Joane Jean-Baptiste September 30 2008 I am a twenty-eight-year-old woman who has no idea of who she is. I have been asking myself that question ever since I came to the United States from Haiti twelve years ago. Growing up in one of the poorest countries in the world could be one of the reasons I am still searching for myself. In Haiti basic education from elementary all the way through high school is a privilege, where basic needs such as food and shelter are luxuries. How can you really have a true sense of who you are when you don’t know anything about yourself ? when survival is an everyday thing and somewhere in the other parts of the world these things have no importance, such as the United States. I wonder Why? What ? and When? Every day. I questioned why am I been treated differently from the rest of the world? What makes me different from them? apart from the color of my skin and When will the miseries end? Not having the answers to all these questions and no one to clarify them for me, gets me really confused about who I am. Coming to America was very exciting and also very nerve-wracking. It was bad enough as a teenager trying to figure out who I am, but to top it all off, everything I thought I knew about myself just flew right out the window. For example, I grew up believing that I’m beautiful, charming, smart, very confident and very self-aware. I found myself questioning all of these things after I came to the U.S. I had to learn how to speak again like a two-year-old. I learned to dress differently, tried to fit in a society where whatever you do, you will always be judged negatively. You are never good enough. Back home all I needed was a safe place to live, three meals a day. Traveling once or twice a year would be over luxury. Have a good education, a decent job and I would be set for life. I did not have to worry about being judged by the color of my skin, I wouldn’t have to worry about my children having hard time to fit in or fear for...