A Cultural Mix
A photo story from the Fences: Faces of Migration Photojournalism Workshop
“Home is where family is,” said Shahid Farooq.
Shahid Farooq was born and raised in Karchi Pakistan, where he lived with his family in a one-room house. Pakistan is a third-world country under military rule. He remembers working at a garage and hearing a bomb go off half a mile away that killed 500 people.
In 1992 Farooq moved to the United States for college. He applied to 33 universities and after being accepted into all of them he decided to attend a Christian university in Tennessee.
Farooq originally planned to move back to Pakistan after college, but ended up staying for his job. He frequently traveled across the East coast and met his wife Samantha in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Farooq's parents were more worried about him marrying an American woman, than Samantha's parents were worried about her marrying a Muslim.
The two had to meet Farooq's parents in London to get their blessing because they couldn't get a visa to the United States. They had a traditional American exchanging of vows and a traditional Islamic ceremony later on. Shahid’s brother lives in Canada with his family because he couldn’t get a visa to the United States.
Sam and Shahid now have three kids, Hira Tania, Junayd Alli, and Aryan Daniyaal. His mother Kulsum also lives with them and has a job as a nanny for a family in Rochester Hills.
Samantha converted to Islam in 2002 while Shahid was visiting his parents in Pakistan. The kids go to normal school during the week and Sunday school at the mosque on weekends. They also eat a combination of Paki and American food. They don’t celebrate Christmas in their household, just at Sam’s parents, they celebrate Eid instead.
Shahid goes by Shane, but his full name is Syed Mohamed Shahid Farooq. When he first came to the United States he messed up his paperwork so that his last name was Shahid. He wasn’t able to fix it until after he was married, which is why Samantha's last name is his first name.
Shahid has been able to transition from a one-room house with no silverware, to providing a home for his family in the United States. They now have a boat they take out on Lake Erie in the summer, and they visit his brother in Canada often. He still travels across the Midwest for his job, but works from home daily.
Photos and Story by Alex Rykse
