Leaving Home by Pramila Katwal
When I had my child, Bright Katwal, I started thinking about his future. I wanted to have a better education for him. That made me think about coming to America applied for a diversity visa and I won the visa for my family, so I was going to leave home.
I left my home on October 10, 2012. Now I had to face the decision I made to come to America and leave my parents, siblings, and friends behind. It was very sad and very hard to say goodbye to my parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, friends, and even those hills, and mountains. I grew up in Nepal where there are mountains and hills. When people go somewhere, the family can see until the person disappears over the hill. I knew my grandparents and my parents were watching me until I passed the hills, but I did not turn around to wave goodbye again because it was just hard.
I started to have difficulty at the airport. I remember coming from Nepal to Dubai and Dubai to the United States I was just naïve. I was even too shy to order food in the plane. Then I arrived here and everything was new. When I went out of the house, I was very lonely. I could see many people around me, but I could not trust any of them. Night was even harder to go through. It was winter so it started to get dark early in the day. I had to go through the long night and my family’ s voices came in to my mind, surrounding me. I was in my bed lying down, but I felt I was walking at the Jwala Mai temple with my siblings and friends. It was just hard not being there. Even today can see the picture of my home in my head, and I’ m still missing my family. Especially, my grandparents because I may never see them again. However, I am very happy to be raising my son in America.
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