Arun and his family had moved to Philadelphia from Burma as refugees from oppressing times in their country. The Nationalities Service Centre (NSC) had helped them to settle in Philadelphia, offering advice and support on every aspect along the way.

One way to integrate into their new life was to find employment and many options were suggested to Arun. In Burma, he´d been a taxi driver so for him this seemed the most obvious choice. As expected, he had to pass numerous checks and tests in order to qualify for his taxi driver´s certificate. One of these was to pass a driver´s examination and some of the instructions for this exam would be issued verbally in English. Once he´d passed that, Arun still had to speak a sufficient amount of English in order to be granted his taxi driver´s certificate. He had to be able to understand traffic signs and signals in English, make entries on reports, respond to official enquiries and, of course, be able to communicate with the general public.

So he needed some help! In order to reach the required level of proficiency in English, he took courses in Philadelphia that were recommended to him by other refugees he´d met at the NSC. Starting with the basics, he quickly progressed and soon became confident enough that he submitted his application to take the driver´s examination.

Arun now proudly displays his taxi driver´s certificate and takes great pleasure in driving his passengers around the great city of Philadelphia that he has come to love as his new home.