ANCA was working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, such as The United Nation, to help Armenian families leave all communist countries around the world to get freedom, destining America. In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 14, which declares, "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution." I was sad that I was leaving the place where I was born, but inside in my heart I was feeling happy for the new life that I will face soon. Finally we received our visas to leave the country. In order to reach our destination which was the United States, we had to stop in the city of Beirut, Lebanon as a refugee in 1968 and then we flew to our final destination which was New York in December, 1969.…
The day was sunny and warm. The children were playing soccer in the street. The lady was walking with her daughter. My sister was talking with her friends. My grandmother was cooking and the smell of rice made me hungry. I knew my day would be awesome.…
I was born to protect this land And to be proud of what I came from I am an American And I can not change that As much as I can’t change The color of my skin America is a land of greed Red, White and Blue replaced by GREEN…
Let me start off with my mother's journey to America. It was 1985 when her parents decided it was time for a fresh start. It was very difficult to come to America legally, so they made their journey by traveling to other countries. They left Cuba and traveled to Spain where my grandfather found a job as a farmer. They lived in Spain for almost 2 years before they gathered enough resources to travel to Mexico. The journey from Mexico to the USA was very easy for them because they had a family member who knew their way around. They struggled for many years in America but soon became legal citizens. My mother later on went to college and completed her bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Miami. My grandparents purchased the…
Have you ever tried packing your whole life within three suitcases? I have. It is hard work, but you can make it work by making sure you are only taking the necessary things that make up your life. It was the night before our flight to America. Immigrating to America for my parents meant providing my brother and me with opportunities in our future. However, it also meant leaving behind the life they had created in the past 18 years in Dubai. It was tough saying goodbye to everything was familiar. We were going to a new country with only the hope that we would have a better life. Leaving behind so much was hard for me, but I knew that I could not just give up this opportunity. I am an immigrant, and only a fellow immigrant can understand the…
Life is a box of surprises. You never know what is going to happen or where you are going to end up. Everything can change in seconds just like when a tornado destroys a city in the blink of an eye. I was a lovely and happy girl living in my native country. I never thought that someday I would accomplish my dreams in another country. Due to economic situations, my family moved to the U.S. It is hard to live in a country where you were not born. Learning the culture, language and lifestyle were some of the struggles that I had I had to face when I first came to the United States.…
America, land of the free and home of the brave, a country strengthened with rights, equality, and justice. For Americans it’s just a regular country, with regular rules and laws, nothing special about it. Although, to immigrants it’s a country to reinterpret their lives, a better life, a life where they’re free to pursue their happiness and follow their dreams. Even though America is a great country, adjusting to a new culture isn’t easy. It took patience, support, understanding, and passion in order for me to balance two different cultures.…
Have you ever imagined that one day you had to live in a new country? You are surrounded by new people. You have to communicate to others by a new language. You have to do a bunch of things that you have never done before. How would you feel at that time? That was my story of the first days I lived in America. To me, those days were the most difficult time in my life up to now. Sometime, I even felt very stressful because of struggling with my new life. However, I did learn of lot from that. Now, I am going to tell you how I experienced the stressful time and some useful ways that I did to reduce my stress.…
One day nearly two years ago, I came back from the worst trip and experience ever in my life. Three years ago, my family made the biggest decision of our lifetime together and we had decided to move. Now the fact that we were moving didn’t bother me or my little sister, it was just the simple fact that we were moving from our home that we had grown up in our entire life. The only problem was the fact that we had eventually found out that we were going to move to Oregon. This Alabama home that we grew up in was very special to me and my sister but it wasn’t the one of best of places. We had lived right beside our grandparents and we loved to go up the hill and see them and us moving had rendered that possibility from happening any longer.…
When I first came to the United States my whole life changed completely. I came from a very poor town where basic needs are privileges and even though I didn’t know the language, the culture, and the people. I was not scared about my new life, my new beginning. When my mom and I got here my dad rented a house which was in very bad conditions. At that time we didn’t have anything, we slept on the floor for almost a month, we didn’t have any furniture and not even a car to go buy groceries. My mom was very disappointed because my dad has been living here for almost 10 years and he didn’t have anything yet. Besides all the bad situations, I was very excited because I was here in this powerful country where opportunities everywhere. After couple weeks I asked my dad to do me a big favor which was start the paperwork so I can get into middle school. At first he was mad because he told me that I didn’t need that, I was devastated about his reaction because I really wanted to go, but he refused to take me. Sometime after what happened my mom decided to take me to the school and start my education. I still remember all the…
My family decided to come to the United States in 1993. My aunt sponsored my dad for a visa and it took about 10-11 years to get the visa call,So we went to the US Consulate in Chennai, India to get the visa. They asked numerous question about why I wanted to go to the US. I came here for a higher education, better life with family, better job opportunity, religious freedom, equality, friendly. I did find it by having a Masters in Computer Science and being part of a South Indian christian domination.…
In 2011, I came to the U.S. because the U.S. has numerous educational and occupational opportunities. Additionally, I believed that I would find more success. Therefore, come to America was my challenge and opportunity in my life, because I did not know any details about the America, but I knew it was a big opportunity. Moreover, its language is part of this challenge; English is my second language. English has more than 1 million of words, and its grammar is confusing me. When I hear from native speakers, then sometimes I have a difficulty to understand them, because they speak so fast.…
When was your biggest event that made you really nervous? In 2013, on Monday. I was in 5th grade, I went to the school as usual, and I was really tired after school. At this point, I did not even think that my father is going to tell us about going to America.…
Samuel, I really enjoyed your post as I like hearing about other people’s family history since mine is so diverse. With your skin tone, eyes, and hair I can see why someone may say you look Hispanic. At least you take it in stride. Today, too many people get offended when someone calls them the wrong race or ethnic origin. It is really good that you continue your family’s tradition of cooking Greek and Italian dishes and I hope your children continue that. My family has been in this country so long and has so many nationalities in the mix that we have Southern traditions instead of a specific country. I do enjoy researching my family’s history. I do not have anyone famous in my family so far, but my great-great grandfather, Private John Henry Gwathney, did manage to survive the Civil War while serving under General Nathan Bedford Forrest.…
When I came from Africa in 2007, I was really excited. To me coming to America was like going to heaven. It was all I wanted, after all I could leave my violent country and finally come to the land of the free and the home of the brave. No matter how you put it the expectation for this country around the world is overwhelming. As for me coming to the United State was part of my everyday dreams. I remember my uncle my used to tell me, “Musa the statue of is capable of sitting down”, and due to the fact that I was just a kid I believe every word he said.…