Immigrants share inspiring personal stories of why they left their homelands, how they got to the U.S., and the lives they are making here. They meet the challenges of a new land with determination, perseverance, resilience, and creativity.
Listeners will see America through their eyes and renew their appreciation for the land we love.
When I Got Here is narrated, edited and written by Byron Harris. Harris is a longtime Dallas journalist and winner of two Peabody Awards.
Original music by John Wesley Gibson, composer-in-residence for the Dallas Winds.
Learn more about Literacy Achieves: LiteracyAchieves.org (http://www.LiteracyAchieves.org)
Kay and Venna Juperatum made a plan to come to the U.S. so they could support their parents in the Philippines. They left family and Kay’s career as a television and radio personality behind. They would rely on Venna's medical training. They had to adapt to different family roles as well as small town and big city life in America. They are building a life and raising a family in America together, according to plan.Support the show
4 Dec 2023
Ion Zanca, Young Heo, Efren Guzman: Something Different
This is a story about how music brought three immigrants together: a Romanian viola player, a South Korean bass player, and a Mexican drummer. They are part of the Grammy-nominated Dallas String Quartet, DSQ. They structure their concerts to connect with audiences throughout America. They have concerns as foreigners in America and about America in the world. Still, they value living here. Learn more about them and sample more of their music at https://www.d...
6 Oct 2023
Thear (Cambodia) Called to Lead
After the 1975 Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, Thear Suzuki’s family started from zero. Thear was three years old. Her story of survival, persistence, and self-discovery led her to high level leadership in consulting firms and the community. Her story inspired President George W. Bush to paint her portrait for his book, Out of Many One.Support the show
6 Sept 2023
William (Rwanda): Miracle Man
William Twayigize is a Hutu who miraculously survived horrific experiences as a refugee, a Tutsi prisoner, and a Nairobi street boy to complete an elite education and achieve a distinguished academic career. A transcript of his episode (lightly edited for clarity) is available at https://www.literacyachieves.org/category/immigrant-stories/English skill is the key to success for immigrants and refugees. It gives them a voice to advocate for themselves. It gives them con...
8 Aug 2023
Jose (Cuba): Cigar Entrepreneur
Jose Hernandez's ambition to become a doctor in Cuba was thwarted. Hear how he came to the US and planted seeds that revived his grandfather's business. Jose has grown it into a firm with international reach. Support the show
30 May 2023
Arang (South Korea): Different. Don't Be Afraid.
Arang Cistulli came to the US from South Korea as a very young child with her family. She grew up in a small Ohio town where her father was a medical doctor. Her story is bookended by prejudice she experienced as a child and by recent hate directed at Asian-Americans. Don’t miss her lessons about dealing with hate and prejudice.The story of Arang's parents, "Physician and Family," is in Immigrant Stories from the When I Got Here Podcast and Literacy Achieves.Support the show
In 1979 Mylinh Luong left communist Vietnam with her father, mother, and four siblings in a crowded fishing boat. She was six years old. She vividly recalls the deprivation, squalor, and brutality of the journey and life in a Malaysian refugee camp. She knows what it is to be without resources, education, family, and friends. In the US, she experienced acts of kindness that helped her overcome the lack of these things. Now a successful businesswoman, she puts her...
1 Feb 2023
Ana (Mexico): A Girl from Gail
Ana Arellanos was born in Mexico and came to Texas, undocumented, when she was five. She grew up in Gail, a small town in West Texas. Now, at age 34, she is a U.S. citizen and an immigration attorney. She knows the system from both sides. She wishes the whole country could be more like the tiny town that prepared her for U.S. success.Support the show
6 Jan 2023
Big Al (Iraq): The Price of Peace and Freedom
Ow-z (Aws) Al-Darkazali, known as “Big Al,” is an Iraqi dentist. At first euphoric over the ouster of Saddam Hussein, he grew so discouraged with the outcome that he gave up everything and left home to rebuild his life. After false starts in Cyprus and England he settled in the US. Hear Big Al’s perspectives on the Iraq war and life in America. Support the show
1 Dec 2022
Alexandra (Venezuela, Canada): Immigrant, World Citizen
Alexandra Bacalao is an immigrant from Venezuela by way of Canada who came to the US as a schoolgirl. Now a physician and scientist, the podcast is the story of how she sees America through a complex matrix formed from the other countries where she’s lived, her experience in the US health care system, and her observations of US politics. It’s a story of belonging everywhere, yet nowhere—and why she loves America.Support the show
1 Nov 2022
Jabeen (Pakistan): Mothers, Children and Language
Jabeen, a Pakistan-born woman watched her mother, who did not know English, struggle to the point of suicide in England. Jabeen’s own knowledge of English was essential to overcoming loneliness when she found herself without friends or family after immigrating to the U.S. English was the difference between failing and flourishing for these two women.Support the show
3 Oct 2022
Fable and Fact: Professor Jeffrey Engel
Jeffrey Engel is a historian who directs the Center for Presidential History at SMU Center for Presidential History | Center for Presidential History (smu.edu). He is the author of over a dozen books on American history, and an expert on immigration to the U.S. https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/Center-for-Presidential-History/About/People/Staff/EngelHis own family emigrated from Eastern Europe before World War II. Those who did not were lost in...
1 Sept 2022
Daniel (Haiti): Poor, Lonely, and Lucky
Daniel, a Haitian whose parents brought him here as a boy, goes through a “serendipity of experiences” to overcome the poverty of his youth, become an engineer, and learn to be a black man in America. Is Daniel really lucky or does he make his own luck? A transcript of Daniel’s story is posted in Read More Stories on the Literacy Achieves website: literacyachieves.org /podcast.Support the show
1 Aug 2022
Mayela (Mexico): Welcome and Unwelcome
In this episode, a young Mexican woman, a university graduate and marketing executive, wrestles with feeling welcome and unwelcome, free and lonely. This immigrant's experience shows the power of words—and the prejudice behind them—to hurt. Is her faith in the American dream for people like her naïve?Support the show
1 Jul 2022
Femi Omonije (Nigeria): Redefines His American Dream
The story of Femi Omonije, a Nigerian man who learned how to be a successful businessman—and a black man—in the U.S. He had to change his assumptions about American culture. He redefined his American dream. He achieved something far more substantial in Texas than what he imagined when he left Nigeria.Support the show
1 Jun 2022
Ruth Villalonga (Venezuela): A New-but Flawed-Paradise
This episode features a young woman journalist who fled economic hardship, social chaos, and terror in Venezuela to make a new life for herself and a new family in Texas. Now a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion executive, she has a window on some of America's flaws. Nevertheless, she is passionately giving back to the new paradise she found here. Learn more about Literacy Achieves: http://www.LiteracyAchieves.orgShare your immigrant story: http://literacyachieves.org/podcast--About...
15 Apr 2022
Ruben and Alina Esquivel (Cuba): Starting Alone, Growing Together
This is the story of Ruben and Alina Esquivel who were forced to leave Cuba when they were teenagers.60 years ago Ruben and Alina's early lives were shaped by two dictators Fulgencio Batista, the president of Cuba in the 1950s, and Fidel Castro.Listen as they share inspiring personal stories of why they left their homeland, how they got to the U.S., and the lives they are making here.They've met the challenges of a new land with determination, perseverance, resilience, and creativity.See Amer...
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