In the mid 60’s Bing Goei and his family had to leave their home country of Indonesia fleeing civil unrest and violence.
“We ended up about five and half years in the Netherlands before we were able to receive permission from the United States government to immigrate into the United States.”
Goei was fluent in Malaysian and Dutch, and in some ways he says he felt very lucky that they arrived in Grand Rapids because of the large local Dutch population.
“I remember having even some classmates who could still speake the Dutch language to help me through some of my stumbling in the English language.”
The journey to the United States for Daniela Rojas Cortes began a little different -- when her mother fell in love.
“Unlike many of the immigrants or asylum seekers that we see here right now in the United States, my family wasn’t fleeing any type of violence or coming to the US for work opportunities. My mom was just simply marrying an American man.”
She was only nine years old, but Rojas Cortes says she will never forget how welcomed she felt on her first day of school at Petoskey Public Schools.
“I was dealt and blessed to have a little bit of a better hand or a little bit of different circumstance where I came here and was received with open arms and so that made me feel a huge sense of responsibility to apply those gifts and those blessings to those that didn’t have such a fortunate circumstance.”
Today, over 20,000 people born outside of the United States live in Grand Rapids, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, most of whom, like Rojas Cortes identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Michelle Jokisch Polo WGVU News
