It all started about thirty years ago, when a young woman went to the doctor with her first born son Peter. Her husband died in war almost two years before. The child was extremely ill, so she decided to go the hospital. When she got there, none of the specialists were able to help. Until a doctor name Mr. Jonathas saw her. He generously took care of the baby, and offered her a great discount. She went back home blissful. The next morning she revisited the doctor. As a symbol of thanksgiving, she gave him a beautiful basket full of fruits. This marked the beginning of a romantic story from which I was conceived. I will not forget my culture, history, and the roots of my elders. Which bring me to this question, how do I show respect to my origins? How would I describe them? Certainly, there is plenty to be said, the paragraph that follows will answer all these questions.
I was born in Miami, but was raised in Haiti. My parents firmly believed that it is easier to raise kids outside the United States of America. Therefore at the age of one, I was brought to Hispaniola. At three years old I attended a private catholic school for girls only. For six years the main focus was learning five languages, French, English, Spanish, Creole, and Latin. I also had the occasion to discover other country's history, their capital, their religion and more. I actually got the option to go to several countries each year, throughout the whole summer. I gain the knowledge of how to give back to my community by organizing movie day, student carnivals, and sport competitions. I have learned a lot and at the same time and enjoyed these experiences. My country taught me how to be humble and make the difference every day, in the way I talk, write, my values; I will always be grateful and look up to my precursors for this matter.
Most of us will be drop at the school by our parents, two days before the semester. Once there you will be assigned to some specific chores for the semester. We had to fix our room and clothes every day. As far as the food, we usually have maids to serve us and would always take care of the rest.
Growing up Haitian, it’s the cultural norm for the parents to depend on the oldest to care for the youngest and household needs. At the young age of eight years old, my parents taught me responsibility and how to humble myself. They depended on me while they both worked long hours, my mother as a Certified Nursing Assistant and my father as a truck driver. When my parents were growing up in Haiti, they were the lucky ones to have the opportunity of going to school to gain an education. Haiti is a poor country and poverty is at an all-time high still to this day. So my parents strived to live the American dream and moved from Haiti to Miami and planted within my brother and me the seed to dream big and make a difference. Thanks to my family
Growing up, the biggest challenge I faced was being a first generation Latina student. My family came from an extremely rural neighborhood in Guanajuato, Mexico called La Sandia. Both my parents achieved up to 5th-grade education in their hometowns. They decided to sacrifice their lives in Mexico to provide a better life for their family and then decided to migrate to the U.S to achieve what many people consider the American dream.
...going to elementary school, along with my father studying and receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. At the age of 8, my family moved to Dallas, Texas because my father got a job there. My little brother started kindergarten, and we lived there for 2 years, and moved again to Montreal, Canada, when I was going into 5th grade. I had to take one French class because it was the second language of Quebec, a state in Canada where Montreal was located in. But it was fascinating to learn a new language other than my mother language and English. I spent 2 years in Montreal, and then finally in 7th grade, I moved to Denver, Colorado. I had to move from different places and schools, which partially was a disruption to my education and partially not because I learned the different cultures that exists in just two different countries, located in the same continent.
Affected by my family, my background, and everything around me, I was born in a family who is the first generation to get here. My grandmother, and my parents, along with some other relatives, moved here in search of better opportunities, like those from other countries for the same idea. They started out fresh but had a hard time to get started, when I was little, I assumed it had to be somewhat easy, but for people who do not know English it is like starting from scratch, but they did well, they’ve made it.
The azure waters where I can see the stunning aquatic creatures, the olive palm trees that dance side to side to the music in the wind, and the astonishing Spanish culture. All of these are mutual features Puerto Rico and Honduras (Central American Country) share. I am proud to represent such beautiful and cultural places. My mother is from Honduras, and my biological father is from Puerto Rico. I was born in North Carolina in a minor town named Saint Paul's. I do not dream of becoming a famous idol or a millionaire. I dream of being able to achieve goals that will impact my life and the rest of the world.
I was born in Port-Au Prince, Haiti in the summer of 1993. It was only my brother, mother and I living there in a big house in Haiti. My dad was already out the picture before I was even one. My mother and father never really got along after I was born so he left us. I don’t remember much about living in Haiti, I only heard stories of the reason why we left Haiti and moved to Miami,
As a Haitian immigrant, my parents and I would spend our family vacations in our hometown of Port-au- Prince, Haiti. I would enjoy participating in family activities such as card games, cooking, and just the quality time that we spent together. We could play these games and laugh amongst each other for hours, without a care in the world merely telling jokes and listening to the elder parables. Amongst my family I felt untouchable. Like a tree in the wind, my only cares were that of the breeze and the beauty of my foundation. In the sway of the wind I was overcome with a sense of peace.
I have found my connection to my ancestors. It is neither language, nor country, nor family title. For more than three centuries, my predecessors have been striving, yearning, and devoting their lives in the hope of achieving something better for themselves and for future generations. To this day, it has not been realized. I plan to rectify that.
Since my father remained in Haiti while we made our home here in the states, by the time I was in my late teens I soon realized that I was the leader of my family. The apartment complex where we lived was increasingly becoming unsafe and it was very clear that I had to move us out of that environment into a safer one. I worked hard and saved up and when I was 23 years old I was fortunate enough to have my first major accomplishment by purchasing my own house where I moved in my mother, my 3 sisters, my younger brother, and occasionally my father. It made me feel good that I could provide a safer living environment for my entire family.
People who are part of the Haitian-American culture, like myself, are either born in Haiti and moved to the U.S. and have assimilate to the American culture or were born in the U.S. and have parent who were originally from Haiti. I was born in Haiti and raised in the U.S. I can relate to other people, female and male, who were also born in Haiti and have moved to the U.S at a young age. Members
The students who took Art and Science attend the morning classes and the students who took Geography and History attend in the afternoon. Each level grade had about seven classrooms. The morning and the afternoon classrooms contained about ninety students in each class. I think the classrooms were bigger than the classrooms here in America, but unlike here, we had to share one long desk with three students. In the US each student has their own individual desks. We had about twenty- eight desks in the classroom. Usually the girls sat with the girls and boys sat with the boys. It was not restricted where we had to sit, but it was better to pick the seat the first week of school. Once we made friends to share a chair, basically we signed up to sit together for the rest of the school year. In that first week, our homeroom teacher nominated two students to be our classroom leaders. Throughout the day the leaders made sure we behaved right or they would report us to the teacher. The leaders had multiple responsibilities. For example, they made sure the classrooms were cleaned before we left the room. Each day they select five students to tidy up the class. Actually, we had fun cleaning up the classroom. It was nothing like Fremont High School. I have never seen rats or bugs in our classrooms. They were very clean and
I learned much while I was in Peru. I learned Spanish and Quechua, went to mass every Sunday and learned more about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and much more. Although when I turned 5 my father thought it would be best for me to come back since the education is better in the states than in Peru. I came back to the states along with my grandparents and started preschool. Once I got settled in school my grandparents and mother thought it would be time to find a church around town.
My semester of study abroad is best described as an intense learning experience, without which I feel that my education would have been incomplete. The lessons learned were far different from those I encountered in high school, but of equal or greater importance. I gained new perspective about international affairs and also found I was challenged as an individual to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally. There is no doubt that this experience has changed me, and I am certainly better for it.
One experience that I will always remember is the day I was running errands and had the opportunity to meet a very special patient. She was a sweet woman who was originally from Mexico. We were having a friendly conversation when she asked me about why I chose to do community service at the hospital. I explained to her that I planned on majoring in the medical field one day and I was working on obtaining community service hours. We got to talking about the education systems in our countries. In our conversation I learned that only selected people were given the opportunity to receive an education in her native country of Mexico. She told me about the poor education system and the extreme poverty which debilitates Mexico. As a United States citizen, I am provided with a variety of options for education. People in Mexico must fight to obtain access to any education. This made me realize how truly fortunate I am.
Family history is very important to an individual. By knowing where you come from, you can have a better perspective of your life. Having a clear understanding of your family background allows you to better appreciate the things that you would normally take for granted. The house, the car, and the average clothing may look better when one sees the sacrifices their family has made. They will see that their family has worked very hard just so their family can experience the better things in life. A persons roots and origin is one of the most important things to explore. It alone can bring you closer to self-discovery.