Hi, I'm new here, and this is my story.

Hi, my name is Belle, and I currently live in Orlando, Florida.

I first came to the United States from Brazil at the age fourteen, in 2004. I was brought here unwillingly by my mother, whom I always had issues with and who always beat me and abused me as a kid. My sister (nine years older than me) was already living here for the last five years, and after an almost-successful attempted suicide on my part when I was 13, she convinced my mother to let me come and stay with her.
Of course as a fourteen year old I knew nothing of documents or legal statuses or anything of the sort, so I was brought here and here I stayed, without even realizing my given time in the country had expired and I was then considered an undocumented student.
Ever since I moved away from my mother's house, I have considerably improved, and the suicidal thoughts rarely ever came back, and now, five years passed, and they are gone. I realized that the abuse I went through as a child messed with my emotions and kept me from reaching my full potential as a person, and coming to the United States has helped me slowly free myself and become my own person, like I would not have been able to do if I had stayed in Brazil.
After living my entire teenage years in this country, I know no other home, and there's no way I can NOT consider myself an American. I have adapted to the culture and have successfully learned the language and sometimes can speak it even better than natives.
I have always been an intelligent and successful student, school was never hard for me, and I recently graduated High School with honors. My DREAM has always been to be able to go to college and major in Psychology, so I can help kids who are what I once was, give them something I never had the opportunity to have, which is the support and the knowledge they are not alone in the world, and yes, there is a chance, and yes, their lives can be better, and that suicide is not the last resort.
Unfortunately I have not been able to pursue that dream as of yet, thanks to my legal status in the country, I am unable to drive, to work, or to enroll in college like I've always dreamed of.
One of my biggest fears is growing up to be a nobody. I've always been a persistent, hard worker, and I've never given up on something I've wanted before, so although it's been very hard on me, specially since I graduated High School, I refused to go back to my country of origin, where I know there will be little opportunity for me to grow and become someone successful.
For the longest time I thought I was alone in my situation - I knew there were others like me, out there somewhere, but I never heard of them, or knew of anyone who was in the same situation as me. It is always harder to go through something when you find yourself alone, and many times I've cried and felt desperation, and almost lost hope. Ever since I found out about my legal status, I've been looking and searching for ways to make it right, but after years of searching, it was all in vain, for it turned out there was no way for me to become legalized in the country, other than marrying someone - which I strongly disagreed to do, because if I'm gonna do something, I'll do it right, and not through a lie.
I had almost completely lost hope, until just recently I heard that the DREAM Act had actually been re-introduced into the Congress, and that gave me all the hope I needed. The Act will change not only mines, but thousands of undocumented students' lives, drastically. It is the opportunity we've all been looking for, the opportunity we all deserve. We the students have suffered enough because of this country's broken Immigration System, and I have high hopes this is all about to change.
It is a sad thing to hear that we've been shunned and looked down on for so long, because of our legal status. Most of us have lived here for so long, we know no other home, we can call ourselves more American than anything else, yet we are constantly told we don't belong here. We've been here all along, but it's like we don't even exist.

I hope with all my might that I'm able to do all I can, and a little more, to help America realize what it must do at this point. This is the Land of the Free, the Land of the Just! It will be a sad day in the history of this country, the day they kick out several of their own children. For we are the children of America as well!
Pass the DREAM Act!

~Belle.

Welcome Belle, be sure to stick around

Thanks, I most definitely will!

Heya Belle....

I think its awesome that you want to study psychology to help children who have been abused! I'm a psychology major about to graduate.... dont give up on your dream! you are not alone! =0)

Thank you so much! =)
It's great to hear about a fellow psychology student (even though I'm not one yet), and I'm glad to hear you're about to finish school!
I hope that at least by the end of this year I'll be able to start school. I'm just very afraid that I'll grow too old to be going to a college like Valencia CC...

hehehe don't be worried about being too old to go to school no matter the school... its never too late to get an education no matter what your age is... plus psychology is way cool!

Thanks =)
I'm just scared I'll be sitting here on my butt doing nothing with my life for too long, you know?
I already feel like I'm at a standstill, not moving forward like I should be... I can't wait to get out of this mess.
I wanna be somebody in life, with equal opportunities!

welcome novela!

Hello Belle. Welcome to DAP, and hopefully the dream act do pass this year so we can all finally pursue our dreams, but until then, we all just need to hang tight and do the best that we can fight for our cause. :]

Welcome to the board, hun. It's great to see that you're doing better now.
Whenever you're feeling down, this board can be a great source of hope. Believe me, we've all felt like all was lost at some point or another.