Migrants from Europe and the Middle East

Published in Le vent vivant des peuples (Créaphis, 2006)
The company that recruited him came looking for him in his village in Sardinia. It happened very quickly. A man arrived. He said he needed so many workers. More than fifty men lined up. A medical check-up before the selections. A few days later – by boat and by train – they leave for France. Moselle, they told them. OK, so it’s Moselle. When they arrived, they were placed in a hostel where there were already Spanish workers.
The (...)

Published in Le vent vivant des peuples (Créaphis, 2006)
When she landed at Brussels Airport, she couldn’t believe there could be so many shops, so many things to buy in them, and yet Poland wasn’t so far away. She had left on the spur of the moment, because of a Portuguese man she had met in Poland and with whom she had fallen in love. He was working in France, in Givet. He had sent her the necessary invitation letter to get out of the country, and now that she was there, with just a tourist (...)

Published in Le vent vivant des peuples (Créaphis, 2006)
Once he had his medical degree, he had to decide where he wanted to specialize. He hesitated. Gynaecology. Gastroenterology. In Romania, there were few posts, salaries were very low. He heard that there was an examination for 30 positions in various French-speaking countries. In psychiatry. Whatever, he sat the exam anyway. And passed it. And was given a position at the Reims Hospital where he had to continue his training. In the (...)

Interview by a student from California State University Dominguez Hills
I interviewed Sabrina, a friend of mine who comes from Orte, a town in the Province of Viterbo, in the Italian region Latium Lazio, located about 60 km north of Rome. She moved to the United States in 2001 and since then she has been living in San Diego, CA. In August 1998, she met Francesco, who is now her husband. Francesco was a friend of her neighbor’s boyfriend, and they met through them. After a few months of (...)

Interview by Alicia Navia, California State University, Domínguez Hills
I had the privileged of interviewing the mother of my co-worker. I have always thought that Greece is a country that is full of rich history and interesting people. Her name is Hrysavghi (which she translates to Chris) Notis, and she was born in Kato Skafidoti, Greece. While she was in Greece she lived in Corinth, which is where she lived last before her and her husband decided to move to the United States. She (...)

Interview by Marina Biggs, California State University, Dominguez Hills
David was born in 1974 in Wrocław, Poland – the south-western part of Poland and its fourth largest city – where he also grew up. He came to the United States 2 weeks before his 11th birthday. Now he lives in Huntington Beach, and he is my neighbor and a friend.
David’s father, Jozef, was a part of the Solidarity movement in Poland (Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" – first non-communist trade union and (...)

Interview by Melina Murillo, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Reflecting on her time away from her home in Germany, Anna Franzisky has decided she has had wonderful experiences living in California. Born on June 25, 1986 in the small town of Mönchzell, Germany, Anna was the eldest of three children in the Franzisky family. Leaving her home filled her with excitement as she looked forward to finally living in sunny San Diego, California, where she could not wait to visit the (...)

Interview by Andrew Rivera, California State University Dominguez Hills
I chose to interview two immigrants: my friend from work who has been here for approximately twenty years, and my grandmother who has been here for almost forty years. The stories I heard were fascinating and unforgettable. I will particularly share the experiences of my grandmother. From the time she left her home country, she has encountered emotional ups and downs she claims.
She originally is from Germany. She (...)

Interview by Mike Castania, California State University Dominquez Hills
I decided to interview a fellow co-worker of mine, Deborah Siriwardene. She was born in the east end of London, England in 1971 to Cecil and Glenys Siriwardene. Her father, Cecil, is originally from Sri-Lanka and her mother, Glenys, is from England. At the age of 10-months old, her family moved back to Sri-Lanka. For the next 12 years, Deborah would call Sri-Lanka home. She attended Ladies College, an all-girls (...)

Interview by Helena Ramirez-Watson, California State University Dominguez Hills
In 1979, at the age of 33, Tikva Kazsas stepped off a plane at La Guardia Airport in New York City to start her new life in America. Born and raised in Haifa, Israel, Tikva had few opportunities to fulfill her true passion, teaching Special Education. Soon after her thirtieth birthday, she decided to leave all she knew and loved for a new life in the United States. After years of trials and tribulations, she (...)

Interview by Kimberly Nguyen, California State University, Dominguez Hills
At age fifteen, Evelyn Bota migrated to the United States from Romania’s largest city and capitol, Bucharest, located in Southern Romania. Her journey describes her accomplishments and motivations to endure the fast life of a young teenager becoming a young adult in Los Angeles California.
Evelyn was raised in Bucharest, Romania by her maternal grandparents. Evelyn and her twin brother were born on October 26, 1984. (...)

Interview by Celso D. Jaquez, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Where are you from? I am originally from Whilhelmsburg, Germany. That is the home of my father, Dietrich Von Klenner. My mother, Kerstin, was from the town of Ismaning, just north of Munich. My father was a northerner and a very stoic man, who lived on strict rules of discipline and order. He loved my mom and us kids but was not disposed to showing affection regularly. My mother, on the other hand, was from (...)

Interview by Gloria Osorio, California State University Dominguez Hills
Carole said “I wanted to be bilingual in English” and with this dream in mind, she was motivated to migrate to the United States. She was born in Evry, a city that is about 20 miles away from Paris, France. When she first came to the United States, she lived in Northridge, California; Carole lived in this city for almost 12 years. She is currently living in Long Beach and has a six-year old daughter, who was born in the (...)

Interview by Christopher Michelback, California State University Dominquez Hills
I decided to interview my brother’s wife’s mother, Gizela Sulic. Gizela was born in Osijek, Croatia during 1960. Gizela’s husband Ivan was the first to arrive in the United States. Ivan had to arrange all the paperwork for Gizela and their one-year-old daughter. Even though neither of them spoke English, Ivan was still able to arrange for their immigration. Gizela and her daughter immigrated to California (...)

Here is a blank page - whatever am I going to say? Can I share my situation as a migrant when in fact it wasn’t me that migrated?
I was born in France, my parents are Moroccan. My father arrived in France with his Italian boss while Morocco was still a French Protectorate. While still a boy, he began working as a labourer on the huge site in North East Morocco, the Machrah Hammadi Dam on the La Moulouya River. This engineering feat was seen as part of « Maroc inutile» (useless Morocco), as (...)