My brother moved to America 5 years ago and to Philly 3 months after that. His parents and brother came to America first because he still had a big state test to finish in Indonesia. His family came here for a vacation at first, but his mom realized that they could have a better life here because his mom could get a better job and him and his brother could also have stronger  education, so they decided to stay. He believed that his parents wanted to stay in America for him to have a better education because he said, “I know that a lot of people, especially undocumented immigrants, don’t get paid as much as people with a SSN and even though they may work a lot harder and doesn’t even get paid the same amount, possibly minimum wage, which is unfair because they do more work but get less money.” His biggest sacrifice was leaving his friends and family behind. He wished that he could have said goodbye to them before he left because it was unplanned for him to stay in America permanently so it was really challenging for him. My brother continued his education in Furness High School in Philadelphia.  At first, he was really scared because he was not able to speak English well and he thought he would get bullied, but everybody was open and nice to him. His teachers also gave him many resources to help him get on his feet as an immigrant in America. He was very surprised because America was so much better than he expected and our church gave him and his parents many resources and is where he met a lot of his friends. “[public commons like churches] reminds us of who we are culturally because it is a good reminder of what our background is because sometimes we get used to living in America and forget who we are.”

A dish that reminds him of a time where someone helped him was a dish called “Sayur Lontong Zucchini” which is zucchini and vegetables in coconut milk stew. This was important to him because our mom used this dish as a way to introduce him to America by incorporating an ingredient from here  into an Indonesian dish. He remembers her telling him that even though he’s living in America, he can adapt to the culture here, but he needs to remember that he is still Indonesian and should be proud and hold on to his culture. “Every decision that a member of our community makes  can impact our community.”

When my brother first came here, I could tell how scared and nervous he was, but I thought it was just that, I thought he was just scared because of the language barrier. I thought it was okay because me and our friends could teach him english. After listening to his story, it didn’t really come to my mind to think of what he’d be leaving like his friends and family. I didn’t think it was a big deal to leave family in Indonesia because for me, I’m not as close to my relatives and I don’t talk to them as much but he did because he grew up with them. When he came, our mom seemed so happy and excited for him and there was just something different about my mom and what she had with him than she did with me. I remember her making the dish when he first arrived and listening to what she said to him about what the zucchini represents. We used to eat that dish often when my brother was still around, but we eventually stopped eating it.

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I think the connection to the hypothesis is how resilience is shown through these stories with the help of mutual aid in the community. The struggles that immigrants go through as they first started in America was very difficult, but through the help from people in their community by sharing their stories and lessons to them and so on, it can really get someone to learn from them and continue their story to another.