WE ARE: A Nation of Immigrants - New Haven 2018
The Participants


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Jyothish

India

Portrait Location: 
New Haven Green A21

Current occupation:  Entrepreneur

Arrival in the US:  2000

Reason for migration: I came here because I was offered a job and I needed to send money back home to help my family.

Commentary: I grew up in India and though I was not from an economically well-off background, I had a reasonable insight into America via books from the library and old Hollywood movies. Never did I dream that I could end up in the US! After I finished my education in India, I took a job in the software sector. Then my dad was diagnosed with cancer. The treatment was expensive, but we wanted to give him the best treatment possible. Around that time, I got an offer to come to the US for work and grabbed the opportunity. I left for the US with under $100, but with a job in hand. The first thing I did after coming to the US was to borrow $2000 from 2 friends here and immediately send the money back home for my dad’s treatment. He is still a cancer survivor. I missed being with my wife during my son's birth but brought them here as soon as they were ready to make the long travel to the US. We did feel welcome inthis country, and we settled into our lives and became citizens. I also fulfilled my dream by doing my MBA here at NYU. We have become much more enriched by being here, being exposed to the melting pot of cultures from all over the world. Irrespective of the rhetoric we hear now, I truly believe that this country will not turn away from its core values and will continue to welcome immigrants from all places to further enrich this great place.