"Crossing Flatbush Avenue" Betty Holmes

I met Betty about a year ago at work. We are both counselors in a home for developmentally disabled adults. A mother of 9, she currently resides in the Bronx. Betty moved to the United States 13 years ago from Ghana, a western African country. She used to call me her “Jewish neice”, but she wants to feel young, so she now affectionately calls me her “Jewish sister”. She has an infectious laugh, and whenever we talk we always end up laughing about something. We have very different backgrounds, but we became very close friends.


In Ghana, I thought America was like I saw it the Hollywood movies. I thought America was the next thing to heaven. When I came, and settled into the Bronx, I realized to make it in this country, you need to be educated and have a good job. It’s not as easy as it looks in the movies. People really have to work hard for their money.
I moved here to be with my husband. He was already working here as a nurse and would travel back home several times a year. We have 9 children, but I sent 6 of them back to Ghana to be raised by my and my husbands families. We like the education better there, and we want them to be familiar with their African heritage. We didn’t like what we were seeing here in the Bronx. And I really wanted my children to speak Fanti.
In Africa, me and my family were Muslim. But after September 11, we changed our religion and became Christians. We thought it was very evil for Muslims to crash into the world trade center. It wasn’t so much because we felt pressure to do so in America, but because I didn’t want to be a part of a religion that could allow people to do such evil. This was a common experience for many of our African Muslim friends. Many of our former Muslim friends switched over to our Church.
When I am not working, I watch African movies, and and cook African dishes. I make fu-fu, which is like a peanut butter soup. I make rice balls with palm fruit soup. And my favorite dish is fried plantains with bean stew. You know what kosher food I love? Challah!! Every friday on my way back from doing my overnight shift at work in Brooklyn I walk to Ave. M to buy a few loaves of Challah. It is so good that I finish a whole loaf by the time I get home!
I am a U.S. citizen becuase I want to be able to vote and have papers to work. I love America. America means freedom. Freedom of speech, of religion, of everything. You can be whatever you want to be here if you work hard enough. My oldest daughter just graduated as a nurse, and I'm so proud of her.