As a young teenager, my paternal grandmother, Helen Kovar Shuluga, left her home, parents, siblings, and extended family and boarded a ship for the great United States of America. She had no money, no ticket, a small suitcase of clothing, and the clothes on her back. She hid on the ship as a stowaway and was discovered after they set sail. She was ordered to cook in the ship’s kitchen to earn her way here. She never looked back. She never saw her parents or most of her family again.

Photo by Alan