Husband and wife Maihesuti Malike and Yinayata Feilure moved from Xinjiang, China to the United States last year.
They left behind distinguished careers, Maihesuti as an electrical engineer and Yinayata as a personal, industrial and commercial banker, which begs the question: Why leave?
The answer was simple: Tragedy struck.
Their daughter was battling a life-threatening illness. They sought the direction and opinions of medical professionals in the United States rather than China.
Maihesuti and Yinayata’s daughter lost her battle months after arriving to the United States. The Uyghurs, a name given to Turkic-speaking Muslims from the Central Asian region, could have returned to their home country, but they decided to stay. But that required a restart.
Despite their qualifications, a language barrier limited their candidacy for similar careers in the United States. They were faced with another battle.
The couple sought out the help of a Goodwill employment office in June 2019. They rented an apartment and owned a car, but their savings were dwindling with little hope of finding a source of income.
Goodwill proved to be the hand up Maihesuti and Yinayata were in need of. Career coaches used a translation application to accurately assess the couple’s needs. Goodwill helped get Maihesuti’s name out to manufacturing companies all the while hiring him on as a material handler. Yinayata excelled as a cashier in training and started off as a production clerk, where she has continued to impress.
Both are making strides in learning English and will continue to advance. They take part in English classes on a daily basis. They’re just two of 2,520 people that were positively affected by Goodwill’s career coaches in 2019.
Do you know of someone in need of a hand up?