For those who may not know, I was born in England  and my parents are both from Kenya. I know this may be a surprise so to make a long story short, after moving from Kenya, my parents reached London and had plans to build a life there as soon as I was born, with the help of my aunt. At the same time however, a close friend of my dad’s introduced him to the Green Card Lottery, which allows winners to come to the U.S. as a permanent resident. Out of the eight million people worldwide who submitted their names to the lotto, our family was one of the 50,000 chosen to get green card access to the U.S.

We had left our little tea kettle and landed in the U.S. in November of 2001. Unfortunately this definitely wasn’t one of the greatest times for the U.S. being only two months after the September 11 attacks.  Although I was barely two, I’m sure it wasn’t a harmless or stress-free decision for my mom and dad. We were fortunate to have made a great deal of friends which made the transition easier and we still consider them family. Some of them had immigrated to the States through the same process.

Bearing events like that in mind , it’s clear to see today why our nation would want to prevent people from dangerous nations from reaching red, white and blue soil. However, more often than not, the same values that motivated my parents to come here 16 years ago are what motivates people from countries all over to come here today. Ideas like opportunity, equality, progress and hard work are all values that makes us not just Americans, but people who are bound together.

This place is my home and I can’t imagine my life any different than it is now. On top of that, I’m sort of a pioneer for my family. I’m about to be not only the first person in my entire family to graduate from high school in the U.S., but also the first person in my family to go to college. I’m fortunate to be in this position, and I hope that other immigrant families have the same opportunities we did in the years to come.