Success stories
Ahmed Elfakhrany
In late 2021, after a career as the director of a company which recruits students to study abroad, Ahmed Elfakhrany joined his wife and children in the United States. He had experienced the way illness and conflict had ravaged the travel industry, and he knew he needed to find a more secure career so he could support his family.
This desire motivated him to register for the Career Launch for Immigrants and Refugees workshop that ran from May 9–20, 2022. He was an enthusiastic participant, especially curious about cultural norms around household budgets, financing education, and the labor market. What was most apparent about Ahmed, however, were his “people skills.” He was so good at drawing out stories from other participants, often leading the class in conversations that created solidarity and reduced the feelings of vulnerability that often arise when one is communicating in a language other than their own.
When we explored his talent with people further, he came to see how valuable it would be in dealing with patients, and decided to learn more about how to on-ramp into the healthcare industry. On the last day of class, as the students were celebrating their final presentations, Ahmed told us that the most important thing he came to understand was that he wasn’t alone, that there were other people with similar stories to his trying to understand a different culture and its systems while navigating in a new language. He had begun to think that that lonesomeness was going to be a fact of his life, but the Career Launch workshop helped him realize that he could network, create connections, and get support from other people who knew what he was going through.