- Name: Stephen Agbomson
- Age: 22
- Birth Country: Ghana
- Age when you moved: 17
- Immigration status: US Citizen as of 8 months ago (!!)
- Major: Biophysics
Q: What brought you to the USA/UConn?
SA: My driving force was education. My mom had lived in Connecticut for a while, so Connecticut was the only state I had ever been in before applying to college, so I chose the University of Connecticut.
Q: What was the immigration process like?
SA: It took a while, actually. When my mom became a permanent resident (after about 10 years of staying here) it took her about 3 years to work to get us here. It was a long time. We had to get interviewed three times, and one time, one of us forgot a particular detail and they sent us home. We couldn’t answer something or we forgot some piece of paperwork, and they sent us back. It wasn’t easy, it was a very thorough process with DNA testing and a lot of paperwork.
Q: How does it feel to live here not as a citizen?
SA: It’s certainly scary. If anything bad were to happen, for example being a victim of circumstance and having a spotlight placed on me, I could get deported. I was here to start a new life and gain an education, and all of a sudden my fate was in the balance. My life here could just end and I would have to start all over again back where I was from.
I have heard of stories of people undergoing deportation. Deportation is not just like, “Hey we don’t want you here anymore, go back.” You spend months, sometimes years, in limbo going to court, your accounts get frozen, you don’t work during this process, your life is basically placed on hold. And to know that you have to be on your utmost best behavior all the time, well it’s a good thing to be on your best behavior, but if it’s always on your mind you might stay away from certain social situations. You don’t argue about politics, you don’t talk about politics or things that are important in society, because you feel like it’s not your place to talk about those things because, “hey, you don’t belong here.” It’s certainly something that can keep you quiet.
Q: What was it like when you finally became a citizen?
SA: It was certainly relieving. It was around the time when Trump became the nominee, and with everything that he was saying it was one of the best times – considering what’s happened now – to have gotten my citizenship. It was a painful day to renounce my Ghanaian citizenship, but it was an exciting day because I became a U.S. citizen. I had finally earned the right to become socially and politically involved.
The process was very thorough. You fill out a ton of paperwork. The test wasn’t too bad, but the interview was scary; it felt like there was a lot on the line.
It was funny because my last name, Abini-Agbomson, originally is not hyphenated. But ever since I got my UConn email with the hyphen, I got used to writing it that way, and I wrote it with a hyphen on one of my forms, and they pointed it out to me. So I actually did a name change right there because they needed to know if that was how I spelled it. That’s how thorough the process is. The people who interview you and take the test with you take it very seriously, and you do too because it costs a lot of money and takes time to be a citizen. It costs a lot to be here, in general. In politics today, they make it sound like people are just hopping over here like it’s not a big deal, but it’s a huge process and it’s not as easy as people make it out to be. People don’t just get up and come to a different country and start a life there.
Q: What has been your favorite or the most exciting part of living in this country?
SA: The opportunities, to sum it up. There’s a lot more you can do here versus a developing country. Even just the reason I came here which was education, but there are so many scholarships that pay for a lot of things. I have a decent amount of scholarships helping me, and you can find them as long as you look. So there are a lot of chances here that push you to excel in all sorts of ways and programs to help people from all sorts of backgrounds. I like all the adventures that come with these things, it’s great. I was always just excited to be here in general. It’s America!
Q: What has been the hardest or most discouraging part about living in this country?
SA: My family back home. Right now I’m just here with my mom and three siblings. All together, my parents have 14 siblings, which means a ton of cousins, and now nephews and nieces, and we all grew up together. We spent holidays together and I don’t get that anymore. Some of my best friends growing up were my cousins, and now I can’t see them as much as I used to. I still stay in touch, but it’s not the same as spending holidays together. We used to spend Christmas with my grandma, and every Christmas when I see that they’re there, it’s just hard. It’s hard to go from having this huge family and support system and then you come here and it’s just your siblings and your mom.
Also, because there are people from so many different backgrounds in this country, there are a lot more degrees of separation. In Ghana, for example, people are mainly different by religion, social class, and cultures. But with all the people in there U.S., you have all those differences plus race, immigration status, and a couple other factors. It’s easier to see others as different from you as these factors add up.
Q: Do you hope to continue living in this country after college?
SA: I don’t know. It’s a tough question that I get a lot, but let’s see what the future holds.
Q: What are some of the positive aspects of the culture of your birth country- be they political, religious, or otherwise- that have helped make you who you are?
SA: I would say discipline and respect for elders. I’m slowly getting used to the culture of calling my superiors who are older than me by their first name, even though they insist. Growing up in Ghana, you don’t ever call an adult by their first names. Even my older cousins I’m supposed to refer to as “Brother…” and then their name, as a means of respect. You are always meant to respect people older than you and it’s a very conservative culture. It’s something that made me humble in the sense of viewing others. It carries over to your mates and friends, too. You view everyone with a certain level of respect because you were raised that way.
Q: How do you contribute to the community at UConn or in the United States?
SA: Community service is a big thing here. In Ghana, I didn’t do much, but here you have to do community service to boost your resume. So that was new to me. I’ve been involved in Habitat for Humanity. I spent the last two spring breaks helping build homes across the U.S. I even co-led a trip myself with one of my friends. So not only has that impacted the UConn community, but also the community of the United States.
For some time, I volunteered tutoring at Mansfield Middle School late sophomore year.
Through a scholarship program I’m in, I get to help out with STEM activities at middle schools around UConn. We hold competitions for them to do scientific activities like building structures and then talking about how they came about their mindset to build.
Q: What are your goals for the future and how have those goals been shaped by your experience at UConn?
SA: I want to further my education in hopes of getting a doctorate. UConn has brought out a desire in me to investigate all aspects of life in terms of healthcare. I look forward to helping society in that way, in terms of improving people’s lives. One thing that I’m really looking forward to is still participating in Habitat for Humanity. It’s a really cool way to travel the country and spend time just building houses. It’s cool to be handy. There’s only so much you can hammer around your own house. My future job plans are not set in stone yet, but I have an idea, so that’s all I have to say about that.
Q: Is there anything else that you want to say to anyone reading this about your experience as an immigrant in this country?
SA: I would say, especially to those who don’t want us here, we don’t come here to be an inconvenience to you. Everyone is looking for a better life. People don’t just immigrate to the U.S., they emigrate from it, too. It goes both ways. If you’re closing the borders or building a wall to keep people out, you too are closing yourself in. The U.S. has always been a world leader and we emphasize free will and free speech. If America wants to be a model for the world, what’s going on right now is not a great start. What a lot of people fail to take into consideration is that we had lives before we came here. We have families back home that we miss, but there are a lot of driving forces like education, a better life, wars, instability, that cause people to move. It’s not a simple decision, and it’s not a cheap decision. It takes a lot for someone to just leave their home, culture, friends, and family. So if you have some negative thoughts about immigration and immigrants, take a moment to get a full idea of where they are coming from, who they are, and why? The big question is why people immigrate. Get to know why they are coming here to begin with, then you’ll get the full picture.
All images courtesy of Stephen Agbomson.