Uber Talks 4: Noor

Noor is from Pakistan. He drives Uber for 12 hours a day (2pm to 2am) 7 days a week and rarely takes holidays off. He used to be a security guard and has a family business selling gemstones. He provides for his family (whom he hasn’t seen in 8 years) back home and is the only person in his family living in the US. California is expensive. Noor misses the beautiful untouched landscapes of his hometown. He is still in the process of a lengthy green card application in hopes of traveling more easily, though the timeline was exacerbated by years due to COVID. He recommends eating at Chargha House in Culver City, which is owned by a family friend.

All of these stories start to sound the same. Whether from Mongolia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, or Pakistan, the utmost purpose in many of my conversations with Uber-driving immigrants is to provide for their families, always at their own expense. They don’t have mobility, they don’t have optionality, and they often don’t have community. But the vigor of their belief of a better life is so great they do whatever it takes.