By Wanny Huynh, Saint Paul

When I was ten year old, my family and I were stationed in a refugee camp in Thailand. One day our family received a letter from one of my dad’s friends whose family had just arrived to America. In the letter they included a family photo. After looking at the photo, it gave me hope. Hope that one day my family and I would go to America and live the American dream. The photo was nothing fancy. All it was was a picture of the family sitting on the couch and a TV in the center. Coming from a third world country I had not seen a couch or owned a TV. The only thing we had to sit on was a three-legged wooden stool. To see the family sitting on the couch and a TV made me wanted to go to America and live out that dream. That picture was an inspiration to me at ten years old. While living in the refugee camp I would go to the bus station every day to watch as a few lucky families boarded the luxury coach bus to freedom. I would stay long after the bus had pulled away and family and friends had waved their goodbye. I begin to visualize our family boarding the bus to freedom. Day after day I went to the bus station and visualized it. The picture in my little mind was so vivid, I can feel my little feet stepping foot on to the luxury bus. I can smell the fresh pine from the interior of the bus, I can feel my hand touching the cloth seating of the bus. It did not happen overnight, but after a few months of visualizing, one day my dad rushed home and shared the good news with the family. “We are going to America.”

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