My name is Martial Onana.
INTERVIEWED BY Jack Russillo

"It’s big, big, big and everything is big."


DEPARTED FROM
Douwala, Cameroon

ARRIVED IN
Chicago, Illinois

YEAR
2010

NOW LIVES IN
Seattle, Washington

COLLECTED BY
MARTIAL ONANA'S FIRST DAY

TRANSCRIPT

My name is Auguste Martial Onana Biakolo. I moved to the US in November 2010. And so I flew out of Douala on November 4th and I got here on November 5th in Seattle. I got one stop in Brussels, Belgium for a couple hours and then flew into Chicago. That’s when I actually got checked in by the border patrol.

I will admit that it was probably my first, biggest, and most memorable impression of getting into the United States, Chicago’s airport. The airport was impressive. I mean, it is impressive. I think it’s one of the biggest airports in the United States. I think it’s how impressive it’s built. I mean the airports in Africa are pretty small; I’d seen airports on TV but the Chicago airport gave me that impression and I haven’t had that impression since.

It’s that idea of America that the whole rest of the world has, that America is big. It’s big, big, big and everything is big. Its buildings, its cities, its cars, everything, the people, everything is big. And yeah, I got that in Chicago.


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