The dress pictured is my sister's dress that she brought with her as a child when my family immigrated to the United States from Bolivia. My sister, Daniela, was eight years old when my family moved here from the city of La Paz. She always spoke of the language barrier that she faced some difficulty with here when she moved, having only spoke Spanish up to that time. When they initially moved to New York, my family bounced around several towns in Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk County until finally finding a permanent home in Bellmore, in a place which I have called home since I was five years old. Having been living here for twenty-six years, and only going back to Bolivia once during that time, many old objects of my family’s from Bolivia have been misplaced with time or simply lost in the several moves we made when I was a baby. While my parents moved here on work visas back in 1989, my parents both became U.S. citizens as of last year. Even though I attended my father’s citizenship ceremony, what really humbled me and made thankful for my opportunities here was when both of my parents and I voted in person together last November, all of us for the very first time.
 

– Robert Molina

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant