From The Peopling of New York City

Hello, my name is Lydia Tobia. I was born in Egypt in the year 1990. Our family stayed in Egypt for four years after I was born. My brother and I were raised in the company of our family. We had our grandparents and almost all of our cousins around us. We began school there like normal children our age. My father had a job as a Doctor and worked in his own clinic, while my mother worked as a teacher in the school my brother and I attended. However, my parents feared my future education in this third world country and feared religious tensions and the effect it would have on us. They wanted us to have the best opportunities we could get. They applied to the lottery to come to America, where my dad’s brother was living in long island. My parents were chosen from the lottery to go to America, but they were still hesitant so they rejected the offer. They had the urge to try for the lottery again to see if they could come to America. This time they got chosen to go and decided to pack up and leave hoping for better living conditions. We went to live in Colorado for our first three years as Americans because my Father had a friend there who offered him a job as a security guard. There my father studied for his Board Exams so he could become a practicing physician in America, while my mom worked 2 jobs in a restaurant. Our family decided to go to New York where my dad’s brother lived in Long Island. Before leaving Colorado we were warned by friends to hold on to our purses and watch our pockets. After Living with my dad’s brother for two months, we got our first apartment in Brooklyn right across the street from my father’s new job as a resident in Brookdale Hospital. Even though we were initially scared by proior warnings from out of state friends, we learned the New York ways and loved living in this new exciting state. That is how I became a New Yorker.

My Story: