During the 1980s, my father pursued his Master’s Degree in Applied Statistics at GWU. He dreamt about starting a new life in the US; free, safe, and with numerous opportunities. He had to go back to Peru as there were no possibilities of obtaining a visa to work in the US. My father did not want to be an illegal alien. Consequently, he went back to a new and violent Peru. My father, as well as his family is conservative and very religious “I would say we are Republicans” says my father. During the 1980s, he was very concerned with the growth of the Shining Path, a terrorist organization …show more content…
Soon after, he started working at the Biostatistics Center of GWU where he obtained his green card. His dreams of becoming a Ph.D. and establishing himself in the United State came true.
During the following years, my father continued to follow politics in his home country. He was “surprised by the election of President Alberto Fujimori in Peru” an agricultural engineer whose parents were Japanese, and unknown until a few weeks before the presidential elections in 1990 . With the aid of the military, President Fujimori tackled left-wing rebels, Shining Path. He realized that President Fujimori was using a strong hand on terrorism and was violating the people’s human rights. I started to distance myself from any left ideology.
The 2000s was a decade of transition and regrouping for my father. “I lost my parents and my perspective in life changed. I wanted to spend more time with my children, more in touch with my family in Peru.” However, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , where close to 3,000 people were killed brought memories of his life in Peru. The smell of powder from the bombs and the senseless killings during the Shining Path era flashed back into his mind. “I was trying to overcome my nervousness, my sadness. I tried to keep my composure in front of the students.” says my father. During the following days he realized that the entire world was mourning the deaths of the victims; he saw a “united America, a united