Green Card to the U.S.A.

The USA

"We won." That is what I heard my mom say on a hot Sunday afternoon in Kenya. I rushed from my room straight into the kitchen.

"We won a green card to the U.S.A." she said.

My dad, brother, and sister all came into the kitchen like the speed of lightning. We couldn't believe it.

My dad said, "Here, let me see that letter. Surely, it is true, we won!" he said.

I started jumping up and down, uncaring that no one was watching me. They all turned around and looked at me as if I was crazy, but they joined me. We started thanking God and clapping our hands. Kenya is a great place to live, but America has more opportunities for us. My mom immediately got on the phone and called her friends. In fact, we all used the phone that night to call our friends.

The following day I went to school with a positive attitude. Surely, I was a happy camper at school. In class when the teacher asked a question, I was the first one to raise my hand. Everyone wondered what was going on with me. A few weeks later, we went to the Kenyan Embassy and they took pictures of us.

The congregation at my church knew that we were approaching the day when we depart from Kenya; so one day, at church service, they began talking to us about "America" (as if they had been there). They told us that when we reached America, there would be money growing on trees. Others said that all we would be eating is hamburgers and fancy food because there are no such things as potatoes in America. Eventually, we found out that this was a gross exaggeration.

The day came for us to depart and our relatives and friends escorted us to the airport. We landed in the U.S.A and I was somewhat disappointed. I did not see the things that I imagined I would see.

Soon we got our own apartment. It was devastating for us because my parents did not have jobs yet. It was strange because in Kenya, we had a wonderful house and a car. Then we came to America and had none of these things. This is when reality kicked in: we found out that America was not heaven.

A month later my brother, sister, and I started school. This was a disaster. I did not have any friends at school so I would always sit by myself during lunch hours.

This phase was so hard to overcome but I did. My parents encouraged me, my brother, and sister to have self confidence. Due to this advice, I have worked hard and excelled in my classes. Now I am looking forward to going to a university and becoming a pharmacist. It's going to take time for me to achieve this goal, but I will make it because if I can overcome instability in America, then I can do anything.