Challenges of Coming to Iowa

     "The hardest part was leaving the country behind and coming to the United States knowing nothing. The unknown was the hardest part. We didn't know where we were heading, or how we were supposed to make our own living.

     "We came with everyone in my family. All my siblings, except the youngest one, the youngest one was two years old. We left them behind. And that was the very tough part. That was very rough on the family when someone made it and the youngest didn't. On a sibling especially, that was very rough.

     "It was a challenge of getting to know where we were going. We had no idea how to get to the United States. We put our faith and our believing, everything in the United States government. We were 100% dependent on the charity and the good heart and the work of the people. It was a rough road after we got settled down because after that we had to go to school. Having no language skill, no friends, no nothing.

     "Once in a while, you would have a dirty look here and there, people wondering what you were doing there, but I say 99% of the time, or even more than that, I was fully accepted.

     "One part of my story I want people to know about is that the United States is an open door for people all around the world. However, you cannot expect to come in and spend your life fighting against human beings, we are one nation under God."