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It's good to be here
Date posted: Friday, April 20, 2007
Author: The Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT

(Reprinted from The Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT / December 29, 1999)

It's good to be here

This letter was composed by immigrants in the Burlington area who are taking a class in English as a second language from Vermont Adult Learning. It is one of several letters to the future included in the city's millennium time capsule at City Hall Park.

Dear future residents of Burlington,

We are immigrants, refugees, and visitors to this country. We are from many countries all over the world.

We have come to the U.S. for many reasons -- to have a better life, to learn English, to escape war and persecution, for freedom, or because our spouses work here.

For most of us, it was not easy to come here. Learning English is the most difficult part. Bureacracy and paperwork are also difficult. Leaving our homes, families, and beloved countries behind is difficult. Learning strange new American customs has also been hard for us...

But we agree that Burlington is a great place to live. We like the fact that it is quiet, clean, and small, the people are friendly, there is not much crime or pollution, and there are many opportunities for us here. We especially like the natural beauty of this area. For many of us it is much better than our lives in our home countries...

Because we have left everything behind, we must work very hard, sometimes working two or three jobs to support our families. We feel accepted in Burlington most of the time. Most Americans are very friendly. They smile at us and say hello, but it is very difficult to really make friends with Americans. Because we don't speak English very well, we don't go out very much and our lives are different from Americans.

Sometimes people say mean things to us. They tell us to go back to our own countries or to speak English better. We try very hard, but some people don't understand what it's like for us. One of us said, "An immigrant gives up 80 percent of his personality in a foreign country." We can't joke, sing, tell stories, or express our thoughts very well because of the language.

In the future, we hope Burlington will continue to be a beautiful and friendly place to live. We hope that people will understand us and our lives better. We hope that you are also happy here, and that Burlington will continue to be a great place for immigrants and refugees to live.

Phat Tran, Vietnam; Khwan Fitzgerald, Thailand; Roberta, Kalyandra, and Jason Silva, Brazil; Scolastique Lubula, Congo; Lyudmila Romanova, Moldova; Chantal Huet, France; Minfang Gong, China; Esperanza Garcia, Mexico; Irini Dede, Albania; Nikolai Bevz, Ukraine; Jatin Shah, India; Brian Mahoney, English as a second language teacher.