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Immigration in the Kite Runner

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Immigration in the Kite Runner
Immigration in the Kite Runner
There are many challenges that immigrants must face when they move to a new foreign country, which in turn leads them to experiencing various hardships. After applying and, hopefully, being accepted into a country such as Canada, one of the biggest challenges that they face is language barriers. Learning to communicate with other people, who do not know your own mother tongue, is very difficult and stressful. By choice, some immigrants decide, or are forced to take ESL classes in order to communicate effectively to others of their needs, want and desires. Similar to this, after two years of living in America, Baba found himself in a dispute with an Asian couple that own a store in which he frequented. The escalating argument, and frustration that Baba felt at not being able to speak to them in English (mostly because he was too stubborn to enroll in ESL classes in the first place), led to Amir, who by then fluently spoke English, to interpret for his father to resolve the issue (Hosseini 134-135). Evidently, problems that accompany people, who unfortunately must experience having a language barrier, can leave them feeling overwhelmed and frustrated at their own inability to hold a conversation with someone else.
Another barrier that immigrants experience is health care barriers. When immigrants first enter the country they do not have health care. Some countries like Canada to provide certain skills within the economy, so that they allow them into the country, allowing them low-income housing and social assistance benefits, also known as welfare especially if they are refugees. The refugees are from war torn countries dealing with guerrilla armies, or countries that have experienced devastating natural disasters such as floods. However, those immigrants who simply move to a new country to make up a better life for their family are not offered many forms of social assistance, as shown by the Baba and Amir’s eligibility officer.

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