Young and enthusiastic at the time of his first migration, my uncle moved from a small, isolated village to the capital city in Nepal for a better education. Delighted and excited to be in a foreign place, he quickly adapted himself to his new surroundings. There were ups and downs in his school years when his elder brother, the only financial supporter in the family, got out of business. At the age of twenty, in 1994, he migrated to Japan along with other relatives and friends to earn money with a hope to support his large family back in Nepal. It was in Japan where he bought his first pair of shoes from his own hard-earned money doing a construction job. He climbed Mt. Fuji wearing those same shoes, yet they did not part from his feet when he returned to Nepal to visit his old parents after spending twelve years of hard work in Japan. He then came to America in 2006, the land of opportunity, as he believed, for a better life. And he did not forget to bring his same shoes with him to America as well. For him, those shoes are his identity. It reminds him of his journey from a small village of Nepal to one of the greatest city in the world, New York City. Emigration from Nepal for better jobs and income was part of the reason but not the sole reason. His curiosity to explore more about different people and places also drove him into migration.

– Tashi Tsering

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