Many people come to America from all over the world to find more opportunities and to give better life to their future generation. Most of time, they face a huge gap between expectations and realities and experience great disappointment. However, they endure all so that their children and grandchildren don’t need to go through same difficulties in the future. They work hard to become fully assimilate into new country. Unlike theirs, the second generation of immigrants’ lives are very different. They usually don’t have language problem, and they get best things out of two or more culture. Then, do they have any difficulties? What will be their worries? Denisha Deonarine shares her story as a second generation of immigrants.
A picture of Trinidad
Denisha’s parents are from a small island in Caribbean called Trinidad. Her mom was from South of Trinidad, and she worked mostly at the farm, helping her family. On the other hand, her dad lived in the North side where the beaches are and helped his family with fishing. He had a dream as an electrician after he finished studying at small school. With an expectation of finding more opportunities, he moved to the city in order to find a job. Even though he experienced frustration with his dream of being successful as an electrician, he met his future wife in the city. In their 20s, Denisha’s parents got married, and right after their marriage, they decided to leave their small country to America. They wanted to find more opportunities, and also hoped that they would be able to give better life for their children.
Denisha visited Trinidad
As it is for most of immigrants, the early years of Denisha’s parents were full of unexpected struggles and hardships. They came to America with not a lot saved up, and they didn’t have any relatives in new country. For the very first year, Denisha’s parents lived in an attic of a friend’s house until they found an apartment to rent. Although her dad found more opportunities and could get a job as an electrician in new country, he had to work very hard to save as much so that they could be financially stable. Working at a laundry mats and babysitting, her mom did anything to make some sort of income in order to supplement living expenses. Three months after they came to America, they found out that they were pregnant with Denisha’s sister. It was unexpected and they were unprepared. They had to work a lot harder in America to save up for the baby. It was hard on them the first year, financially.
“I am very thankful for everything they have given me, so I wouldn’t have to struggle like they did.”
Denisha was born and raised in Queens, NY near Richmond Hill. In her neighborhood, most of people are from Caribbean and share same culture. They all have similar life style. Denisha, as a second generation of immigrants, realized that there is cultural difference between her and her parents as she grew up. They sometimes emphasized on things that she would never understand. It would be as if she had to know rules and values in a country where she has never been to. Thankfully, she has a sister who already went through everything before. Her sister was like a bridge between two cultures, helping Denisha and her parents to understand each other.
It was when Denisha turned seven. Denisha finally got to visit Trinidad for the first time in her life. After her parents finally achieved citizenship, her family visited Trinidad for vacation. There, she finally got to see her relatives for the first time in her life. Before she visited Trinidad, she never thought that she would have about 50 cousins. She was overwhelmed with the size of her family. Even though it was her first time meeting them, she felt very connected to everyone and shared her different life style in America with family in Trinidad. She loves that she has two entirely different cultures, but she could see how much more opportunities she gets than her cousins in Trinidad.
Denisha spent amazing summer in Trinidad.
“After visiting, I tried to picture how my life would be if my parents stayed there. But, I couldn’t. New York is my home.”
While many people in Trinidad go directly to work after high school, Denisha got to continue studying at college with honors scholarship. Having two cultural backgrounds, she takes the best from two entirely different cultures. She will definitely have more opportunities after she finishes studying. Even though Denisha is having so much better life than her parents used to have in Trinidad, she believes that being a second generation has its difficulties.
“I sometimes feel like there is a lot of pressure on me because my parents sacrificed a lot for me to be here and I don’t want to let them down.”
She is scared to fail and disappoint her parents. She is worried that her parent’s hard work will become nothing. As a second generation, she has more pressure to be successful. However, she will appreciate and take all opportunities given in her home country, America.
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