2015-09-06
314
Back home Mr. Myint was a doctor. He kept a photograph of his graduation ceremony on the wall as a testament to his years of hard work in school and his dedication to treating the sick. Today, he keeps his object in a manila folder inside a briefcase. He gave the photograph to his sister, who stayed behind. He is unable to work as a doctor in New York – the credentials do not transfer, and he speaks little English. Instead, he is applying to work at a catering company at Kennedy International Airport. “Rent is expensive,” Mr. Myint said. “I must do the job, any job.” But he misses medicine. He recently completed a course in phlebotomy so that he can draw blood from patients. “I want to treat people,” he said. He lives in Elmhurst Queens, with his wife and their four children. They don’t plan to ever return to Myanmar for fear of political persecution. He looks at his object and puts it aside. “I hope one day it’ll be useful,” he said.
* Albert Barawandika, 30 | Came from: Rwanda via Burundi |
Came in: 2006 Picture: ___
The wooden object is heavy – about two pounds. It was a strange thing to pack for the long journey to New York from Bujumbura, Burundi, but Mr. Barawandika liked it. He was born in Rwanda, but during the genocide, his family fled to Burundi, where his father came from. Months later, his mother and brother were killed in the violence that tore the region apart. But despite all the horrors, he still loved Burundi, which he considers his homeland. It hangs on the wall of his dorm room in the Bronx, where he is studying medicine. American friends ask him about it and he tells them stories of Africa. For him, it represents hope. “It’s durable, it’ll last forever,” he said. “I still have hope that someday things will change there.”
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* Istvan Makky, 74 | Came from: Tejfalusziget, Hungary |
Came in: October, 1959 Picture: ___
This tool is smaller than a teaspoon. It’s used for making delicate lines and scooping ridges in the molds that are used to cast metal sculptures. An administrator handed it to Mr. Makky on his first day of metalworking school in 1953 in Communist Hungary, along with boots, six pairs of socks and underwear. He carried it when he slipped past the border guards with machine guns and through the barbed wire fence. He carried it as he looked for work in Austria. He carried it to Flushing, Queens, where he raised a family and to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where he built a foundry of his own. He does not let anyone else use it, not even his youngest son Bill who runs the company with him.
* Milton Ming, 33 | Came from: Kingston, Jamaica |
