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I'm based in Secaucus, New Jersey and available for freelance work in NJ and NY. I was born and raised in South Korea and moved to the U.S. in my early twenties to live a life doing what I'm passionate about – telling stories with...
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Yehyun Kim photographed and interviewed the Masoud family over the course of nine months in an effort to document the experience of Afghan refugees resettling in the United States. At the request of the family, Kim is not publishing the adults’ first names, or showing their faces, to protect their loved ones still in Afghanistan.
Ms. Masoud and her daughter head out their home with a volunteer who helps the family with religious matters. They celebrated the end of Ramadan with other Muslim families.
The family used a large portion of their SNAP food stamps to purchase groceries to host a gathering with their new friends. At their new home, they continue their culture to take turns with serving food and socializing at home.
Mr. Masoud helps his wife with an English assignment. Mr. Masoud said he’s happy that his wife and daughter can get an education here, which wouldn’t have been possible if they had stayed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Masoud waits at the dentist, which he pays for with his HUSKY health insurance. Connecticut offers health insurance to people under certain annual income limits.
Mr. Masoud walks home with his son after school. The son started speaking English a few months after arriving in the U.S. and has made new friends at school.
During Ramadan, the Masouds prayed five times a day as instructed in their religion. On the cabinet, they attached a paper listing the times to pray and start fasting during the Ramadan month.
On Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Masoud family visited another Muslim family in Old Lyme who they met at a military base in Virginia. They cooked together, shared food and relaxed.
Mr. Masoud visited a New London barbershop with his son. He said accompanying volunteers on different appointments in the first few months helped him learn “how to deal with them, how to talk with them, how to manage them and how to inform them.”