My experience as an ESL student, I have faced many challenging things.

One of the most challenging I have experienced is adjusting to life in the United States. Eight years ago my family moved to the United States to have better educational opportunities for me and my siblings because, in Kenya, education costs a lot of money and my family couldn’t afford it.

When we first came to the United States, I struggled a lot with many things, like not speaking the language and not having friends at all, and also being bullied at school because of how I looked and the clothes I wore. But that started to improve when my brother, Ibrahim, started teaching us at home. Unfortunately, after a few years of teaching us and trying his very best to help us, he had to stop because he was so busy. He was the only person who spoke English and worked very hard to provide for us and our relatives in Kenya. My mother, on the other hand, worked very hard too at home, feeding all of us and doing housework at the same time.

Whenever I struggled with things, I kept it to myself because I didn’t think anyone would help me, especially my family because I did not think they had the ability to help me, which I later found out was not true. One day I finally decided to tell my mother everything that was going on and how I felt about it. I always knew my mother was a smart person but I never thought of going to her for help because she was already helping our family a lot. I also thought I would be wasting her precious time and taking advantage of her.

However, my mother, gave me lots of great advice when I decided to share my thoughts with her. She told me many good things about myself, like how I stayed strong, whenever something happened and how respectful I am to others. She also told me the things I needed to improve on such as being active, sharing my thoughts with my family, and communicating with others. I really admire and enjoy whenever my mother shares her thoughts with me.

I have learned many great lessons but an important one is to always believe in myself and do not give up too soon.