America
"The United States is really the best place to be, because you can do anything you want to here," said Suada Rutesic. "What is proves actually is that you can come here and you're 30 years old, don't speak good English and you don't know the system, but still, if you have your goals you can make something."
Suada and her husband are from Bosnia and came here as refugees 12 years ago. They opened their restaurant, Cafe Allegro, at 7801 N. May, OKC, last November. (We can't wait to go try it).
We read their story in the newspaper last Saturday. I love those mornings when the newspaper gets read leisurely along with one, two or three cups of good coffee.
And from the front page of the same paper, a story on the second anniversary of a fire that killed six members of a family. The Malilay family who were our neighbors. It brought back many memories - of our neighborhood school (where we still attended) setting up a memorial fund for the family, of the tears that teachers and students shed in their grief over losing their former students, of the furor over the danger of burglar bars over windows, of the first Buddhist funeral I attended.
For the story, Deng, the only one who made it out alive told about their family's emigration from Laos.
"There are no companies there, no work," said Deng, who grew rice in her homeland.
"If you no farm, you have nothing to eat. Here, if you want (to) work hard, you can do anything."
Posted in: on Monday, March 05, 2007 at at 8:07 AM
