Portfolio at NYU

Posted 09.08.03
The American Dream

By Marjorie Conley

If Lule Ninkolli knew what life in the United States would be like she never would have left Albania. When she won the U.S. green card lottery in 1998 it seemed the American dream her family had envisioned would finally come true. But instead, she has realized the American dream is just that - a dream.

"Everyone in Albania has the dream for America, but when I came here I realized this dream was an illusion. It is not easy to live in America," Lule said in halting English. Lule is one of the many winners of the U.S. sponsored green card lottery. Each year, around 50,000 visas are given to people who come from countries with low immigration rates to the United States. The lottery was launched 10 years ago to preserve diversity within the United States, according to the INS. Countries that have sent more than 50,000 people a year to the United States like Mexico, India and China are ineligible.

In 2001, 6.5 million people throughout the world applied for the 55,000 government allotted green cards through the lottery system. Last year, 1,898 people from Albania won the lottery, according to the INS.

The American dream, cultivated by years of Communist rule, has lured many Albanians from Albania to New York, and the lottery has provided the means. But after arriving, the myths of the land of opportunity, circulating throughout Albania, crumbled into the reality of living in a foreign and sometimes unfriendly city.

"In Albania some people believe that, for lottery winners, the government takes care of everything, they find you a house, they find you a job, but this is not true," Lule, the 56-year-old former teacher, said. "Even now they don't believe me when I tell people back home that life is hard."
Lule said that in Albania she had a good life. She taught Albanian language and literature at an embassy school for 25 years, and her husband was the chief quality inspector for a large factory. They were not rich, but, because they only had two children, they could afford to live well.

She proudly produced pictures of her family when they were all together in Albania. From the spacious balcony, their old apartment had unfettered views of the North Albanian Alps. Lule pointed to one of the smiling faces.
"This is my daughter, I miss her very much. She has her own daughter now," she said.

For five years Lule's daughter had filled out the applications for the lottery for the whole family hoping someone would win and they could all travel to New York. In1998, it happened. But by that time Lule's daughter was older than 21, and the lottery conditions state parents can only bring children who are younger than 21.

Now the only contact Lule has had with her daughter and her 2-year-old granddaughter has been over the phone. Lule is applying for citizenship this year, and she hopes to bring her daughter and family to New York.

Missing her daughter has not been Lule's only frustration. She has been out of work since she arrived. She would like to continue teaching, but because of her poor English and her age, prospects are slim. Her husband, who came to New York with her, has moved to Michigan to live with his cousin because he could not find work.

Now it is just her and her son living in a two-room apartment peppered with Albanian flags and framed photos of her daughter in Ridgewood, Queens. They try to squeak by with her son's meager paycheck that barely pays the $650 a month rent. The small apartment makes for cramped quarters, Lule and her 25-year-old son share a bedroom. The American dream and her son's future brought Lule to New York. Although, his job at an oil change and car repair shop is not the future she envisioned.

"My son, his future is best here," she said sighing. "I want him to go to school and to better himself, but because I cannot work he has to, to pay the rent. I am very sad for his life. I wanted him to live the dream."

She often thinks of returning to Albania, she misses the food, her sisters and the connected Albanian families. In Albania she had friends and family, and there, she was a respected intellectual. Here she has only her son, and her broken English.

But, now, she has nothing in Albania either. When they left they sold everything they owned. Also, she cannot live with her daughter because tradition rules that the son-in-laws parents live with the couple, Lule explained.

"Sometimes I think, I have to go back, but my son, I have to live with him, but now that he is 25, I think soon he can make his way without me. If my daughter comes and she doesn't like it then I will leave with her," Lule said.