Essay 1 Final Draft

Moving to the United States of America! I personally didn't know what to think since I was only seven but to my parents it seemed as if we had won the lottery. This event took place in June of 1998. I would like to explain why my family made the move from our home in Ukraine to live in America. There are three main reasons that summarize the decision to move. Religious freedom, better life in America and the fact that many relatives were either there or planning to go.

Religious freedom was probably a bigger reason of the three. Our religion is the most important thing to my family other than the family itself. The specific belief is Pentecostal. Back in Ukraine, there was a time when the Soviet Union ruled. Communism did not allow any religion to function with freedom and even though their reign ended in 1991, the times in Ukraine were not that good, religion wise that is. My grandpa actually served a lot of prison time because he would not deny his religion. For example, in Ukraine everyone guy had to go to the army when they turned eighteen and I remember my dad and grandpa telling us stories of how they refused to use any weapons and because of this they got punished and humiliated. We knew that in America, we would be able to practice our religion without being persecuted. It had a lot to do with our motivation to go to America.

Better life in America. It's true, living in America is better because of the following reasons. For example, there are many more opportunities for a career or a good job in America. In Ukraine, my parents job was growing products in our garden. They would sell them at the local bazaar. The bazaar is an outdoor grocery store. Also, most of the streets in Ukraine were made of mud and dirt. Traveling on foot is really common in Ukraine. Along with this, education in America seemed more promising. This is true because it is more promising. We had to walk a long way to school in Ukraine. There are more reasons, but I think point is shown. Living in the United States of America is much better than the Ukraine.

Final reason is the fact that nearly half of our relatives had already left to America and the rest were planning to go also. The families that were already living in the U.S. encouraged the families in the Ukraine to do the same. The funny thing was that about eighty percent of all our relatives lived on the same street. Also, my mom has 7 sisters and 5 brothers. This results in a lot of cousins. I remember going to the airport to see another family leave. We would eventually talk to them over the phone and they would describe America and the life there. This helped my parents finalize the decision.

I cannot imagine what my life would be like right now if my parents decided to stay in Ukraine. I hope I fully explained how this one event completely changed my life.