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. On January 12, 2010, while vacationing in Santo Domingo, DR. Tragedy hit and my strong foundation no longer stood. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 shook and uprooted homes, places of business and my sense of peace. After hearing news of the earthquake, I rush to Port-au-Prince to check on my family. I was reassured that my family was secured and had no life threatening injuries, but the same was not said to my grandparent’s neighbor. Their neighbor suffered from a head injury and deep laceratio...
Although, most of Haitian parents act almost the same way. My Haitian Parents are one of a kind. Whose parents are not annoying and want them to stay home and stay their baby girl forever. No matter what happens, I will always be their baby and they will always be my parents. My parents only want me to be better than them without socializing, or doing anything that relates to going outside or a thousand miles away. Who will watch over me after God if they don’t? Family Love never
My parents like all parents are faced with raising their children with culturally suitable morals and ethics that will not only prepare them for adulthood but also molds them into the person they are today. For my brother and I, we were taught from young where my parents, grandparents, and other ancestors were from. Even though I never went back to the country my parents or grandparents were born in I was able to gain a sense of my ethnic self. Whether it was taking my brother and me to events those in the Guyanese culture celebrated or showed us picture to keep the culture alive. I believe something simply as cooking traditional cuisines that originated from their country my parents did to show us this is what we ate. My dad hung up flags, shared stories of life growing up in the
I remember the first time I came to America; I was 10 years old. Everything was exciting! From getting into an airplane, to viewing magnificent, huge buildings from a bird’s eye view in the plane. It was truly memorable. After staying few days at my mother’s house, my father and I wanted to see what Dallas looks like. But because my mother was working the whole day, it wasn’t convenient for her to show us the area except only on Sundays. Finally, we went out to the nearby mall with my mother. My father and I were astonished after looking at a variety of stores. But after looking at different stores, we were finally tired and hungry, so we went into McDonald’s. Not being familiar with fast food restaurants, we were curious to try American
Being a Hispanic have impacted all my entire life; I lived 15 years of my life in Mexico I love being there because most part of my family live in Nuevo Laredo, I was cursing my last months of 8th grade and one day my mom told me that she was thinking about send me here to the U.S to start learn English; since I’m a U.S citizen and I didn't know the language of my country, I accepted. The most hard prove was live without having my mom at my side, since I live with my aunt now; when the days passed here in the U.S I started to depressed myself because I missed so much my house and all my family, one day in the middle of the night I call my mom crying and I told her that I really want go back to Mexico, but she didn’t take into account my desire my mom just explained me that it will be the best for my future and with the time I will be thankful with her for don’t let me go back. My mom, and my grandmother are the ones who motivates me to be a better student. Actually I’m in dual enrollment and I have taken AP classes; sometimes is hard for me talk, read or write in another language that the one I was accustomed but, every time I fail I get up and persist until I’m able to do what I want.
My cultural identity, is Haitian American. My parents come from a country of beautiful landscape and valleys of the hidden treasures of knowledge, diverse people, and rustic towns. My parents walked up steep plateaus for water, laid in grassy plains for peace, and dive into the sea for cooling in Haiti’s humid heat. Although, I come from a culture of deep history, the first country to gain independence in the result of a successful slave rebellion, my parents knew the plague of suffering Haiti’s battle with will not recover through the poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy. As Haiti fought through its demons, my parents fought to provide plentiful opportunity for their family and immigrated to the United States of America.
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
My husband and I will show her where she's from. She's a beautiful mix of South East Asian and Puerto Rican. She has her whole life ahead of her and she will see it from many different perspectives. I will teach her Hindu, Creole, how to cook curry and about my favorite Bollywood movies. I will dress her in Sarees and take her to religious functions. She will be covered from head to toe in Indian gold. My husband will teach her Spanish, play her his favorite songs and teach her how to dance. I will teach her how to cook Spanish, food (dad is great at making breakfast). We will take her to Puerto Rico, one day. We'll also visit Asia. She will know the two beautiful worlds she comes from.
Coming to Haiti I did not know what to expect. As soon as I stepped off the plane I was filled with mixed feelings on weather I would be able to appreciate and take in an environment that I have never stepped foot in. The air smelled different, the pace felt slower than America and the people appeared to have a communal camaraderie that I have never seen before. The sad part is, my mind was conditioned to expect Haiti to be a sloven third world country, however my time here has proven quite the opposite. I look forward to the adventures and experience awaiting to come.
At a young age I have faced many strenuous challenges that molded me into the person I am today. When moving to America with my mother, she left her family behind her in order for me to gain a better life that I would not be able to have in Vietnam. Coming to America as immigrants, with no knowledge of the culture or language, was a complete culture shock for us. It was inevitable that my mother and I would run into problems as we try to assimilate.
Growing up in Jamaica, I enjoyed worship. I remembered looking forward to church. We clapped our hands and stomped our feet and made a joyful noise unto the Lord. We didn't have keyboards and drums. We clapped and sounded like timbrels. I remembered when I learned to testify and it helped me and several others to build our confidence. I would sing in the local churches when they have special events. I watched young people being filled with the Holy Ghost and I wanted it so badly that I would pray and ask God to give it to me. I remembered watching my mother and my sister speak in tongues and I so wanted to do it.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit the island of Haiti on January 12, 2010, killing anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 people, injuring another 300,000 others, and leaving over 1.5 million without homes (Fleddermann, 2012, p.116). The majority of the destruction and human toll occurred in Port au Prince, the capital city of Haiti, although the effects of the earthquake were spread throughout the island. Aside from the many people who died, were injured, or left homeless, those involved in this disaster are the Haitian government, the United Nations, civil engineers, the press, relief organizations, and the United States. Although initially perceived as simply a natural disaster, it becomes apparent through further research that the degree of loss experienced might have been lessened if certain procedures and codes were in place and followed to increase the safety and integrity of the buildings in Haiti.
On January 12th, 2010, the small Caribbean nation of Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. This was the worst earthquake to hit the region in over two centuries (BBC News). More than fifty aftershocks measuring over 4.5 followed within the next two weeks. The earthquakes left Haiti in shambles and exacerbated their conditions. There were 3.5 million people affected and over 220 thousand killed (Disasters Emergency Committee). Major damage was caused at the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The country was manifestly unprepared for this event and Haiti was propelled into a downward spiral. The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a devastating event which furthered the country’s social, economic, and political instability.
There were three weeks left until Christmas, I was fourteen at the time and trying to get my Christmas list made with as many items as I could think of. Between me and my friends, it was a contest to see who could get the most presents. Once I was sure that my list would win, I took it to the kitchen and hung it on the refrigerator to make sure my parents saw it. Once my parents read my list, they decided to call a family meeting about Christmas this year. When we all gathered in the living room, my dad began by saying “boys I’m happy to announce that we will be doing Christmas differently this year.” When he said those words I immediately knew I was not going to be happy. He continued by saying “instead of getting gifts this year, we
As an immigrant you cannot expect everything to be right in front of you. You have to work hard and achieve what you want. My whole family came here to the United States to seek a better lifestyle. Being an immigrant, and a child of immigrants is not easy. You are stepping into a whole new world, where the people and language is unknown. Every question you answer with a yes or a no. As you live on, you began to fit into the new lifestyles. But, life was not easy when we first came here. My family struggled to find a job and a house that we can possibly afford. My family tried to not focus on those issues, instead decided to focus more on education opportunities.
As an immigrant, life in a new country brings many issue as a family adjusts to changes. One of the main issues my family has dealt with is financial issues. My mother came to this country after her divorce with my father four years before my siblings in order to have a home and stability for our arrival. She worked three jobs: house cleaner, dish washer at a restaurant, and taxi driver at night. When I came to this country in 2005, my mom had bought a small house in a good school area and she had gotten married. While we didn’t have plenty, we had enough and each other. Problem arose when my mom’s husband then took to drinking and became an unbearable alcoholic. In 2012 after many trials in their marriage, they divorced. Although my mom never