Ibrahim Hussein says his faith in the American dream was reaffirmed Tuesday night when Barack Obama won the race for the White House.
The executive director of the East African Community of Orange County, a nonprofit group that helps refugees get resettled here, says community members are jubilant about Obama’s victory. A celebration is planned at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Heritage Park in Irvine.
“We’re happy and what I am hearing from my own children and other groups is that it’s great to be American and great to be here. People are feeling that the American dream is a reality and is reachable. We just have to work hard for it,” Hussein says.
Himself an immigrant who came to the United States some 19 years ago, Hussein was born in Ethiopia to a Kenyan mother and a Somali father. Four of his seven children are American born; three of them voted along with him and his wife on Election Day.
He says he now believes that Obama’s story could be the story of his children.
“We feel very much blessed that we’re here within this community and we have been given a lot,” Hussein says. “We are so happy that one of our own became a U.S. president in our own lifetime and I feel very much that my kid can be like him tomorrow … It’s only possible in the United States. This is just a great land.”
He estimates that there are about 8,000-9,000 East African refugees in Orange County, including about 1,200 from Kenya, the country from which Obama’s father hailed. Kenya observed a national holiday today to mark Obama’s victory.
-OC Register