Lucky draw lands Uzbek family in Waco with a green card
Thursday, May 31, 2007
By Mónica Ortiz Uribe
Tribune-Herald staff writer
When the Ahatov family of Uzbekistan won the lottery, they didn't become millionaires. They became Texans.
That's because in the lottery they won, the jackpot isn't paid out in green bills. It's paid out in green cards.
The Ahatov family was randomly selected among hundreds of thousands of applicants to a U.S. government program aimed at diversifying the nation's immigrants by granting permanent residency to eligible residents from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States.
The Diversity Visa program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, each year grants about 50,000 people worldwide a chance at the American dream.
Like any other lottery, the winner's reaction is typically characterized by the same incredulous facial expressions, followed by exuberant shouts and jumping for joy. After 15 years of trying their luck at the grand prize, such behavior accurately describes the Ahatovs' response upon hearing they'd finally won.
The four, who arrived in Waco three weeks ago, are contemplating their new life while staying at a cozy ranch house on the outskirts of McLennan County. They are staying with local physician Tim Welter and his wife, Jo, a member of Waco's Community Race Relations Committee.
"We are so happy, we couldn't believe it when we found out," father Ramil Ahatov said.
Ahatov, 45, worked as a neurosurgeon for 13 years in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, before trading his scrubs for slacks and a tie. As a sales manager for a branch of the American company Colgate-Palmolive, he made twice the salary he had as a doctor, he said. He worked there for 10 years with the hope that the job would boost his chances of getting an American visa. In his case, sheer luck proved to be more effective.
"Our country's economy and democracy is still developing," Ramil said. "Life is short and we wanted to come to a developed country where our children will have a good education."
Uzbekistan, located south of Russia in the Middle East, was one of several countries freed from Soviet rule in 1991. The nation of nearly 27 million people is still struggling to gain economic strength and momentum. When America went to war shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Uzbekistan allowed U.S. forces to set up a base at its border with Afghanistan.
The Ahatovs had just finished remodeling their three-bedroom home, which included a sauna and a lush backyard fruit garden, when they got the news that they could finally pack up and leave last May.
Ramil's wife, Venera — who is named after the Roman goddess Venus — said she regretted leaving her lovely home but assured herself they'd find an even better house in America.
The couple waited until their two children, Ilshat, 14, and Renat, 10, finished school this year before boarding a flight from Tashkent to Germany, then Denver and finally Dallas.
They packed little more than clothing, souvenirs for their host family, spices critical for cooking traditional Uzbek food, and a delicate china set that was a wedding gift from Venera's mother.
Recipients of the diversity visa are given a little more than a year from the time they are notified to apply for and obtain their green card.
In a year's time the Ahatovs completed the interviews, medical examinations and paperwork necessary for their visa applications, sold their house and furniture and bid farewell to their extended family, who they said were happy for them.
In Waco, they experienced their first cultural clash while applying for driver's licences.
Racial relations
Besides an irritating mix-up about the documents the Ahatovs needed to get a license, when they submitted their applications a staff member questioned Ramil and Venera about checking "white" under the race category, they said.
The husband and wife, who have dark bronze skin, say that the woman who attended them asked why they marked "white" when "they weren't white."
Not knowing quite how to respond, they turned in their applications as they were, without further incident, they said.
Despite their trouble at first, Ramil and Venera were able to get another person to assist them at the Texas Department of Public Safety office and both now have Texas driver's licenses.
Beyond the Welter family in Waco, the Ahatovs have no friends or relatives in America.
The Welters hosted the Ahatovs' niece a few years ago while she attended Baylor University on a student visa. She also is staying at the Welter home, visiting and helping her aunt and uncle get settled.
With the Welters' three children, that brings the household total to 10 people That, Jo Welter said, inevitably results in an "endless pile of dishes to wash."
Welter said her family often hosts a variety of guests because their friends are diverse and an embrace of such diversity is a key component of their Bahai faith.
The Ahatovs stay in a guest house several hundred feet from the main Welter home.
Ramil plans to resume working as a doctor. However, he'll have to take U.S. medical certification exams and undergo residency again. Until then, family members don't know how long it will be until they are on their own.
Once they are more settled, Venera, a music teacher, also would like to work. The boys will go to school in the fall.
First things first, however — the mostly Russian speaking family must get a better grasp on their English, they said. They are attending English as a second language courses through the local nonprofit charitable organization Mission Waco.
Regardless of the challenges ahead of them, the dynamic four show little fear of what lies ahead — after all, they're in the land of opportunity.
"We are not worrying about the future," Ramil said. "We are ‘work-lovers,' so I think it is not a problem to survive here, support family, and to achieve success. Why not?"
