The interviewee has requested that their story not be shared on social media.

Why did you leave your birth country?

To come and live with my father.

How did you feel when you first came here?

[Chuckles] Overwhelmed, ‘cause the United States is very different from Ghana. So I was very overwhelmed when I first came here. Didn't know anybody. I just knew my father and my stepmom when I came here. So it was very scary.

What happened on your first day here?

I slept. ‘Cause It was very cold outside. I literally slept all day. I kid you not, that’s what I did. It was in February. Yeah, it was in February. So the trip from Ghana – from Acrra – to Baltimore, it took almost 24 hours. So I was exhausted, and I just slept the first day.

What was your opinion on the United States before you came here?

I didn't have a lot of opinion about the United States. Based on what my father had told me in letters, before I came here, I just knew that [pause] there was just more opportunities here than there were in Ghana. That's really all I knew.

After you came, what was your opinion, like if it changed?

Yeah, I will say my opinion definitely has shifted a little bit since getting here. In terms of the culture of this country, the culture of this country is completely different. That’s the main thing different than it is in Ghana. [pause] In Ghana, we are more communal, meaning there’s a lot of group activity, even in a family- we don't have family secluded. Maybe you, your mom and your dad and your siblings live in one home, and then you know, your grandparents live far away – It’s not like that in Ghana. It wasn’t that far in Ghana, especially where I grew up – a little more communal – we lived in more so like communities, well communities, so that communities are actually connected. And they are more like family than anything else. Over here it’s everybody for themselves.

Well, yes, let’s see. Any more questions that I have? Oh, I’ve got another one. What did it feel like arriving to the United States? ‘Cause you said you were on a plane, right?

Yes.

So what was it like to be on that plane, to arrive here?

I traveled by myself, my first time coming in over here. And I told you I was 13 at that time. I had never flown before, that was first time I ever flew. All by myself. No phone at that time, there was no cell phones [laughs]. I didn't have any phone. There was no way of communicating with my family, either in Ghana, or over here while I was enroute to this country. So it was lonely. I felt really lonely. I was scared because God forbid something happened. I didn't know how I was gonna get back to my family. So it was more so feeling very lonely and scared. Perhaps if I had a way of communicating directly with my family, either back home or in this country, I think it would have made it a little easier for me. So when I first got here, and I got to the airport that came to BWI- when I got to the airport and I saw my father and my stepmother, it was just a sense of relief. Is it a sense of relief? Yeah.

Interesting. Um, so let’s see if we can add one more question on today. What was it like meeting your stepmother?

I had met- I've met my stepmother one time in Ghana in 1995. So I met her the year before I came here. So, when I met her in Ghana [pause] she and my father were preparing to get married. Yeah, back then they were preparing to get married, ‘cause they came to Ghana to get married, they got married in 1995 and then I flew- y’know, they came back, and then I flew here in 1996. So, I heard a lot about her before I first met her. But mind you I met her in Ghana first, not in the United States, because she's also Ghana-born. She's Ghanian just like me, just like my father. So, meeting her for the first time, I will say, in Ghana, it was exciting. But I didn't know who- mind you at our time we didn't have any of these social media or Zoom or Facebook; we didn't have any of that. So I knew of her but I hadn't seen her face until the first time I saw her, right until the first time I saw her in Ghana in 1995. So it was exciting. It was exciting. I was happy to meet her. And knowing that I was gonna come here to live with them a year later, made it even more fun for me. So yeah.

Well, that's all I have for you. So thank you for participating in this interview, it was a very big help to me. So I appreciate it.