How I Became a “No-More-Poor” Dad
Today’s blurb is about my personal story. I came to the United States in November 2000 with my family—both parents and my brother. I was 9, my parents were in their late 40s, and my younger brother was 8. My mom had been a nurse before immigrating and assumed she would easily find work in the U.S., but she quickly learned that the system here was very different from where we came from. She struggled with the computer during the licensing exam and couldn’t even get past the first page. After that experience, she gave up on becoming a nurse in the U.S.
Even though our family had green cards when we arrived, my parents didn’t speak English well, and we burned through all our savings within 12 months. After that first year, my mom worked as a cashier at a beauty shop, and at night both of my parents worked as janitors. I still remember the first building that my parents cleaned was a FedEx branch office. There were some nights when no one could watch my little brother and me, so we went with them to the building they cleaned. We would hide whenever someone worked late because we were afraid they would report us and we’d be taken away from our parents.
When my brother and I reached middle‑school age, our parents gave us small chores at the building. God, I hated every moment of being in that corporate building—emptying trash bins at every desk, cleaning bathrooms, and dragging huge black bags of garbage to the dumpster every night. At least my dad always took on vacuuming the floors. My parents, my brother, and I worked every night cleaning that building, and we were still barely making ends meet. In fact, I know we were sinking deeper into debt. I decided I couldn’t live that way forever. Something had to change.
After high school, I went to college for an Electrical Engineering degree and graduated in four years. During all four years, I received small scholarships and Pell Grants, and I worked every summer, every winter break, and even during the semesters.
Continued in the next post
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