Our Stories

My father made a drastic, life-changing decision to emigrate from his native country of Turkey to come to the US. He came to the United States when he was 20 years old. He decided to come for his graduate’s degree at NCSU just after finishing his undergraduate’s back in Turkey. He made this bold decision once he figured out that that his study field, advanced semiconductor technologies, had no advantage in the Turkish job market. He finished his PhD and decided to stay on his path in America to pursue a professional career.

His first impression of this country was that it was an easy country to live in. He said, “The systems are well set for foreign people to navigate with ease”. He further commented on how getting necessities such as a driver’s license, social security, renting a house, buying a car, insurance etc. is easy. He found culture in the US welcoming and thought that the government infrastructures were well set up in terms of, roads, public services and schools.

Currently my father is very pleased with how life is in the US. My dad feels like the school system is wonderful for us kids to thrive in and he thought that there was no better place to raise us. He also feels much safer here in comparison to Ankara, Turkey. He finds the constitutional rights for the people significantly better and well protected. Turkey was different in that aspect. My dad feels grateful that the US provided the job opportunities and ventures that allowed him to build up to the position that he is in currently. He found the US to be blind to country of origin and very welcoming to foreigners. He stated, “I don’t think there is another country that can be more welcoming for people who want to focus on working, studying and creating value”.

My dad found that the US market was perfect for his business oriented mind. He was able to raise extreme amounts of venture capital money and successfully sell it 4 years later. He thought that it was a unique experience for a foreigner from Turkey. He thinks that what happened would have never been possible back in Turkey for him. What culturally shocked my dad was how individualistic the US was and how back in Turkey the community was deep rooted. The biggest challenge, in his opinion, was homesickness.

Claire Komischke was born in Mannheim, Germany, but at the young age of seven years old, she moved to the United States with her family when her dad was offered a job in Cary, North Carolina. Her family didn’t know how long they were going to stay, so they went into the country with a lot of uncertainty. Knowing no English other than how to say her name and how old she was, she was enrolled into a public English speaking school. Here, she faced bigger challenges than any 3^rd grader should; she had to overcome the language barrier that was making it very difficult for her to make friends and understand what her teacher was asking of her. As the oldest of four girls, Claire not only had to focus on her own English-speaking capabilities, but she had to guide her sisters through the process as well. To work on their communication skills in English, Claire and her siblings tried to speak the language at home as best they could, yet her mom spoke to them in German for fear that they would forget their native language. It was a constant struggle for Claire to juggle the emotional part of not being ready to let go of her life in Germany, but also trying to move forward with the life she had now started in America. Despite the struggles in the beginning, after four years of living in Cary, Claire looks back on her experiences and sees so much positive. She describes the US as a place full of kindness where Americans greet those whom they barely know (which she found super amazing in her first weeks of 3^rd grade). That is something that she never really experienced in Germany, and she found so amazing. There are also so many things she accomplished here. She became fluent in English, made tons of friends, and not only adapted to the American culture, but she thrived as a part of it. She is currently back in Mannheim after her dad’s job moved her back, but she feels as though her experience in America is one that has shaped her to be a kinder and better person. Claire is an extraordinary example of how much an immigrant can learn, grow, and thrive here in the US.

Ella Marie Richard, a Canadian from St. Antoine, New Brunswick, was born August 28^th, 1943.  She is the 2^nd child and the oldest daughter of 14 children, 3 boys and 11 girls.  They lived is a 2 story house with 3 bedrooms upstairs with bunk beds in the hallway. Her mother Doris Richard was a house wife and her father Joseph Richard was a lumberjack, owner of a sawmill and an alcoholic. After the 9^th child was born, Doris at 35 years old had a near fatal miscarriage and almost died.  She was hospitalized and Ella at 13 years old who was in 7^th Grade at the time had to quit school to help her mother and with the kids at home. Ella started working at 15 as a nanny which was 2 hours away from home so she would stay overnight for 2-3 weeks at a time and would go home to visit her family for one weekend and then go back.   In 1959, at 15 ½ years old, Ella met Walter LeBlanc and they were married when she was 17 ½ years old. After six months of being married, there was no work for anyone so Ella and Walter took out the papers (green card/Visa) so they could move to the US for work.  It took 8 months to get their green cards/visa.   Shortly after she was married they moved to the United States. It took them 24 hour or more because of the old back roads and traveled in a snow storm.  They lived in Waltham Massachusetts, with her brother Normand, sisters Bernice and Rita, and her father who had also moved to the US just months earlier, to start a new life. They all started saving their change to help her mom, Doris, and her 7 other siblings that were left behind in Canada, to have enough money so they could also get their green  card/visa paperwork completed so the rest of the family could move and join them in the US. The entire family was reunited in July 1962.

My subject is a family friend, Alberto Scherb.  When he was 24, he left his homein Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico to come to the United States.  He worked for a company called Flextronics, and when he told them that he was going to switch companies, they offered him a job in the United States.  They supplied him with a visa and a sponsorship, and he moved in June of 2001.  He moved to San José, California, and after one and a half years with Flextronics, he got a job offer from Apple. He worked with apple for 10 years and during the last 2 years he got his MBA from Duke University. Although he came to the United States with a job (which gave him a huge advantage), he did run into some things that were challenging.  A common view that he shared with most immigrants was that he thought that America would be a perfect country; however, he realized that it was just slightly better than Mexico.  His first couple of years here were lonely because his friends and family were still in Mexico.  However, he adapted quickly and found that he had more time for himself and enjoyed meeting new people.  His mom came to visit him and was pleasantly surprised that he had friends that were of different races and cultures.  A specific experience that he remembers was 3 months after he moved to California, 9/11 occurred which was very frightening, especially to someone who is still adjusting to new surroundings.  He had told himself that he was only going to stay for 3 years but has now stayed for 17 and met his wife who is an immigrant from Iran. He has also worked for multiple tech firms throughout the years.  After Apple, he worked for Nest for three years, and two years ago, he started working for Lighthouse which is working on a smart house camera that distinguishes who is who and what they are doing. He is now looking for a new challenge and is picky with what he wants to see in different companies.  His take-aways from his experience are that you should be grateful for being where you are and that “people are people,” differences do stand out but in the end, “we are all people and that’s what matters.”

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Eric Zoetmulder was born in the Netherlands in the small town of Aerdenhout on December 23, 1970. He now lives in North Carolina with an American wife and three kids.

Eric first left the Netherlands for Canada, living in Toronto for an internship for about 11 months. He then moved back to the Netherlands for graduation and found work at a consulting firm named Anderson Consulting. In his words, Anderson Consulting sent him and his coworkers to a “brainwashing course” in Saint Charles, a small town outside of Chicago.

It was at this training camp where he met Juliann Zoetmulder, his future wife. They attempted a cross-nation long distance relationship, but quickly felt dissatisfied and they began making plans to live closer to one and other. Juliann moved to Holland in February of 1998 and found a job, in a funny coincidence, at Anderson Consulting. For three years they lived together, traveling across Europe and eventually getting married in Amsterdam.

Soon, however, they were both ready for a change, and after a lot of discussion, they took the first major job in the United States and ended up in North Carolina. Eric says he had an easy time immigrating, his marriage to an American citizen allowing him to skip a lot of the hassle. They had three kids and after five years, Eric became an official American citizen.

Eric says the most difficult part of immigration was culture related. He had to learn who the famous people were, what music people listened to, and what the classics where. His example for this is “Sixteen Candles”, a U.S. classic that never made it over the Netherlands. He still thinks of himself as a Dutchman, citing his formative years in Aerdenhout as the cause, but he admits that mature learning around family and domestic life has a larger association with America.

In the end, Eric’s journey to U.S. was easier and less necessary than that of other people, but that does not mean its story is without value, as was hopefully illustrated for you today.

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Christopher, pictured left, and Graham Swift, pictured right

Christopher Swift was born in England in 1961, and was 7 when he immigrated with his family to America. Upon interviewing Chris, he revealed that he thought his dad was the real immigrant, and he was a tough act to follow. He then insisted that I interview his father instead.

Graham Swift was born in England and came to America in 1968, after his London University graduation. He came with his aforementioned son, Christopher, and his wife. Graham, along with his family, boarded the trans-oceanic liner, Queen Elizabeth, to take up a post-doctoral scholarship in Organic Chemistry at Temple University Medical School. He is now a retired Senior Research Fellow and enjoys travelling and playing golf.

Graham said that the main challenge he faced while immigrating wasn’t the process itself, but learning cultural differences in America that are different from England. He had an especially difficult time learning different holidays, entertainment interests, and driving on the opposite side of the road! He also found it difficult, but amusing, that the languages have different connotations and spellings. Graham came to America when England was in a deep economic depression, so he viewed America as a better opportunity for him and his family. He loves that in America, people embrace that you can do anything you put your mind to, and he took advantage of that philosophy to achieve what he has in the scientific field.  He still visits England since he has family there, and he noted that England has changed a lot in the 50+ years that he hasn’t lived there.

Graham doesn’t understand why anyone would have a negative view towards legal immigrants since they help to diversify and enrich American lives. He has done much to contribute towards the communities that he is in, and he thinks that he has been successful in life. He thinks that being a part of a society that supports education, and recognizes hard work and dedication has helped him to become who he is today. Graham is an immigrant, and this is his story.

He never thought he would leave his life in Paraguay until he saw his definition of perfect walk right into his life, brightening up the possibilities of his future.

Diego Caballero was 20 years old at the time when he was working at the American School of Asuncion in his hometown in Paraguay, South America. He was having a normal day at work when the visiting sister of a student studying at the school came in. Right away he knew he wanted to ask her out, knowing that she didn’t have much longer in Paraguay. However, he knew that he was in love with her and the long distance wasn’t going to faze him. A year later, in 1987, Diego made the decision with the support from his family, to move to Washington, DC to be with the love of his life. At the young age of 21, he packed up his bags, saying good bye to the comfort of his friends and family in his hometown and took on a new journey in a foreign country, knowing only the girl of his dreams was waiting for him at the other side. Diego knew as he stepped into this new life of his that he was going to have big challenges with the language barrier, only knowing the basic English that he had taught himself before, but what he didn’t know was how different the two cultures separated by 4,470 miles were. This said, one of the biggest struggles he had to deal with was adapting to the fact that Americans like to arrange meeting times with their friends, whereas in Paraguay there is a lot more trust in the community and you never need to set anything up. Diego has struggled with this concept all the way up to today, still used to the comfort everyone had in each other.

Now, Diego and his wife are happily living in Chapel Hill, NC with two children, one in college and the other out of college. With Diego’s passion for field hockey, he is not only the head varsity coach at Cary Academy, but he also travels back to Paraguay every year to help coaches teach the children how to play. The United States is his new home and he is glad that he took the risk and made the change to be with the love of his life. 

My great grandmother, Riketta Menahem was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1914. She was the youngest of 9 children, 6 of whom survived childhood. She lived a working-class life in the Jewish quarter of the city. However, in 1917 a huge fire wiped out 2/3 of the city, forcing her family to move out of the city and into the countryside. Before the fire, her oldest sister and her husband had moved to America, and since then they had been saving up to bring the rest of their family to America. In 1923, Riketta and her parents left Greece. They came third class steerage on the USS President Wilson to Ellis Island. While they couldn’t bring much with them, they did bring a very unique frying pan, which has become symbolic of my family’s Greek history. Upon arrival, Riketta’s mother was quarantined because she had an infection and Riketta couldn’t stay with her. Riketta also was separated from her father because males and females could not stay together. For four days Riketta, was cared for by an unknown woman from another country, who did not speak her language, while she waited for her mother to recover. Once they were reunited, they moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan where they lived in a tenement with dozens of other immigrant families. No one in Riketta’s home spoke English; however, Riketta was able to attend school in America and learned English. Assimilation was very important to her; in fact, she changed her name to Betty to help her fit in. Since she was the only one who knew English, a large amount of responsibility fell on her to help her parents adapt to their new life. After 8^th grade, she had to leave school to begin working as a seamstress, the occupation she remained in until she retired at 65. In 1936, she got engaged and was married in 1937. She and her husband had three kids, all of whom have achieved personal and finical success Despite all the changes my family had to make to adapt to the US, some parts of their Sephardic culture are still a part of my family today. In fact that frying pan, which is now more than 100 years old has been passed through four generations and I hope to one day pass it onto my own children.

  Yutaka Kikkawa

My grandfather, Yutaka Kikkawa, immigrated to the United States in 1961. He originally lived in Japan with his family until his early 20s, when he decided to leave Japan and come to America in hope of better opportunities. It was very hard for him to leave his culture, family, friends, and society he had grown to love in Japan. Even though he feared the uncertainty, he decided to leave for America.

My grandfather came to America because he was interested in studying medicine. In Japan, all his friends and family urged him to leave in hope of going to college at a university in America. He was able to get into University of California Irvine, a very difficult school to get into, which gave him motivation. However, he still struggled with the language barrier. He took basic online English courses while studying at UC Irvine. He struggled socially, and he did not have many friends because all of them knew how to speak English, and he was look down upon because he was Asian. He also had trouble adapting to the American culture, society, and way of life. Even simple things like eating, transportation, English slang, and relationships were all different. In Japan they would eat only authentic Japanese food, walk or take the train, and people’s interactions were much more formal.

My grandfather’s life changed forever when he met my grandmother. They were both living in Southern California at the time. They immediately fell in love. My grandfather would get English help from my grandmother, and overtime he started to become more fluent. He adapted to the culture and society, and eventually became to adore America. After my grandfather graduated, he secured a job at UC Irvine Medical Center and worked there for over 20 years. My grandparent’s started a family in Southern California, and my grandfather never had any intention of going back to Japan.

My grandfather’s choice to leave his life in Japan and come to America, is the reason why I am here. My grandfather was able to work through all the hardships he faced, and America went from the country of confusion for him to the country he would not leave. My grandfather’s hard work and ambition, ultimately led him to a life for of success and happiness.