Alexander's Interview

Coming to America

How My Grandmother Came to the U.S.
by Alexander Agoado
as told by Grace Wilner

When my grandmother was still in Colombia she went to an American school. It was run by Presbyterian women. She liked it a lot and was inspired by them. She saw what women could be and that they could do anything they wanted.

By the age of 14, she decided to come to the U.S. because there were more opportunities for women in the U.S. than in Colombia. (Colombian parents usually want their female children to get married and have kids, but not get an education.) The only problem was that there was no money for her to go to college in America. Her uncle Albert gave her another choice. He told her that if she came to Israel she could go to college for free. But her parents were afraid for her because at that time Israel was at war, so when she was 19, she came to New York and stayed with her cousin for six months to see if she liked it. She did. When she returned to Colombia, she worked for an airline so that she could earn some money and get a free ticket to the U.S.

Finally, when she was 21, she asked her cousin in New York to sponsor her, and he did. Her brother, Morris was already living here in a rented room. My grandmother got a room with them. She got a job as a clerk at a school of dentistry and worked her way up to secretary. She worked there for 2 1/2 years. She got married and had two kids (my mom and her brother). She started college in 1971. Since she had to work in the daytime, she went to college at night. She went for 7 years and graduated with honors. My grandmother went on to graduate school in 1979 and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1991. This is how my grandmother came to the U.S.

This is a picture of a Colombian bus. What is unique about them is that there is a area on top of the bus used to hold cargo. If the bus gets crowded people also can sit there. It is also sometimes used to transport chickens and goats.

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