Lewiston, Maine, U.S.A. – Claude Lukusa, a sophomore at Lewiston High School, has lived in America for the last three years.
Lukusa, who was born in Kinshasa, Congo, came to America through U.S. State Department’s immigrant lottery system, and with the help of his grandmother, who has been here longer.
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The Lukusa family came to America for safety and better economic opportunities, he said.
“Once I got on that plane, I knew I’m going to have a better life.”
When the family lived in the Congo, Lukusa said, he saw people struggling. Having to deal with criminal gangs was one challenge, he said, and a lot of his community members were facing food insecurity.
“Some people starve in Congo,” Lukusa said. “They don’t even have food to eat.”
Growing up in Kinshasa, Lukusa made lots of friends. He’s still in touch with many of them today, he said.
One thing he remembers is “children, in the street, playing soccer, having fun.”
When asked what it meant to him to be an American, Lukusa said being in American is giving his family “a better life, a better future,” that enables them to help others.
“The plan is not just us being here,” he said, “it’s also helping our families that are in Congo because they’re going through the same struggle that we went through. So we have that power to also help them and also to give them a better life that we have here in the U.S.”
Lukusa’s hobbies include playing seasonal sports: boxing, judo, karate, wrestling, soccer, football, and track.
He’s made friends here in Lewiston who are like family to him, Lukusa said.
When asked about the challenges that he and his family face, he said the hardest thing is to see how some people treat immigrants.
“It hurts, but it is what it is,” he said.
In school, he said, he tries to grow into the person he wants to be by staying away from anything that might be a bad influence.
“The best thing is just like, you stay true to yourself and then be you.”
Carlos Fra-Nero is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
Read more from the YJI series American Reflections: Young voices on an old promise by clicking on the logo below:
