Interview

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Oral History – Immigrant

America’s immigration story is vast. The country attracts immigrants globally, mostly individuals who sort to explore economic progress. After 1965, Congress passed Amendments that ended the issuance of Visas to immigrants that identified them based on their countries of origin (Gjelten 8). That enhanced equally in the country and embraced immigrants’ conditions. Since then, America has opened its borders for so many years to those seeking political, religious and economic refuge. The other groups of migrants are those who come to seek fortune, exploration, and adventure. The US has been long termed as the land of opportunity. Due to this, many immigrants come to the united for a number of reasons. Some escape oppression in their countries, poverty, and others seek employment and economic empowerment. The immigrants also benefit the US economically. It is estimated that immigrants inject around $10 billion annually into the economy of the US. This paper illustrates the story of an immigrant of African origin, from Ghana, living in the US.

The interviewee’s name is Joseph Kwabena. He is a Ghanaian native who come to the US six years ago. Joseph is male and twenty years old. He came to the US to get united with his family. His father came to the US twelve years ago. The reason why his father came to the US was to look for better living standards. It was at a time when the rate of unemployment was high in Ghana. Corruption in the country led to few jobs being created hence it was hard to find a decent well-paying job. The father who had graduated from a Ghanaian university with a Bachelor’s degree in nursing was lucky enough to secure a job in the US. His mother comes to the US two years later after his father had settled. The job in the US was decent and well-paying unlike the jobs in Ghana.

Joseph was fourteen years when he came to the US. His coming to the US was one with mixed feelings. He was excited because he was going to reunite with his family. He had stayed for long without seeing his parents and missed them much. Being the only child, he knew that his parents also missed him much. Apart from family, he was also excited to come to a first world country. From the US movies he had seen, he could only imagine how it would be in the US. Live in Ghana was not a bed of roses and was eager to see what the US had to offer. On the other hand, he was sad he was leaving a place he called home for a long time. He was in high school at that time and could not imagine interrupting his studies. The hardest part though was leaving his friends. Childhood friends, who had become a family to him, and other friends were dear to him. His aunt who had taken him in after his parents departed for the US was a like a mother to him. The thought of leaving his aunt made tears trickle down his cheeks.

On arrival to the US, things were not as easy as he had thought. Finding a school was the first difficult task that he had. He wanted a school he would fit easily given his cultural background. He also got lonely at first. His parents were busy and worked round the clock and he had no friends at the time. At some point he wished he had never come to the US. Calling his friends and aunt in Ghana made the situation worse for him.

On religious aspects, Joseph was and still is a Roman Catholic believer. He didn’t have trouble adjusting with this in the US. In fact, the church was one of the places that he found comfort in. people in the church were more welcoming than in other places. Church was actually the first place Joseph found a friend. In Ghana people used to care about the whereabouts of other people. People in the streets used to greet a complete stranger and that would be viewed as a normal thing. In the US, that was not the case. Everyone would mind their business so the only place he could meet a friend was in church. This social aspect affected Joseph so much. Adjusting to this took some time but eventually he managed to adopt and understood where people in the US were not as the friend as in Ghana. Joseph finally got a school of his choice and made more friends at school. He did not feel as lonely as he felt the first time he arrived in the US. Lucky enough, his school was multi-racial and had people of different cultures. The school, at least, gave him a sense of belonging. There were people from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. Racial segregations was not an issue because of the diversity of race in the school. Racial segregation has been found to cause adverse effects on the victims. Some even contemplate having suicide due to low self-esteem.

Joseph was lucky enough he found a school in which he could be accepted for who he is. He says that he made good friends who stood by him at all times.But generally, he could not mix freely as he used to in Ghana. He attributes this mainly to language barrier. English is the main language spoken in the US. In Ghana English was not the main language. This means that he was not fluent in English though he understood American English properly. In Ghana, the only place he could speak English was in school during English lessons. This made him understand the language pretty well but was not fluent in it. It took him quiet sometime to speak English well as the locals do. At first, he found it difficult to communicate with his peers. Some made fun of his accent and most could not understand a word or two that he said. This made him not to social as he used to in Ghana.

Experiencing all this in your teenage life can be quite challenging. Joseph thanks his parents and a couple of friends for helping him get through the challenges. His parents would encourage him and show him, love though he did not spend much time with him. The parents reminded him of his Ghanaian roots encouraging him that he could get over anything even the most difficult situations. He says that his parents having to be in the US for a longer period understood pretty well what he was going through. He describes his parents as pillars who held him together at a time in his life when he felt he could not take it anymore. Despite all these challenges, Joseph still felt lucky to be in the US. The poverty his peers faced back in Ghana made him feel that he was so privileged despite the social constraints that made feel so left out. In the US, the quality of education he received was not comparable to that in Ghana.

Education in the US was far much better. Teachers were highly qualified and the exposure that fellow students had made him at education from a whole new perspective. There was much to be taught in school in the US. Sports and other co-curriculum activities were taken seriously more than he had anticipated. Back in Ghana, parents and teachers insisted mainly on education and overlooked the co-curriculum activities in school. He was even amazed to at the facilities schools had for the co-curriculum activities. Schools from states that are far away would visit for sports and music and his school would also visit schools that are far away from their school. This made him feel lucky and privileged than his peers in Ghana. He could imagine what his peers in the can were going through and sometime sympathize with them. The school was not the only thing that made him feel lucky. The healthcare he received was not the same as the health he used to receive in Ghana.

Hospitals were much bigger and had sophisticated equipment although they were much more expensive. The roads in the US were well built as compared to those in Ghana. In Ghana, the only roads that were well built were only found in cities. In the US, it was rare to find a road in poor condition. The buildings also stood tall and they were such a beauty. Cities in the US were advanced than in Ghana. The buildings were much taller and more beautifully and cars were everywhere. In Ghana cars were only meant for the rich. Only a few of his neighbors could own cars. People could travel from one place to another using public means. In the US, several people owned cars.

As his stay in the U.S. continued, Joseph adopted the local people’s lifestyle. In school, he earned his respect because he was a bright student. At some point, he became the favorite student of some teachers. His social life improved and made many friends. He even adopted a nickname worker bee because of his hard in school and because of his name Joseph who was the father of Jesus and a carpenter by profession. At first, his dating life was not so good. He was part of the problem. Because he could not speak fluent English, he thought it would be wise to refrain from love life for quite some time.

His first girlfriend was African American girl called Jackie. She was a neighbor at home and went to the same school as he did. Though she was a little older than he was, Jackie becomes a close friend and with time his girlfriend. She gave him a sense of belonging and hope that he could manage in this world that seemed so different from the world he knew. Jackie showed him around and taught him the American way of living. It was so sad that Jackie his first girlfriend relocated out of the town just after a few months of knowing her. The relationship was kept alive by long distance phone calls they made immediately after relocate but at a time came and they both had to move on. From then afterward, the dating life of Joseph has been adventurers such like any other around the world. He has had a couple of girlfriends in all races as he says. He totally does not complain about the dating life he has had in the US.

It has been six years since Joseph comes to the United States. Right now he is used to the ways of living in the United States. Life is not as hard as it used to be the first time he comes to the US. In fact, he says that right not he would have some difficulty adjusting to the ways of living of the Ghanaian people. Though he is proud of his mother country and says that being a native of Ghana is the best gift that he has ever had in his life. He still keeps in touch with the people he left in Ghana six years ago. His eyes are filled with tears whenever he talks of his aunt who took care of him and raised him as if she was his mother in his childhood. His friends in Ghana also come into his mind.

He specifically remembers a friend, Mark. Mark was his closest friend at his time in Ghana. He goes to the extent of saying that Mark holds his childhood memories. With all these memories, Joseph points out that the thing he misses most is the Ghanaian traditional food. Since he came to the US, he has never tasted the Ghanaian traditional food. He says the food in the US is good but still there is that aspect of Ghanaian traditional food that he misses.

Joseph feels lucky and privileged to be in the US. He says that his parents are his heroes. He particularly thanks his father for making that extra effort and securing a job in the US. He says that the US made him a better person than any other nation could have. He attributes this to the diverse culture and ethnicity that is found in the United States. Right now Joseph is pursuing a career in telecommunication engineering at a university in the states. He says that the US offered him the best opportunity he could ever have in life and that indeed it is the land of opportunity. Joseph has dreams and visions that he would like to achieve. He has never forgotten about his homeland. His dream is to improve the standards of living in his country or at least influence the lives of the people living over there in a positive way. His wish is to finish his education and go back to his country to practice engineering.

Although Joseph holds his native land at heart and thinks about it, he is so grateful that he came to the United States. He now faces life in a way he could never have if he has stayed in Ghana. He is more courageous to face life and describes himself as multi-racial. The interview ended by Joseph giving thanks to God and his parents for making him come to the US

Works Cited

Gjelten, Tom. A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story. Simon and Schuster, 2015, Print.