My family history is very diverse as I have family members from all over the world, but I am going to focus on my family history from Uganda. My grandfather, the father of my mom, was born in Tanzania and moved to Uganda as a teenager before going to England to study engineering. After he graduated he came back home to Uganda where he met my grandma and three years later decided to move to Canada. My grandpa moved to Canada because he felt “ It was a beautiful country that was a nice, safe place to start a family” (Dineley). He decided to move from Uganda because there was lots of violence and wars taking place, and once he was sitting in his home and bullets came flying through the windows. The violence kept getting worse and the business they had owned got taken by the government son there was not much left for my grandparents. My grandpa and grandma already had a son, my uncle, and decided they wanted a safer place to raise him so they choose Canada.
I asked my grandpa how my life would have been different if he had stayed in Uganda and he told me how if I had grown up in Uganda I would have to start working very young. He said he started working at age 11 and that most kids there only stay in school until grade 8. I would also have to fend for myself because the adults in Uganda work all night and come home in mornings and go back to work in the afternoon. This means I would most likely have left school at age 13 and started working at a gas station or cab company to make money for the family opposed to here in Canada where I can go to school until I’m 22 and then pick any career that interests me opposed to any job that I can get. If I had been raised in Uganda I would also probably not be playing basketball. The most popular sport that is always played because all you need is a ball is soccer. In canada no matter what sport you play, you can find a team to play on. In Uganda there is not many places to play basketball or other popular sports like hockey so I would probably have just played soccer. This made me realize how lucky I am too be able to go to school, live in a safe area, and not have to fend for myself.
When my grandpa spoke about making his decision on where to move too he told me he was considering moving back to England but reputation Canada had of having nice people, good health care that was not available back in Uganda, and the fact that Canada is known as a safe place with lots of opportunities. When my grandpa was living in England he was sleeping on friends couches because he arrived to England with only $20 and said it was a very expensive place to live so even when he got a job it still was not enough money for a place to live. Canada was a much easier place to find good work and find a cheap place to live so that ultimately convinced them to move. Ultimately, I am glad my grandpa decided to move to Canada because I get a higher quality of life compared to life in Uganda. In Canada I have the opportunity to choose what to do with my life opposed to having a life without many options or choices. In Uganda I would have grown up without much education, start working at a young age to provide for my family and constantly have to watch for my life.
Works Cited
Dineley, Shay. Interview. 8 Jan. 2017.
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