Personal Narrative: I Am A Haitian Immigrant

At the young age of 10, I experienced this; becoming a fatherless child. Just 22 days before my 11th birthday my father was sentenced to 8 years in the Federal penitentiary. I become a “Fatherless” child. Entering middle school this was a tough adjustment. As I matriculated through middle school, I found myself suspended and trying to fill a hole in my soul to replace my father.

and I used to play with my dad and these two were familiar faces to me in the initial stages and I developed a trust on them, The important thing I felt in this stage was feeding and my parent’s care. As we were in a joint family I always stayed with my parents and never allowed my uncle or aunt to lift me, when they tried to do so I used to switch on my alarm that is my cry, it forced my mom to run all the way from the kitchen to take care of me.

There was not much to do as I grew up in Haiti. I would sit outside for hours until the sun would set, the darkness consuming the little light that once remained.  I didn’t know anything besides my house; my mom believed that our safety simply lay inside the house and anything outside was dangerous. Growing up, I didn’t have my father around because he came to the United States in order to provide for his family back home. At the age of seven both my immigration papers and my sister's were finalized, and we were able to finally be with our father. Unfortunately, our mother was not able to come with us. When we got to the airport, I hugged my mother and said goodbye.

Growing up without my father was hard, especially because my mom was only there to feed, clothe and raise 5 kids including me. At 7 years old my father got 9 years in prison. I still remember the day as if it was yesterday. Approximately at 7 p.m., I saw a lot of police officers outside my house, I thought what is happening! Occasionally I kept peeking out the window to see what was happening.

As a child I was very fortunate to have a family like my own; my parents were truly happy and wholly in love. I was incredibly close with my siblings and still am today despite our little fights. Along with being close to my siblings my father and I had a great relationship; most people who knew me would have considered me a “daddy’s girl”. Growing up my father was remarkably proud of my grades and who I was becoming as a person. Oftentimes he would brag about me to anyone who listened.

My first language is English but I also understand haitian Creole. I would say I am intermediate in Haitian Creole. I also think some words in Spanish are familiar to me because in Creole there are some Spanish words ( as well as some French). I want to be able to hold a basic conversation in Spanish or at least understand it. Eventually, i would love to be fluent or at least intermediate in the language to be able to communicate well with my future Spanish-speaking ELL students when I become a teacher. From this class, i hope to build a strong foundation of the basics.

I wouldn't be the person I am today without the experiences and where I come from. It all started from where I was born. I was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on January 22nd 1995. Haiti is located in the Caribbean, and there we speak two languages fluently, Creole and French. All my family from both my mother’s and my father's side we all come from Haiti. I don’t remember much from the time I was there, because I was very young. I left Haiti when I was about five years old, I went to France with my cousins and aunt and stayed there until I was about eight or nine years old. From there I went to the United States to be with my mother in New York. The majority of my life I spent it in New York with my mother. It wasn’t until August 2014 I moved

What is a leader?” John Quincy Adams once declared “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” If I never expressed my story to others. No one would know how much I have achieved in the past 17 years. I grew up in a Haitian-American household, with my mother, and my three younger siblings. My mother was born and raised in Carrefour, Haiti. She came to the United States to live with her father. While living here she learned how to mature on her own, drive on her own, and learned how to cook because at the age of 17 years old, she was living on her own because of family issues. Growing up I was close to my dad, but my mother demonstrated to me how to be a leader and how to be independent.

This autobiographical essay will define my experience as a Dominican immigrant living in New York City. Being an American citizen with a Dominican background are extremely relevant to the process of political socialization. My family background is founded on the principles of democratic values, which taught to me by my mother and father. In New York City, I found a “melting pot” of different immigrants that allowed me to feel more accepted as a Dominican living in the United States. More so, these aspects of the socialization process provided a foundation for my belief in democratic values throughout my life. My experiences as an immigrant have certainly been difficult in some cases of racism, but I have generally been accepted as an American

My family consist of five people: my mother, father, sister, brother, and me. My dad works as a landscaper. My mom works at Ross dress for less, she works in taking out the merchandise from the boxes and putting them on the hangers, she has been working there for almost 10 years now. My parents immigrated here from Mexico to America a long time ago, before I was born, making them immigrants. My sister is 13 years old and my brother is 15. As for me, I am the oldest of my brother and sister, which means having to take up responsibility at a young age, and growing up early. Some of the responsibilities that i had to do was taking care of my brother and sister while my parents went to work, i’m the one who read all the important paperwork that would come in. I feel that even though i had to grow up early I received a little more trust when it came to going out with friends. Throughout my whole life I have only did one major move and it was from Concord to Antioch( not a huge distance), I moved when I was 6 or 7, and there wasn 't a lot to miss since I was at that stage where moving was the best part, also I barely to understood what was happening most of the time. I started 1st grade when I moved here to Antioch and the classes had already started so I was one of

After the cops showed up at my grandmas’ house, my mom kinda had custody of us. It was only a couple of months that we could stay with her though because getting to school was hard and she still didn’t have a job. After those couple of months passed, she had to tell me something. We were walking home from school and we sat down at the park and talked. She said, “You and your sister will have to go to foster care, but we made sure that you knew your guardian.

My Trip to Haiti It was the beginning of my junior year in high school and there had been much talk about a school trip to Port Au Prince, Haiti, Only ten students could attend this trip, applications had opened up in November and for me a trip to Haiti sounded like just a dream, I thought I was not able to afford it. The idea for the possibility to travel to a new country and be exposed to a brand new culture excited me, I made the decision to apply anyway. In December, I received news that I had been chosen as one of the first ten students from my school to go on this new service trip. I was so excited that I was even qualified, but also worried because I knew that the price was still an issue.

I’m his only child. My father really wasn’t there for me. My sperm donor thought sending me 20 dollars every two weeks is taking care of me. He always been a family man but to his wife. When I was 8, my father got married and continued on with his little family.

As a teenager moving to a new country with a different culture, different language, and being thousands of miles away from everyone I grew up with was not an easy change, however, that was precisely what I did in January of 2013 when I came to the United States with my father. My whole world changed since, and shaped my way of thinking. From learning English, adjusting to a new culture, experiencing my first snow and finding my way in my new country, my life has been an exciting adventure.

When I was fourteen, my parents told me that we are moving to the USA for my bright future. We were sponsored by my aunt and uncle in this new world. Education in India, especially with a dream of becoming a Doctor, is expensive. My parents want me to be a successful doctor, but financial crisis was our barrier. I came to America in the search of opportunities and a successful future. However, this path was not as smooth as I thought. The reality is that life for immigrants like me is very tough and full of challenges. I faced educational and financial challenges in the USA, especially the first six months with sudden changes. However, these barriers affected my personal character by making me a hardworking, mature and manageable person.