Life in a New Land

America may be the land of dreams, but reality hits hard when immigrants struggle to find jobs, housing, health care, education and acceptance.

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Articles

Freedom Detained - Cultural misunderstandings carry a heavy sentence by: Colleen Stewart
CHAPTER 1 - Freedom Liberated amidst subtle hills of Bowling Green, Ky., Steven Kamara was living the American Dream. Steven arrived in America in 2006, a refugee from the war-torn African ...
Change of Status by: Elio Pajares
I left my native country of Peru in 2004 to finish my degree in computer science in the United States. At first, I thought that I would study and then return to my country to pursue a better future. But all that has changed now; my future is here. I came to Western Kentucky University because I had a Peruvian friend who was a student here. I arrived without any English skills, so I was ...
Aye Zan by: Colleen Stewart
A slideshow of Aye Zan's life in Bowling Green. ...
A Nation of Immigrants by: Philip Andrews
I sat in the backseat of a big, government-issue SUV as Jade Woodruff floored the throttle across the South Texas desert. The sun had set a few hours ago, and the only things lighting our path were the truck’s high beams and a spotlight my colleague Nathan Weber was holding. We hit a blind ditch and ripped the exhaust off the car, turning it into a throaty monster as it cut throu ...
Crossing the language gap to provide health care for immigrants by: Amanda Loviza
As the influx of immigrants into Bowling Green continues, local hospitals and other health care providers are struggling to make sure they meet the legal requirements to provide proper care to all patients, no matter their ability to speak English. An executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000 declared that all health care organizations that receive federal funds must provi ...
Housing Discrimination Solutions by: Mandy Simpson
As Bowling Green’s housing discrimination problem increases, groups around the city offer their solution ideas. Linda McCray, director of the Bowling Green Human Rights Comission, said Bowling Green could help reduce housing discrimination by passing a city law substantially equivalent to the national Fair Housing Act Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. A local version o ...
The Journey for Freedom by: Angelika Masero
Deep in Aye Kyaw Zan’s mind lives a peaceful country, a country filled with evergreen forests inhabited by tigers, leopards, and pythons. A mountain stands over his small village of Buthidaung, and a river surrounds it. Zan swam across this stream for an entire month to go to school when he was 10 years old, after the bridge collapsed. But this simply remains a cherished memory for ...
Housing discrimination against immigrants, refugees goes unreported in Bowling Green by: Mandy Simpson
Roaches tickled wooden floors that sunk threateningly towards the muddy earth. Mold climbed up fractured walls toward ceilings where stained wet patches took the place of smoke alarms. Lind ...