Project ACCESS gave her hope and a purpose: to work in education
Hamida Hakimi Roshangar left Afghanistan in 2016 to reunite with her husband who had been in the U.S. for two years already.
She brought with her a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of experience working within the Afghan Parliament. Eager to begin working in the United States, Hamida promptly submitted her résumé to many employers. Given her experience, she expected to find a job quickly. But she didn’t. This left Hakimi struggling with an overwhelming feeling of uselessness.
“I was totally lost. I lost my identity I was really helpless, really scared,” Hamida says. “There was nobody to help me. There was nobody to guide me. Where do I start from? I had no idea.”
At that point, she realized she needed to become educated in the United States to work here. Her husband had taken ESL classes through Mt. Diablo Adult Education and recommended Project ACCESS to Hamida.
“I found really good friends – the teachers and the classmates.”
Hamida Hakimi Roshangar, Project ACCESS student
Project ACCESS provides training, career and other support services for non-native English speakers to work in early childhood education (ECE). Pregnant with their second child, Hamida found the practical parenting information valuable personally as well as scholastically. And more importantly, Project ACCESS gave her a renewed purpose in life.
“I was a good student in the class. I found my identity somehow. I realized I’m intelligent. I can do something,” she says. “This all helped me to get out of depression.”
This transformation was in great part due to the support she received from the educators and students.
“I realized there are people who can show you the way, tell you where you should start from,” she says. “I found really good friends — the teachers and the classmates — everybody was so friendly and so kind.”
The experience has been so positive, Hamida has a newfound passion for working in the field of education. She recently earned her certificate of completion for Project ACCESS and will attend Diablo Valley College in the fall for two years. But her plans don’t stop there. Hamida is committed to pursuing these studies for life, culminating in a Ph.D.
“It is my biggest dream in life,” she says.
For more information, visit cccaec.org.
Written by Elizabeth Morabito
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| Bay Area California | Careers in Education – English as a Second Language |
