City, Tanja Micic and Anna Springer.

“Whenever I had a question about something, I found them a great resource for me. They are very helpful, they gave me options, they gave me advice, I know they are doing a great job helping [other New Americans].” Tanja and Anna provide resources and services to hundreds of refugee, immigrant and asylee applicants each year as they navigate the challenging and lengthy citizenship process.

At her citizenship ceremony in July, Farah was touched by the support she received from her ̽����ѡ coworkers. “I was happy that I had my citizenship but the thing that I was [even more] happy and excited about was to see my co-workers from ̽����ѡ attending my ceremony. That meant a lot to me. I felt like I was surrounded by my family on that day.”

Farah reflected on the citizenship process and what becoming a citizen has meant to her and her family. “I feel like this is my home now, for real, I am an American now, and I’m a proud American. I feel safe, I feel more stable and less stressed about my life here. Now I feel like for my daughters here in this country, they can achieve their dreams. I’m very excited to see how their future will be, I’m sure it will be great. I am working very hard on having a good life in the United States, to be a good part of this community, and give back to this country that opened its arms for us. Not many countries provide this opportunity, but the United States did. They provided us the opportunity to have a safe place to live, to grow, and have a stable life.”

Do you need to access immigration services or apply for U.S. citizenship? Do you want to support our efforts to provide these services to refugees, New Americans and other immigrants in the community? Contact us by email at [email protected].

*To protect Farah's privacy, we have changed her last name and we will not feature a photo of her in this story.