Mohamed Nosseir has a story tell. A story laced with love, hate, corruption, death, loneliness and hope. Hope that he, his wife, and his two children can achieve the American dream.
Nossier, 47, currently lives in St. Augustine Florida. He works as a dishwasher at the Sunset Grille in St. Augustine Beach. A man of large stature, he has the calloused hands and the sun-tempered skin of one who has dealt with the struggles of the working class. Working on a modest wage of 10 dollars an hour, he goes to the Sunset Grille six days a week, often seven, to raise money for a goal he has had since he first visited the United States. To become a U.S. citizen and live here with his family.
It is important to understand something here. Nossier is from Cairo Egypt. He once owned a fortune of hundreds of acres of land. Before he came to the United States, Nosseir lived as a rich man. BMW's, Mercedes, tailored suits, fine dining, and a house that resembled a palace were all common for Nosseir. However, he believed in one thing: that the United States would bring him and his family happiness and prosperity.
"I love the United States," Nosseir said. "I came for the American dream."
When he arrived in the United States in August of 2002, he would never leave the country again. He converted from Islam to Christianity at a church in Longwood, Florida and changed his name to Michael so that he could better assimilate into American culture. He grew close with the pastor at the church and a lawyer that attended the church. They told him they would help him achieve political asylum and promised him that he would be reunited with his family. Nosseir can't go back to Egypt. Once he gave up Islam, he immediately became an infidel.
"I will be hung if I go back," Nosseir said. "It is against the law in my country to give up the Muslim religion."
His family found out that he had gave up Islam and blocked all of his assets in Egypt. When he returned to sell his land, hoping no one had found out about his conversion, his brother, uncle and father were all waiting for him and told him that the land was no longer his. All of Nosseir's dreams fell through.
"I tried to get the visa for my wife, but my brother informed the embassy that my wife had an American born child on vacation," Nosseir said. "They denied my application and I went back to the states without them."
Nosseir's quest to become a citizen and bring his family here has no doubt faced him with great hardship. His work at the Sunset Grille involves him working tiresome hours in the dish pit. He is often treated as something less than human. He believes he is treated this way because he is foreign.
"If you are a foreign person, you will be treated unfairly unless you prove that you are better, harder working, a more excellent worker than anybody else in that place," Nosseir said.
Nosseir is a hard worker. I know because I work with Nosseir. He works constantly and never wavers in his tasks. However, it seems that his philosophy betrays him. One Saturday night in the middle of the summer two years ago, he was working none stop to wash large pots and pans for the busy cooks on the line. However, he became backed up when he received a few pots with thick burn residue on them form one of the prep cooks.
"I told him, 'please be careful, don't do the burning again because I have no time [to clean them]'."
"Shut the fuck up and keep working, nigger," the prep cook said.
"I'm not making fun of you, but I want you to understand that you are backing me up."
"Keep working and don't talk."
Then Nosseir says the prep cook took a hot pot he had just finished using and flung it across the kitchen at him. It struck him in the back of his arm and gave him a severe burn.
"Thats the treatment I get," Nosseir said.
Nosseir says that he credits Jesus Christ in dealing with the poor treatment he receives on a regular basis. If someone mistreats him, he simply shows kindness back.
"If someone says, 'fuck you,' you say thank you," Nosseir said. "That is my secret personal policy to gain respect in my work. Basically, it is my nature to be a hard worker and respect others.
Nosseir has no choice but to work at the Sunset Grille. Because of Immigration and work permit issues, he is stuck working where he is. He is forced to deal with the mistreatment of his fellow employees.
"I have no chance to go anywhere else," Nosseir said. "I'm bed in like a cockroach in a box."
Nosseir says he deals with the constant mistreatment by referring to his new found religion. He says when he is slapped on the cheek he turns the other one and if someone takes his jacket, he will give them his shirt.
When Nosseir signed a contract with the lawyer at his church, he failed to read the fine print. He says he is still paying off a $10,000 lawyer fee even after the lawyer abandoned his case. The pastor and the lawyer said he would be reunited with his family by Christmas of 2006.
"They lied to me," Nosseir said. "To force me to pay the fees, he threatened to send me back to my country where I would be killed."
Nosseir hasn't found the American dream. He gave up his fortune for this country so that he and he family could live happily. He refuses to marry an American woman to better his chances for political asylum because he says he loves his wife and wouldn't betray her. Though all this, Nosseir says his faith helps him to survive.
"Humans are over greedy and have no mercy," Nosseir said. "But everything Jesus Christ will resolve. I believe in him with faith."
Looking to the future, Nosseir has a goal. He says the restaurant business just helps him to survive for now. Nosseir's wife and kids currently live in the Ukraine, his wife's native country. He can't go there to see them because he says he is dark-skinned and will be faced with racism and that the income is very low. He hopes that eventually, he will be reunited with his family and can find success in America.
"I want to be with my kids," Nosseir said. "I want to become a US citizen and live in peace, own a house, be debt free, and become a successful persons with my own business."
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