(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) An immigrant from Ghana still believes that the American dream still exists, according to Fox News.
“America is still the place where anybody can make it,” Alma Ohene-Opare said.
Ohene-Opare and his wife celebrated their first anniversary of becoming American citizens after spending 17 years as immigrants.
“For me, American citizenship is not just being part of this culture, this society, not just being part of the place I’ve called home for the last almost 20 years,” he said. “[It’s also] about the values that undergird the founding of this country.”
The new American was born in Ghana and thought about going to America since he was little. He was finally able to turn his dream into reality when he finally had an opportunity to travel to the United States as a missionary for his church in 2003 when he was 19 years old.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees — both in information technology — from Brigham Young University, and then worked at different tech companies, including Microsoft, Fox News reported.
Ohene-Opare said that education, hard work and taking risks during his journey were the factors why he achieved success in this country.
“By many, many respects, you could say that I have achieved the American dream,” he said. “It didn’t come overnight, but I had to make very specific and deliberate decisions.”
Ghanaian immigrant said that he looked forward to becoming an American citizen for half of his life.
“I’ve been waiting half my life to become a citizen,” he said. “It was something that I looked forward to, and I did not take it for granted when the opportunity came along.”
Ohene-Opare also said that an immigrant from Ghana interviewed him for his citizenship test.
“Coincidentally, I was put in the room with him and I saw the entire dream come full circle,” he said. “This is the beauty of this American experiment.”
The patriotic sentiment declined nationwide, but Ohene-Opare still thinks that America is a great country, Fox News reported.
“A lot of people have either lost faith in the American experiment or are questioning the role of America in the world,” he told Fox News. “From my perspective as an immigrant, I love America not because America is perfect – I don’t believe that – but I believe that America was founded on principles that are necessary for the flourishing of [men].”
