His elbows on the table, holding his head on his hands and his eyes rolling at each line of the text, Yosuf Sajad, a 23-year-old Afghan-American, prepares for a test. He is majoring in pharmacy at Ball State University.
Sajad and his family came to the U.S. in 1999 to join his father, who was studying medicine at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Like almost 4 million other Afghan refugees, Sajad's family lived in Pakistan for 14 years before making the final move to the U.S.
Sajad said he didn't remember a lot about Afghanistan, except some snap memories of his visits while spending his teenage time in Pakistan's Afghan refugee camp.
"I was too young," he said. "I was born and grew up in Pakistan. I only visited Afghanistan a couple of times before coming to the U.S."
Like many other Afghan-Americans, Sajad's family maintains contact with relatives. Sajad said he might go to Afghanistan to help the people, but only if the situation improves there.
Afghanistan has about 30,000 U.S. soldiers fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda elements.
"People are in need there, I know this," he said, "but I can't go if I don't feel secure."
For Sajad, America is home. He said he grew up in the United States, adapted to the culture and values and connected to the country.
"If I become able to do one good thing for my country, I would serve America," he said. "I am proud of being an Afghan-American."
There are about 65,000 Afghan-Americans most of whom reside in California, New York and Washington D.C., according to the U.S. Bureau of Census.
Jim Connolly, associate professor of history and director of Center for Middletown Studies at Ball State, said the immigrants enjoyed the pluralist society the U.S. offered.
"Immigrant communities establish here very well," he said. "Most of the immigrants try to live closer to their fellow race members, and Afghans are no exception."
Sajad said for his family, America offered an open environment to live and practice their religion, celebrate their culture and traditions.
His family celebrates the Muslim holidays of Eid and Now Roz with the three other Afghan families of Muncie, Sajad said.
"During the Eid, we get together, dress in traditional clothes and eat traditional food," he said. "During the holidays, it looks like little Afghanistan at the heart of America."
Happy memories of Sajad from his home country are sometimes ruined by the news about his country of origin. He said he thought about people there and felt bad about the situation.
Despite being far away, Sajad's family still helps. The four-family Afghan community of Muncie raises money to help build schools and health facilities in war-shattered Afghanistan.
"We have built two schools through funds we raised here," he said. "We raised about $50,000, and we continue to do this. This is a little help we can do to the people in Afghanistan who suffer from war."
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