I Am An Immigrant – Voices

Both my parents were born in London, England. My dad came to America around 1980. He did one semester of high school here. He was moving back and forth, and he ended up leaving and came back and went to IUPUI around ‘85. My mom moved here in ‘99 with the family. They knew each other back home and she came to settle and start a life. My brother and I were born in London and came here when I was around one and my brother was about 3. My mother was naturalized when I was in 3rd grade. Growing up, I didn’t understand the concept of people’s family living close to them. Hearing my friends say they would spend a weekend with their grandmas or cousins, I didn’t understand that cause my relatives lived on a different continent. I feel I have developed deeper friendships because they took the place of family, but I don’t have a family connection. I feel like it has made me open to different cultures and backgrounds because I realized there are people like me. As a kid, you don’t have control of your life in coming here. People fear what they don’t know because they’re coming here for a better lifestyle. My major is secondary history education. I like history. It’s the only thing I can see myself investing my time in. I feel like people should be educated about the past to know how it has shaped where we are now and how it shapes the future. I know kids don’t like history but I feel that if they realize about its importance and also if they have a good teacher that explains it well, they would enjoy it. I want to make it all count. We’re the outliers of our family. Our parents made a huge sacrifice. I want to make it count because my mom didn’t have any friends or family. I want this whole transition to be meaningful.