My dad was the first to move to the U.S. to study at the University of Maryland after being on a scholarship in Israel. Soon after my mom and sister decided to live in America as well. So when my mom and sister came here to America they first had to get passports. It wasn’t and easy task either. My mom (Junying Ma) had told me, “Each day they would say tomorrow, then the next day they would say tomorrow, this went over and over again. This made me depressed and hopeless.” She told me there was no one to help you and that they had to bribe the Human Resource person at the school she worked at with expensive gifts, it got to the point where she couldn’t sleep at night. The passports remind me of my roots, where I came from and it helps me understand my heritage and the conditions my family was and is in still in China. When I asked my mom why they moved to America, she had said to me that my parents wanted better career development for them and a better school for my sister (Kathy) as well as the hope of living a more comfortable life. The passports remind me of the hardship my parents went through to have a better life for them and their family and it’s the reason why I’m here today.

– Chelsea

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