A recently arrived immigrant from Egypt, Amr Shafik Hassan Omar Elhadary, has managed to overcome a number of cultural differences as he settles in Peru.
Amr, 29, left Banha, in north-eastern Egypt, following his instincts and giving up a family tradition (marriage arrangement) to marry Peru's Yesenia Romero Zarate in 2014.
He was granted the Peruvian nationality two weeks ago, and this has brought hope back to his life.
He barely speaks Spanish and is still looking for a job in computer engineering —his field of study. For now, he works as a baker.
"I felt I came back to life. I will be able to work as an engineer, and do plenty of things like moving with my wife to a larger house. We've lived in a small room for three years," he commented.
The Egyptian man believes his life is going to change for the better from now on.
As is expected, he loves
Peruvian food —his favorite dishes are
lomo saltado and
aji de gallina— which explains his weight gain (20 kg) since he arrived in the Andean nation.
The couple met several years ago via Hi5, a social networking site that used to be popular about a decade ago.
Yesenia, Amr and a friend of his used to chat via this website until they graduated from school. Years later, the couple met again via Facebook.
After some time, in 2014, he headed to Peru to meet in person and propose marriage to her.
Out of this total, 72% got the nationality once married to a Peruvian citizen, 25% were children born overseas to a Peruvian citizen, 2% applied for naturalization and 1% got a double nationality.
(END) SMS/LIT/RMB/MVB
Published: 7/25/2017