Diaspora Personal Statement

It was such a joy to be able to watch ‘An Immigrant Journey’. Everyone that was involved in the play in any way, did a fantastic job on creating the story and making the story much more believable for audience members. I thought the cast did a fantastic job of condensing down over 125 hours of research material, into a 50-minute show, which had to be incredibly challenging.

I was born here in Chicago but was raised in a small Illinois town near Iowa. I later returned to my roots as an adult and have raised my own family in the Chicagoland area in (South Suburban) Steger, Illinois. I am a wife, mother and recently became a grandmother.

In a book I read once called “I Will Always Write Back” there was a boy from Zimbabwe who was deep in poverty with his and countless other families in Africa. This boy had a “pen pal” in Pennsylvania and compared to him she was rich beyond belief. Eventually she helped him get into a college in America so he could better his life but, even being well out of the harsh living conditions, he still remembered what life had been like in Africa so he didn’t take anything that he had gained for

Immigrating to the United States in 1993 from the former Soviet Union, my parents were forced to escape from their war-ridden countries with no money or knowledge of English. Neither of them pursued a higher education since they needed to monetarily support our family after I was born a year later. Consequently, being the firstborn to two immigrant parents became my most challenging obstacle growing up. The language barrier was difficult to overcome since no one taught me English; I spoke strictly Russian at home and began my education in a Jewish school learning Hebrew. When the time came to apply to middle and high school, I recognized that I would also not be able to rely on my parents for advice about colleges since neither of them completed

The motivations behind the civilization of Africa are viewed in documents 1, 4, 7 and 11. Economic motivations and political global power such as the advantages of

The cultural diversity and advancements portray the progression developed in African history. The growth of these two subcontinents prove that American and European historians were incorrect on how advanced and civilized Africa was.

Growing up, I never had the warm pleasures of bedtime stories; instead, I would hear about the unimaginable impoverishment my parents faced in their childhood. The immediate reality of poverty obscured their investment in their brighter futures; both were forced both to sell lottery tickets on the streets or trade vegetables for portions of meat: just to help sustain their families. Looking back at those nights, I can only be grateful. As one of the first in my family to attend college, I am piloting a new future, one where I hope to lift not only my family out of their struggles but also the community that has always supported me and global communities today.

Transitioning from the Democratic Republic Of Congo to the United States was a challenge that my family and I had to overcome. The main reason why we moved was because my father wanted a better life for my siblings and me. My father did not make enough money to pay for our education, food, housing, and other things. With the little money that he did make, he would give some to my mom so she could buy clothes and sell them in order to put food on the table. More often than not my mom was unable to sell anything so, we would go to my uncle's house to see if he could provide us with at least rice to eat with sugar. In my family's eyes, at least, the rice was better than not eating at all. One day, my father's friend called him and told him that there was a lottery game people were playing and if you won, you would be given the chance to go to the United States. My dad was the only one from my family who was allowed to play and after eight months had passed we were informed that we won! We were all so happy and ready to start a new life in America! The new excitement about moving to a better

When I was young my grandmother taught me to always help others. Even those who may be mean or undeserving of it. There were many stereotypes and jokes made about me but she still wanted us to always help others. I learned to go with the flow and let it go. This lesson and the value in helping others helped me especially in high school. During my junior year in high school I began to take an interest in a program call Opportunities in Emergency Care. That year I was certified as a first aid provider and in CPR. As a senior I continued my education in this field. I am now a certified Emergency Medical Responder and I will be a certified Emergency Medical Technician. I have had many occasions to apply the knowledge and skills I gained, by working

By going back to one’s roots, the future of developing countries resided in the “development of Africa is one of the most constructive and universally helpful missions” (Locke, 6). This direction was a form of modernization that was an improvement of relationships between African Americans and other races.

Over the centuries, the African people have endured many trials, obstacles, and tribulations. From the moment that they were kidnapped from their homeland, and had been savagely placed in the cargo holds on ships to be sold into slavery to the American people, the Africans (now known in the United States of America as African Americans or Black people) have journey far to achieve, as well as, accomplished what was thought to be the impossible. These things include but are not limited to, freedom, equality, independence, the right to vote, a fair education, a wider range of occupations to pursue, politics, but most of all, to live a better quality of life.

In addition to this, when we look at the African diaspora it fits in many different categories. The African diaspora is one of the most complexes for they have different genealogies and several occurrences in history. Thus, this imposes who are the people that make up this culture. The author Paul Tiyambe Zeleza who is the author of New African Diaspora suggests, “There are at least four main constructions of Africa: Africa as a biology, as a space, as memory, and as representation- that is, African identities and cultures are mapped in racial, geographical, historical, or discursive term”(Zeleza, 34). Furthermore, this idea sheds light on the complexity includes multiple identities and has many pieces to

It is essential to note that the term African Diaspora does not describe any single event, group of people or set of customs. It represents a current state of being for many citizens of the world and provides context for understanding the social structures and intercultural relationships of the world we live in today. Collin Palmer provides great insight into the context of diaspora. He writes that there have been several movements, massive migrations of people, throughout history. There is no single “diasporic movement or monolithic diasporic community” to be studied, but rather a confluence of people, events and ideologies that span thousands of years, across every continent. Each period of movement, each diasporic stream, happened for different reasons. Palmer’s approach to the African Diaspora begins with a look nearly 100,000 years into the past. He identifies five major streams, with the first African diaspora that occurred as a

As an immigrant from Nepal, I have witnessed the thrash of poverty, which constantly serves as a reminder that I was given a rare opportunity to hopefully become a successful individual. When I boarded the plane to the U.S. at age eight, the notion of hard work and excellence never failed to energize my mind; it was something I knew I had to fill myself with in order to succeed. Growing up in the U.S., I constantly focused on academics because I knew that attaining knowledge was going to be detrimental to my success as an entrepreneur I imagined myself to be. In addition, I was able to form friendships with people who were utterly different from those in the slums of Nepal. The spiritual belief of hard work and dedication combined with the

Twenty-four years ago, my dad boarded a one-way flight to the U.S. He was coming to a new country filled with vocational opportunities his homeland could not provide. He was not limited by his place of birth or the reality that no one else in his family had ever left their village. He trusted his gut and took a leap of faith. A year later he called for my mother and I to join him in the U.S. and we left our life in Kenya and my future was ultimately changed. Throughout my life, I have been keenly aware that had my father limited himself to only opportunities that he could see, I would have never even been able to consider opportunities such as the UNC Medical Center Administrative Fellowship.