My mom came to the U.S from Ecuador in 2001, when she was just 19 years old. Back home, poverty was rampant and she knew that to continue her education, she would need to go to the country of dreams and opportunity to make it happen. By herself, she gathered the money to come to the United States and started settling in. My mom knew that the first step to get ahead in this country was to learn English. While studying on her own at a library, she stumbled upon a flyer, which offered free English classes for young adults in Astoria, Queens. Despite classes being only once a week for three months, she was thrilled to sign up. To this day, she still carries the notebook with her. It makes her remember a time where despite being scared and young, she had the strength to persevere and keep aiming for greater heights. The book symbolizes a new beginning for her; a new part of her story that opened just as she started writing in those pages. Although those classes weren’t enough and she eventually took more classes in places like LaGuardia college, she is amazed at how much her English has grown. While working at her current job, she was scared to ask for another position because of her English, but remembering how much she studied to get to this point, she took the leap of faith and got the position! I’m lucky to have written in these pages, except instead of English class, it was Spanish class, and my mom is extremely eager to continue passing it on until all the pages are filled. 

 

– JG

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