As we welcome many new neighbors into Maine, they're often asked to assimilate into Maine’s culture. However, an argument can be made that Mainers should adopt some of our new neighbors' culture as well! Diversity leads to more creativity/innovation, avoidance of groupthink, and makes us more open minded. This is why IWC created Humans of IWC (which is inspired by Humans of New York), a project where we share the inspiring stories and faces of the incredible individuals who come to the Immigrant Welcome Center. It is an opportunity to learn more about their resilience, strength, and unique experiences which many wouldn’t have the access to otherwise.

And what is a better way to understand and be inspired by one another than through storytelling? 

This is Lydia Antonio, and she has been in Maine for about a year now. Additionally, she's not only been taking classes here at IWC for about nine months, but is also 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭, "𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐖𝐂", 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐖𝐂, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬.

Here are some highlights of our conversation:

Q: “How do you like Maine?”

A: “I love it! The summer is so nice…the winter is very very cold.”

Q: “I heard that you would like to be a nurse?”

A: “I have wanted to be a nurse since I was a child. I love/like and have been dreaming about becoming a nurse. I want to help people who are sick or feel sick, and help them feel better.” I would like to go to university, going to SMCC first and then USM. I’ll get to choose the hospital I will work at here in Maine, I could go to Mercy Hospital or the other ones.”

Q: “What did you do before coming to America?”

A: “I sold a lot of different things, in my country Angola. At that moment I loved selling because that’s what I did, but my dream was not to spend all of my life selling things…my dream was always about going into nursing.

Q: “Is there any story you would like to tell us?”

A: “Yes. The photo I chose to use in the exhibit, whenever I see it, it makes me cry tears of joy; I get emotional. It was from before I came here to Maine, It was taken in the Amazon forest. We walked, slept, and continued walking without eating anything for seven days. One day I told everyone that we had to take a picture. But now we are here, and I am happy.

We are very happy to meet Lydia and wish her all the best with her schooling!