Your Story

“We came through the lottery system in 2001 from Romania. I thought it was just a vacation. This is the longest “vacation” I’ve ever been on. My first memories here were shocking but they add to who I am. West Lawn & Oradea make me who I am.”

1/5/20 Ioana Bogdan

“My grandfather’s parents came in 1905.”

4/7/2020 Christopher Burrow

“I came to U.S. in August of 2001, a month before the heinous 9/11 attack, to study mathematics at University of Pittsburgh. I was a newly-wed Muslim women who was trying to navigate this new environment. Over the years, I realized why people from all over the world wants to come to America. As a Muslim, America has been the best country for me to live freely, be strong in my faith but also learn from other faith traditions or people that do not subscribe to a faith. I became a naturalized citizen in 2018 and I feel that I am an American.”

5/27/2020 Fatma Gurel Kazanci

Part 1 of 2

“I still treasure my heritage (Turkish), but considering the deteriorating condition of liberty and civil rights in Turkey, I feel more at peace to live in the United States. I have many friends from all walks of life that I am proud to call “my village”. I am a contributing resident of this beautiful country and I feel that I am embraced by most people.”

5/27/2020 Fatma Gurel Kazanci

Part 2 of 2

“My family moved to the US in 2018. My mom had gotten a promotion and needed to be in her company’s headquarters in Lexington Kentucky. I was 12 when we moved. Initially I was upset at the thought of leaving my friends, home and family to move to a foreign country and being a new kid. However, the thought of living in the land of freedom and opportunities was much bigger than the fear of change. We were thrilled about the life we would get to live in America.”

5/29/2020 Zoya Adwika Abbas

Part 1 of 2

“In the beginning, I used to feel very foreign. I live in a city where there aren’t that many Indian families which was very strange for me and I would feel like an outcast anytime I was in public. After getting over the initial insecurity, I took advantage of the place I was in. I signed up for any opportunity I got my hands on. Moving here helped me get so many new windows to improve and show off my interests and passions. That is why my family moved to America, for equal possibilities and platforms to excel.”

5/29/2020 Zoya Adwika Abbas

Part 2 of 2

“My great grandfather Walenty Staszak lived in partitioned Poland under Russian domination. Polish language, culture, and national sovereignty were denied by the Russians. In the mid 1890s Walenty took his last money to come to America to get work and set up a household for the wife and child he left behind. A few years later he sent for wife and baby daughter (my grandma) to begin their new life of freedom in America.”

5/28/2020 Carla Tomaszewski

“At age 15 I left my family in northern Myanmar and walked to India. After a year there, I was flown to Michigan to start a new life. At 25, I am now an American citizen, a senior in university, a home owner – yet I have not seen my parents since the day I fled for my own safety from the military.”

1/5/20 Mang Boih

“I immigrated as a refugee. I studied here and met my husband. I’m glad that our kids will be born Americans because there is so much opportunity here.”

1/11/2020 Nellie

“Native Americans still live!

My family is native to this land. We are the native Americans. Later in life my great-grandmother was born, her mom and ancestors before were Native American & her dad was African American.”

1/12/20 Shanija Ary’el Coleman

“My family is composed of descendants of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Forcibly removed from Africa to provide free labor in the Americas.”

12-26-2019

“My father’s mom was sold as a housekeeper to a rich family in NY. She left Puerto Rico after elementary school (11 years old).”

1/13/20

“3 brothers moved from England and became slave owners.

Very haunting but honest.”

“My maternal grandparents left Riga in the early 1900s – they came for opportunity & freedom to live without fear of being imprisoned or marked for their faith and their origins.”

12/11/19

“I was newly married and came with my husband.”

5/6/2020

Lakshmy Nair

“My parents went to Canada in 1989 as refugees during the Civil War. My grandfather had an accident, we all went back to El Salvador when I was 7. Years later, my wife got her US papers. We came here in love. We married, which is illegal in my country. I have never felt so free to be me and this is what America means to me: freedom to love! Back at El Sal I had to hide my sexuality and now I celebrate it! Second wedding anniversary and a home full of love.”

5/18/2020

Ligia Milla

“My mom was born in China and my dad was born in Japan. After they met each other and got married, they moved to California to let me and my siblings have a better life. I love my family a lot.”

12/31

“My grandparents migrated to the U.S. after being liberated from a Jewish ghetto.

My dad, at two years old, came with them.

They escaped Hitler’s final solution by weeks.”

12/21/19 NP

“My mom immigrated to Chicago in 1968, leaving former Yugoslavia, now Croatia, behind. Her family immigrated for better opportunities and freedom from facism.”

1/11/2020 Nellie

“My dad came to school here from Brazil and I was born here because of my parent’s dedication to me having a better quality of life. Thank you, mom and dad.”

09/12/19

“My grandparents came to the U.S. not knowing any English, leaving their 3 kids in China, in order to earn money and find better job opportunities. They stayed in the U.S. since, leaving their home, childhood, and culture. I will forever be grateful for their hard work and perseverance. Thank you grandma and grandpa.”

12/24/19 Annie Chin