Every North Carolinian has a story.  Take a minute to listen.

Each of us could tell a story about how we ended up in North Carolina…

Why did our family come here?

What did we leave behind?

What are our hopes for life in North Carolina?

Let us know if you or someone you know is willing to share their story.

Ismael: From Mexico to Greenville, North Carolina

Kasia: From Poland to Raleigh, North Carolina

Sima: From Iran to Carrboro, North Carolina

Erwin: From Venezuela to Durham, North Carolina

Josefina, Orange County, NC

I came here because I couldn’t find work in Mexico, and I wanted to make my life better, help my family, my children and also my grandchildren. . . I’ve made a better life for myself; I’ve resolved a lot of problems at home since I have arrived, thanks to God. The third day after I arrived, I began working and I have been working ever since. . .

I’m a single mother with five kids, so I have to work. I’ve been working ever since my husband died. My kids said, “if you are going to kill yourself working, why don’t you do it in the United States, where you’ll make seven times as much for the same work?”

I just lost my father but I couldn’t go back, still I can’t go back. So I give thanks to God that he gave the luck of everything going well—of avoiding the problems that others have had. Many lose their lives coming here. Most of all I want to see my children, my homeland—there is nothing like it. . . . But I can’t—we have to sacrifice ourselves. I have never stopped calling my children in Mexico every eight days. I telephone my daughter, also my mother, and speaking to them gives me the strength to go on.