What was your life like in South Korea? My life centered around my role as a mother of two children, and a secondary science teacher at public middle schools. I taught over 11 yrs. When and why did you decide to leave? After I earned my master’s degree in 2013, I was debating between whether to further my doctoral program ... Read More »
I am from teavana in my favorite jarrito’s mug but that’s not how my original story started. I was a 4 year old leaving Mexico and migrating to Chicago, IL knowing I had family waiting for me and my family was ready to start a “new life” as everyone calls it. My story starts in a small Mexican town ... Read More »
When Susan (name changed) was a child, she grew up in a small suburban town in South Korea. She lived a fairly normal childhood one could expect of the suburbs in any nation during the late 70s and early 80s, walking to school and playing in the streets until sundown. It was a close ... Read More »
Our family friend, Basil, is from the small South American country, Guyana. He was born in a county called Corentyne, which is Southeast of the country’s capital Georgetown. He grew up in a small farming community called Bush Lot Farm and had seven siblings. At that time, Guyana was not a rich country, and ... Read More »
Kim Hoang Miller is a 73 year old US immigrant from Vietnam who lives in Sacramento. She fled Vietnam in 1975. Was your family born in Vietnam? Yes, majority of my family was from Saigon, Vietnam. I had grandparents, mother, father, six brothers, 2 sisters and many cousins. Did you suffer from poverty? Yes, my family was very poor and ... Read More »
The flashing lights from every direction . Different languages spoken. I hear something but cannot make it out . The smell of leather and fresh food. The nice clean bathroom. White and with simple tiles on the wall. People rushing back and forth, not caring in the world who is in ... Read More »
Darya Novik (name changed) was raised in Belarus when it was a former Soviet Union state. When asked, she said she had a “pretty ordinary childhood.” She lived in the 2nd largest city in Belarus, went to regular school and music school and grew up playing piano. “Just like everyone else.” Once she ... Read More »
My grandmother, Fruma Dushnitzer, did not intend to become a US immigrant when she came to visit in July of 1939. She and her 3 year old daughter Fagie, came on a ship, “The New Amsterdam”, to visit her parents in Chicago, as they had never met their granddaughter. They had emigrated from Lithuania to Chicago in the late 1920’s. ... Read More »
My Mother was born in Shanghai, China. Her childhood was not a particularly good one, at least by American standards, but in China children were taught to be modest and not complain about what they got. My mother lived in a small house with several siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Their house was part of a complex, with multiple other ... Read More »
Jacqui can still remember when her brother Mark came home one day in June 1976 and told her parents that South Africa had no future and that the family should leave together. Jacqui was 8 at the time, but Mark was ten years older and had recently entered into the police force due to South Africa’s compulsory military service. It ... Read More »