Editors note: Quotes on Samantha Oboro edited out due to potential threat
Monica Grace
After a traumatic political attack on her university in Nicaragua, 20-year-old Monica Grace made the move to California.
Monica began her university education back in Nicaragua as soon as she turned 18. Her university became the forefront of protests where people rallied against the government’s recent decisions to remove a percent of pensions for the elderly.
Grace explained what the President of Nicaragua did that caused her to make her move to the states.
“Daniel Ortega, sent the police, and called a lot of them to attack us. We got hurt- he did that just to stop the protesting. But it got worse to the point where he sent the military to stop it. Just because we didn’t agree with what he as demanding. He was basically killing students. There was a day where the military attacked my university, because we were the ones that started the process. And I was in one of the classrooms, and they were shooting at the school and we were basically hostages.”
“They knew our identities, because they took away all our stuff, so we wrote our names and an emergency phone number on our arms just in case. Some of us experienced really bad things, like watching our classmates getting raped, and one of them being killed.”
After three days without communication, food, or water, members of the church were eventually able to persuade the military to release Grace and her fellow students.
“There’s students missing still,” Grace added.
Following this incident, universities across Nicaragua have shut down.
“After a month without classes or going to school, my mom and dad said ‘you have to make a decision, do you want to stay and wait for them to reopen the universities?’ And I said ‘no, I’m just going to go.’”
Grace’s experience in California so far has been complex and not full of much gratification. She does enjoy the freedom of being away from her parents.
“In Hispanic countries, parents typically have a lot of control over their kids’ lives.. [In the U.S.] It’s just freedom in all the senses. Freedom to say what you want to say. I could stand up to protest, and they wouldn’t say or do anything. You can wear whatever you want,” said Grace.
However, Grace does not intend on staying in the area following her education at Long Beach City College.
“You have to learn to live and be surrounded by new all the time. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to adapt,” Grace said.
“Hispanic people, we are very friendly… We make friends easily. You guys need to get to know the person. We trust everyone. You guys don’t. I feel more unsafe here. With a bigger country, there’s more crazy thinking. You’ll always feel unsafe in a country you don’t know,” Grace added.
Monica said she hopes to go to Canada to pursue a career in law. Her father is Canadian, and she has traveled there every year for at least a month.
“Since I was a child I had this crazy idea of becoming an attorney. Then I wanted to be an actor, but then I was like ‘that’s too crazy.’ then I decided to be a psychologist or a therapist. In Nicaragua, it is not the best profession you can have. They have this belief that if you go to therapy, you’re crazy. It’s not because you need it. So my mom told me, ‘if you want to pursue it, I will support it. But I can’t tell you you’ll make a living out of that,’” Grace explained.
After her university experience in Nicaragua, Grace returned to her childhood dream.
“I had the attitude to be an attorney. I’ve always been a good reader. I used to go to the court and listen to cases and take notes.”
After finishing her law degree in Canada, Grace wants to work there for a while and then return to Nicaragua.
“Having a title, and a diploma from the U.S. and Canada, in Nicaragua, I can be the president if I want to,” said Grace.
Samantha Oboro
Samantha Oboro left Nigeria at 17 years old to study in the United States which lead her to face mental health struggles and learn important lessons about herself.
Two years later, the nursing student reflected on her move. Her living situation when she first moved to California was a challenge at first and detrimental to her mental health.
After Oboro spent time contemplating a return to Nigeria, she found new housing arrangements, and sought therapy. This was a large barrier for her to overcome, considering her cultural background.
“There’s a lot of judgment… In Nigeria, some places are rigid and strict about their culture,” continued Oboro.
The culture in the United States has been a stark contrast to Oboro’s home town of Lagos.
These days Oboro is optimistic and has established a community for herself here while pursuing her academic and professional goals.
“After LBCC, I plan, hope and pray to go to CSULB. Their nursing program, I really, really like it. After that, I j just want to be an R.N. for some time and after that, work here in America, be able to get my nurse practitioner’s degree, maybe a doctorate in that, and then maybe go back home, build my nursing practice, and have low-cost vaccines for kids. Just do something back for the community,” said Oboro.
Because Oboro relied on her family for support, she explained that in Nigeria laziness caused her to pass up potential opportunities. Ever since she established her independence in California, that idea has become a thing of the past.
“Now I’m a lot more hardworking, determined and self-sufficient. I’ve started discovering things for myself, things that my family used to define for me things like religion, things I can eat, things I can do,” Oboro said.
Facing the challenges of moving far from home has allowed Oboro to define a new path for herself.
Genki Mori
Japanese student Genki Mori pursued his American dream to play football and moved alone to California as a high school freshman.
“I’d actually only been to Hawaii before,” said Mori.
He decided to move to California without his family.
“I thought it would be more like that here,” he said as he laughed about California’s desert climate.
Mori moved to California alone under the pretense that he would live with his football agent but instead, he moved into an apartment with two other students.
“The agent wasn’t technically living with us. In high school you need a guardian, and they wanted… an adult at the house. It was three guys, we were all under 21, the school didn’t want us to live on our own, so we all got kicked out of the apartment,” Mori said.
Following that, Mori has lived with a few different friends’ families.
“I’ve lived with an American family, an Italian family, and a Mexican family,” he recounted his experience moving from home to homes throughout the area.
“It’s fun getting to know the families and the cultures,” he said.
After high school, Mori returned to Japan for a short time one semester to spend time with his family and earn some money before coming to LBCC. During that time he worked as a translator for the American players and coached in Japan.
“To be out here as an international student you need a lot of money. Tuition is crazy. My family’s not rich, so it’s hard to be out here, but I really appreciate my parents, because they really understand what I’m doing,” said Mori.
“Football is not very popular in Japan.”
The 21-year-old, explained that he was actually inspired to play through following his father’s example.
American football has a niche following in Japan- it was first introduced to the country in 1934 and only began to gain a following in the ‘50s, according to a CTV News article.
While there is a steady growing football program in Japan, Mori expressed that moving to the United States was key in advancing his goals.
Language barriers made it initially difficult for Mori to adjust to life abroad, but he has since acclimated and loves the weather and the people.
“My English was horrible, so that was hard,” said Mori.
“Doing football and school is hard. I’m taking 16 units, in the middle of the season, I have practice Monday through Thursday from 3:00 to 6:30, and games on Saturdays. So I really don’t have time right now.”
The football player hopes to get a scholarship to continue at a 4-year institution in the United States, but if that doesn’t work out, he plans to return to Japan.
“I feel more comfortable there,” he explained.
Mori also intends to pursue a career in international business back in Japan, following his education.
“I like to be here, but my family is over there,” Mori said.
“I became friendlier. I’ve talked to a lot of people here… I became more open,” he said, on how he’s adjusted to the cultural differences between Long Beach and Yoko Hama.
“People are more open here. In Japan, they’re shy. I also think about my parents more. I’m more thoughtful about people.”
Andrea Ferreira
Andrea Tavares Ferreira’s religious beliefs have guided her through the difficult relocation of her family from Brazil to California.
Andrea’s journey in the U.S. began eight years ago when her family moved to Maryland.
“We wanted to give our son a chance to move abroad. We wanted him to live his dream,” said Ferreira.
What was originally supposed to be a temporary move turned into a permanent decision. The family moved back to Brazil in 2010, before heading to Monterey, California in 2015.
Along with a drastic move came drastic career changes for Ferreira.
“I have a Bachelor’s in tourism. I had a travel agency for 4 or 5 years. Then I decided to change my career, and I got a Master’s in marketing, and I worked for a shoe company for 4 or 5 years. Then we decided to move to the U.S. I had to pick something to study in order to keep our family visa,” Ferreira explained.
Tavares Ferreira’s husband had already retired when she began a new career.
“First I thought about translation. That’s why I went to Monterey- they have the best school in translation, or that’s what they say. I said to myself, that’s not what I want to do. I want to do something that I love, I decided to be a nurse,” said Ferreira.
During this time, the family relocated to Southern California so their son could have access to a better football program.
The move was difficult and presented multiple complications, from switching over to a more expensive health insurance to having to retake classes.
“Since I’ve moved to the U.S. I’ve been struggling with international student services in colleges. I don’t know if I picked the wrong college . . . I pay $4,000 a semester. That’s a lot of money. I knew that before I came here, I’m not complaining,” Ferreria explained.
Tavares Ferreira expressed feelings of being misled by false promises of studying in the United States.
“Schools all over the world go to Brazil and have big events to bring students to study here. Everything is so perfect. ‘Everything is so fun, you’re going to have everything you need.’ Then you arrive here and it’s a totally different conversation. We get a lot of restrictions. I struggle a lot, and sometimes I feel like a troublemaker, always fighting for something. And I didn’t want to be in that position. Like when I came here, I had my own health insurance. And they made me buy their insurance. My insurance didn’t cover what they wanted. If I die, they have to have a way to send my dead body to my country. They wanted to force me to buy their insurance, which is $700 more. When I came, I got my prereqs from another nursing program in California, but they wanted me to take them over. It’s all about deadlines, or you didn’t pay for that,” explained Ferreria.
Ferraria said her experience in Long Beach has been an intense and exciting one, but it is also a challenge due to cultural differences.
“We try to avoid comparison. California is awesome and overall great. Little things are challenging. It’s more about behavior I miss the most,” said Ferreria.
“The relationships are more formal, and it takes a while to get to know each other. Sometimes we feel lonely, then we go to church.”
“God, he guides me. God is everything to me. Everywhere I go, whatever I do, he is with me. Nowadays it’s pretty hard to keep our minds focused, because we have so many distractions, we have cell phones and a busy life, and a culture saying we need to be perfect. We need to have money, a big house, and fancy cars. The only way to be focused and happy was to have a close relationship with God,”
“I pray every day. Every single day I wake up and do my prayers. I talk to God throughout the day. When you change, people who live with you, like my husband and son, they make the change for themselves, because they see me and how I have a calm and happy life,” she expressed.
Ferreria described an impactful moment in her life when her 18-year-old son said to her, “‘Mom, can we pray together? I’m going to have a tough week.’ It’s good to see that he’s ready to move forward by himself and have the faith.”
She continued, “You don’t think about making money and being rich and buying a house. I just want to help people. And to help people, I don’t think I need a master’s degree.”
Ferreria said she hopes to be able to go to poorer countries and help people in need after gaining some experience here first.
“Then I’ll be ready to live my dream. I can’t see myself working in a fancy hospital. I love people, that’s why I’m doing all this sacrifice. I’m doing it for them, to help them,” she said.
“I’m the only one responsible for my success. I try to make the most of it. I’m grateful to be here. I’m learning, and learning how to deal with this. We learn from our struggles. If another international student were to ask me, is it worth it? I’d say yes, but be prepared to fight for yourself.”
Marcelo Osterloh
Marcelo Osterloh came to the United States from Peru at 17 to seek independence and self-growth.
“I was looking for something different, and to get out of my comfort zone,” Osterloh explained.
His older brother also moved at the age of seventeen. He familiarized Osterloh with the area before he allowed him to visit three times and make the decision to move himself.
“I was growing up with the idea of how things work here,” said Osterloh.
“If I don’t like it, I knew I could come back. I just like trying things. I prefer getting the experience, than saying ‘no, I didn’t do it.’ I thought of me as an old man thinking, ‘I should’ve gone to the US.’”
Osterloh’s parents were supportive about the move, and wanted him to have the chance to experience a new city and learn life skills.
Osterloh gets the chance to return to Peru each winter break.
“I can relax more there,” he said.
“I don’t have to cook or clean, or do anything.”
He described the subtle changes that he has observed between Americans and Peruvians.
“In Peru, they’re more, always down to do a lot of stuff. If you’re doing nothing, let’s hang out. The idea of what you should do for your life is also a big difference. Here everything is more liberal. After high school, you can take a year off and decide what you want to do and it’s okay. In Peru, everyone would look at you like you’re crazy, and like you’re wasting a year of your life,” Osterloh explained.
Osterloh is a Journalism student who wants to incorporate his love of sports into his career. He is also in the process of getting his green card and obtaining his residency.
“I play soccer, and I’ve played since I was eight or something. I was always growing up with the idea I wanted to be a soccer player. I got the chance in Peru- I was playing for the youth team, but since I wanted to move here, I had to drop that. I wasn’t ever interested in office jobs. I saw my mom working in that, and I didn’t want that for sure. So it has to be something related to sports,” said Osterloh.
Osterloh explained that he prefers to speak to a camera rather than writing, and would be interested in a career in television or radio.
Osterloh said he hopes to transfer to a four-year school during the Spring of 2021 and move into his own apartment with a friend within the next year or two. He is confident that through the self-growth and experience he has obtained since his move, he will be able to accomplish his goals.
“Living an adult life at such a young age, it was difficult. I moved here when I was 17, doing everything by yourself when you’re 17, it was completely a challenge. My friends don’t even clean their bathrooms. They don’t know how to cook. So comparing how my life would’ve been if I’d stayed in Peru, that would be a main reason for me to move here. If I were to stay in Peru, I would’ve stayed lazy. I moved here also because I wanted to learn how things are and how life works, and that not everything’s going to be handed to you and you have to work hard,” said Osterloh.
