Meet Rossetta

My name is Rossetta. I am from Liberia. I have been in the United States for one month and two weeks. I feel fine. I live with my three sons and my niece. She’s my sister’s daughter. I have three sisters, three brothers, one mom, and one father, but I have a lot of half-brothers. They all live in Liberia. I miss them. I’ve been in classes at OLC for 3 weeks. I heard about classes here through Canopy. Canopy is good. In Africa, I used to braid hair. Now I am here, and it’s different. I haven’t started work here. I don’t know which work I will do first, because I have never gone to school before. I came here first to try (to learn reading and writing), but I don’t know what work I will do first. Maybe it will be a house cleaner, or maybe I will work in a hospital or a hotel. Canopy will help me find a job. In Liberia, I would braid hair. I did that my whole life. I braided hair in a salon. I want to learn how to read and write to help give me direction. That’s the reason. And to get jobs. In Liberia I spoke Kru, a little bit of English, and, in the refugee camp, I spoke French. During the war in LIberia, I went to a refugee camp. I stayed there for 16 years. I don’t know where my family is. After the war, everybody broke apart. I don’t know where anybody is. After 16 years, I came here. It’s tough (to learn English). My sons are in 8th grade, 5th grade, and 2nd grade. My niece is in 9th grade. So they’re learning English now. I like OLC and the classes, because it’s about language and allows you to understand what you couldn’t understand before.