I Am An Immigrant – Voices

I came in 1995 from Bangladesh. I had a very hard time at the beginning. I got very depressed. Everyday, I wanted to go back. Right after coming to America, I found out I was pregnant. That was my first pregnancy, and I was homesick. I didn’t have family, and suddenly I was pregnant. All that physical sickness made me very depressed, I didn’t like it at all. During the first years, I didn’t have the courage to learn driving, so I was stuck at home, I couldn’t do anything. I had to depend on someone to take me somewhere. It was very frustrating. The day I started driving, suddenly everything started falling into place, and I started feeling better, because I thought then I had a life, in control. I am blessed that my kids were raised here. The only regret I have is that I wish I could take them back home more often, for them to see where I come from, what the rest of the world is. Some kids here take things for granted. They do not understand how privileged they are since they have never seen hungry kids in the streets, and have never experienced poverty.