No matter where you go in this world, you will always meet people who come from amazing backgrounds and different countries. People relocate from different countries to America for a variety of reasons, from better job opportunities to political injustice going on in their home country. Everyone has a story of how one of their ancestors came to America from a faraway country and the reason behind why they left everything behind to start a new life. My story is about my Dad, Who came to America from Peru when he was just twenty-five years old.

My dad was born July 30th, 1963 in Lima, Peru to my grandparents who I call Mamacuna & Papacuna and is one of four siblings, two sisters and a brother named Maritza, Mercedes, and Hector. For my dad life in Peru was good, He went to school and had fun surfing. He attended an all-male catholic school, Colegio San Agustín, from elementary to high school. He later went on to attend not only one university, but two. He started at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo University, where he studied with the faculty of Theology. He later went on to attend the Catholic University of Peru, where he studied law. He went on to try and join a monastery and become a monk in 1982. The monastery was called Sodalitium Cristiane Vitae, where he stayed until he had to leave due to illness.

In 1985, President Alan Garcia took over the presidency of Peru and worsened an already bad situation in Peru, and in 1988 my dad and his family moved from Peru to Florida, to get away from the political and economic situation going on in Peru at the time. My dad became an electrical engineer and had four kids, my two sisters and Brother Victoria, Rebecca, and Travis. I was born in November of 1996 and was the baby of my dad’s children. I can’t speak for my dad and tell you how living in America was for him after he moved here so many years ago, but what I can tell you is that my dad is so proud to be an American citizen. My dad is an example of the many immigrants that come to America and are proud to call it their home. My dad loves Peru, but he knows that moving here gave him an opportunity that he might not have had otherwise.

Many people see my dad as just another immigrant from another country with a strong accent and pride for a place they have never heard of. To me, He is a crazy goofball who loves to laugh and joke around. I have learned everything I know of Peru from my dad, though I have never visited I dream of going and seeing where my family came from, where they are so proud of being from. My family has taught me to be proud of where you are from, never be afraid to be different and to struggle if you have too. So to everyone out there who is embarrassed by their parents because of how “foreign” they are, just know that you are a part of an amazing group of people that have some amazing stories.