My father first left Guinea in March of 1989. His plan was to come to America and make money so he would be able to support a family and be able to bring them over to America for a better life. At this point in his life, he wasn't married nor did he meet my mom. He just knew that he wanted to be able to support a family to the best of his ability whenever that time came. He came to America with absolutely nothing. He landed in JFK and moved in with other fellow Guineans in a tiny apartment in Harlem. They all wanted to be able to provide for their future wife and kids. My dad decided to pick up the job most immigrants from Guinea do, drive taxi. My dad did this for about three years and went back home to Guinea in 1992. He met my mom and they got married and decided to start a family. They gave birth to my older sister and I in 1994 & 1997 in Guinea. Throughout these years, my dad was still going back and forth from New York and Guinea to continue trying to build and make money to have everything established for us to be able to emigrate to New York. In 1998, my father came back to Guinea one last time and got my mother, my sister, and I one way tickets to New York. My father's work ethic is the foundation for my family's American Dream story. Today, my parents own our family business and have 6 kids in total. Even though my father had no idea how immigrating to a new country with a totally new culture & language would turn out for him, he sacrificed it all to make sure his children would be able to grab opportunities that he never had the option of taking.

– KB

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child