Raymond Chukwu

My American Dream: from an Orphan to an American Success Story Raymond Chukwu

My American Dream-From an Orphan to an American success StoryI have been described as an American Success story. Here is why. I was born in California of an American mother and a Nigerian father. My father saddened and disheartened by the death of my mother took me to Nigeria when I was two years old to allow me to grow up with paternal relatives. My grandmother was delighted to finally have a chance to become acquainted with her grandson she never seen, and delightedly agreed to take care of me while my father went to work in the city. Tragedy once again struck shortly after my arrival to Nigeria, however. It was on my father's way to his new position few days later that he was killed in a truck accident. As a result of his sudden death, he had had no chance to tell his relatives particularly my grandmother anything about my mother's side of the family, other than the simple fact that I had been born in Sonoma, California. EVEN THIS FACT was kept from me growing up by my Nigerian relatives including my grandmother until one day it slipped out in conversation."From that day on I knew I would come back to the United States to see the place I was born."