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Ellen Sirleaf once said, “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them.” As an immigrant that came to America five years ago, I find great wisdom and possibilities in these words. I was born and raised in Malaysia for the past 14 years, and moved to the Philippines for a year while waiting for my petition visa to America. My dad is a Malaysian-Chinese, while mom is a Filipina. Growing up in Malaysia, I was given the access to education without any barriers. I went to a Chinese elementary school for six years, Malay high school for two years and sat in a year at De La Salle Canlubang in the Philippines to learn the culture of my country. Growing up with an abusive father is never easy moreover witnessing him abusing my mom in front of me. He brainwashed me to believe that it is her fault and she deserves those abuses. Dad illegally kept mom’s passport for 10 years as a slave in his house. Mom escaped this nightmare in 2007 while leaving me behind due to her limited capabilities to care for me at that time. The Philippine Embassy successfully helped her out of Malaysia and safely returned her home. At the age of seven, I remembered telling mom that I will never forget this person’s name that starts with the letter “M”. She was persistent in asking me who this person is and I told her …show more content…
“Mommy”. This statement still stood the test of time and became more evident when she came back a year after she escaped from Malaysia to fight for my custody.
Malaysian law states that if your biological parents are not married and has a child, the child automatically falls into the moms’ country citizenship. The Malaysian court granted her my full custody without any visitation rights for my dad. After 2 years, mom married my step-dad and decided to bring me to America. America gave me a sense of relief that I finally escaped my abusive father and is now given the opportunities to strive for my desires, passions, and high hopes that my mom has for
me. My dreams of becoming an international attorney started when I was 12 years old. This inspiration came from my late grandfather that works for the Australian embassy, grandmother that has limited education, aunt that works in the education department for the British embassy, and two causes that is dear to my heart—advocate on behalf of women like my mom that was tricked into human trafficking and protection of women's rights to education. My grandparents, aunt, and mom constantly say that no one can take away education from me, and to utilize it to help others that needs it. Rough start in life should never be an excuse to stop pursuing higher education. These experiences will serve as a guide for a better tomorrow and an example for next generations to surpass us to be the finest.
In their pursuit of assimilating and calling the US home, they had forged a new identity of Hmong Americans. (Yang, 203) Being Hmong American meant striving to move up the economic ladder and determining one’s own future. They understood that for them to realize their American dream and their “possibilities”, it could only be done so through “school”. (Yang, 139) Yang realized her dream by attaining a Master’s of Fine Arts from Columbia University and publishing books about the Hmong story.
I thought it would be an interesting idea to enlighten and inform people about the Lao Iu Mein and our process of immigrating to the U.S. as well as the challenges we have to overcome. I interviewed my parents, Lao Iu Mein refugees who immigrated to the United States from Thailand. Through this interview, I had a chance to hear for the first time the story of my parents' struggles and experiences as they journeyed to a place where they became "aliens" and how that place is now the place they call "home."
Stories of the United States have attracted many immigrants to the United States shores and borders. They have heard of many economic opportunities that they can find here, and they want to make their own version of the American dream. This essay is a
In my younger and more vulnerable years, my parents and I immigrated from the Philippines to America in search of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It wasn't until I started maturing did I notice the obstacles I overcame, the accomplishments I achieved, and the objectives I set for myself that significantly contributed towards the achievement of my dream.
The American Dream can mean a number of different things to number of different people. Over the years this ideal has evolved and its definition will continue to change for many more years to come. What has not changed is the desire to achieve this dream. For decades now, people from all over the world have immigrated to the United States with hopes of obtaining this dream. However it seems that, to many immigrants the American dream has a very different and more modest definition. To many foreigners it means having the basic necessities in life and giving their children opportunities and life they ever had. Immigration can be a good and a bad thing. On one hand the overall standard of living is better but on the other hand it is almost inevitable that the family, especially the children, will lose some of their culture as they Americanize and assimilate. This is partially the reason why the mothers of The Joy Luck Club continue to have the Joy Luck Club meetings. Even though they are now in America, they want to make sure their daughters are exposed to and maintain the Chinese culture. Mother/ daughter relationships are a large component in Amy Tan’s award winning novel, The Joy Luck Club.
Fortunately, contrary to what we had originally thought we were one of the few lucky ones. Our family stayed together and as immigrants, we continue to struggle through the many negative stigmas. This is not the ending to our story but simply a story of new beginnings in a foreign country. As my parents say frequently “America is the land of opportunity” and this is an opportunity I will hold tightly and never let
The United States of America is the place of opportunity and fortune. “Many immigrants hoped to achieve this in the United States and similar to other immigrants many people from the Asian Pacific region hoped to make their fortune. They planned to either return to their homelands or build a home in their new country (Spring, 2013).” For this reason, life became very complicated for these people. They faced many challenges in this new country, such as: classifying them in terms of race and ethnicity, denying them the right to become naturalized citizens, and rejecting them the right of equal educational opportunities within the school systems. “This combination of racism and economic exploitation resulted in the educational policies to deny Asians schooling or provide them with segregated schooling (Spring, 2013).”This was not the country of opportunity and fortune as many believed. It was the country of struggle and hardship. Similarly, like many other immigrants, Asian Americans had the determination to overcome these obstacles that they faced to prove that the United States was indeed their home too.
As a minority, coming from an international country to a foreign nation has been the most crucial decision that my family has concluded to live the possibility of the "American Dream". However, growing up as an Asian-American student wasn’t simple; I was faced with the challenge of malicious racial slurs, spiteful judgment, and unjustified condemnation that attacked my family's decision to come to America.
Before I was five, I thought I was Chinese. However, I wondered why I couldn’t understand the Chinese patrons of Chinatown restaurants. Upon learning my true ethnicity, I pulled out a mammoth atlas we had under the bed. My father pointed to an “S”-shaped country bordering the ocean, below China. It was then that I learned my parents were refugees from Vietnam. “Boat people,” my mother, still struggling to grasp English back then, would hear kids whispering when she walked through the halls of her high school. Like many refugees, although my parents and their families weren’t wealthy when they came to America, they were willing to work hard, and like many Vietnamese parents, mine would tell me, “We want you to be success.”
"Immigrants and the American Dream." Society 33.n1 (Nov-Dec 1995):3(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale University. 26 Sep. 2006.
In the beginning of September 2005, disappointment and excitement revealed on my face when I boarded the plane to move to the United States of America. The feeling of leaving my families, friends, school, clothes, and culture in Cameroon presented a hardship for me on this journey. Of course, I anticipated this new life because it indicated a fresh start. I envisioned it resembling life in movies, where everything appeared to be simple and life was simply excellent. All things considered, I was heading off to the United States, known for the American dream. To me it meant that everyone is given equal opportunity to prosper, achieve a family, and attain a successful job as long as they are hardworking and determined. I felt exceptionally honored and blessed to have this open door since I realized that it was not provided to everybody. Coming to America denoted my transitioning on the grounds that I deserted my previous lifestyle in Cameroon, began a new chapter in my life once again, and finally became a much grateful individual.
Moving to a different country at a young age can be a challenge, especially when most of my friends and family are not coming with me. I moved to the United States when I was eight years old. When I landed in Michigan in 2006, everything was new to me, the culture, the language, and the people. Coming to America was cultural shock to my system.
Among every other country in the world, the United States of America is where people feel the most comfortable place to come and live a better life. Immigrants are people who leave their counties to reside in other counties that are rich and safe to better themselves. Every year people immigrate to the USA for many reasons. Many people are having difficulty living in their native country such as over population, jobless which make the economy so hard. People from outside of the United States think there is peace, love, equality, free education, jobs, good food to stay healthy, but most importantly freedom of speech to express yourself in America. Today, I will only focus on some reasons why people in my country immigrates to America. This is
Everyone has dream in life. Some people have a dream to visit different places and some people want to become successful in future. Likewise I also had a dream to come USA and to become successful in future. I was 17 when I came here with my parents. I heard a lot from my friends about their first day in USA. They said it was so sad however mine was the best day and the long day in my life which I can’t ever forget. I still remember that day in USA; I was sleeping in the airplane because I was so tired of traveling 18 hours flight. I was in a deep sleep suddenly I heard someone was calling my name because of that I wake up. It was my mom who was calling me. She told me to look outside I rub my eyes and looked outside. I still remember that moment when I first looked California, USA through plane window, those tall building which I saw in movies looks like a plane ground. I was so excited to be here in USA I feel like it is a piece of heaven.
In my family, my father is the head of the household. He is the one that brings in most of the money, keeps everyone on track, and is the family clown. He has such an important role in our life. On February 9th, 2015 a day after my sister was released from the hospital, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement took my dad under arrest. We did not know that in the 5 minutes that he would step out of our home that he was never going to come back. Little did any of us know that that would be our last time being all-together as a family. The arrest and deportation of my father has affected my family emotionally, and financially.