THE MOMENT
YOU ARRIVE
WHAT AMERICANS DO NOT KNOW ABOUT REFUGEES
Everyone talks about the journey to America. Few talk about what happens after you arrive.
♫ ORIGINAL SONG
DON’T CALL ME A STRANGER
Experience the emotion behind the story.
Original soundtrack inspired by The Moment You Arrive by Joshua Ehm.
WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Don’t Call Me a Stranger — An original song inspired by The Moment You Arrive.
ARRIVING IS NOT THE SAME AS BELONGING
The Moment You Arrive explores a part of the refugee experience that often begins after the journey appears to be over.
Arriving in a safe country does not mean that fear, loss, separation, trauma, or questions of identity simply disappear.
For many refugees and immigrants, arrival is only the beginning of another journey—learning a new language, understanding an unfamiliar culture, rebuilding education and a career, living far from family, and searching for a place to belong.
Written from Joshua Ehm’s experience of leaving Iran and rebuilding his life in the United States, this book looks beyond the moment of physical arrival.
It explores family separation, language, identity, grief, relationships, education, work, belonging, and the difficult process of becoming someone new without forgetting the person you were before.
“Your body may arrive in a new country in a single day. Sometimes it takes years for the rest of you to arrive.”— JOSHUA EHM
WHAT HAPPENS
AFTER YOU ARRIVE?
Through personal stories and reflections, The Moment You Arrive explores the challenges refugees and immigrants face while building a new life.
Learning to Communicate
Learning a new language and finding the confidence to express yourself in a different society.
Understanding a New World
Adapting to unfamiliar traditions, expectations, social rules, and ways of living.
Living Far From Home
Carrying the emotional weight of family separation, distance, and memories of the life left behind.
Rebuilding Your Future
Beginning education again, developing new skills, and finding opportunities in an unfamiliar system.
Becoming Someone New
Discovering who you are in a new country without losing the person you were before.
Finding a Place to Call Home
Building relationships, finding community, and learning what belonging truly means.
TWO AUDIENCES.
ONE HUMAN STORY.
The Moment You Arrive speaks to those who have experienced displacement and those who want to better understand it.
Refugees & Immigrants
For refugees, immigrants, and displaced people who understand what it means to leave a familiar life behind and begin again in another country.
For those rebuilding their education, careers, relationships, confidence, identity, and sense of belonging.
American Readers
For Americans who want to better understand the experiences of refugees and immigrants.
They may be your neighbors, coworkers, employees, students, friends, church members, or family members.
Understanding their journey can create greater empathy, compassion, and connection.
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
“I wrote The Moment You Arrive because arriving in America did not mean that every part of me had arrived.
My body crossed a border in a single day, but rebuilding my identity, relationships, education, career, and sense of belonging took years.
This book is for those who have made that journey— and for those who want to understand what beginning again truly means.”
— JOSHUA EHM
THE MOMENT
YOU ARRIVE
WHAT AMERICANS DO NOT KNOW ABOUT REFUGEES
Planned formats: Hardcover · Paperback · Kindle eBook
A journey through immigration, identity, family, loss, education, resilience, and the search for belonging.