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The glittering skyscrapers of New York, the Technicolor action of Hollywood and vibrant casino life of Las Vegas are the wild visions that Mr Job Kariu Ngugi nursed about the United States of America. For many people like Mr Ngugi, America is the place where dreams are born and opportunities seized.

 
Arriving in America in 1995 when he had just turned 21 , Mr Ngugi determined to study, earn a degree and come back to Kenya. He was later to learn that everything in America was not perfect.

 
“I was shocked that there are beggars, and there are wooden houses like in Kenya,” he says.
 
Nevertheless, his life took an unexpected turn, and a year later he won the green card lottery. Mr Ngugi was elated and returned to Kenya to process an immigrant visa.
 
“An applicant is given a deadline after which you cannot be issued with a visa,” he says.
 
Armed with the precious green card, Mr Ngugi was assured that he could legally work and live in the United States without fear of deportation. Like the thousands of fellow immigrants escaping from broken dreams in various countries, Mr Ngugi knew that he was an inch away from poverty - or riches.
 

He would see the sleek cars snaking through the streets of Boston, the jobs and the smoothness of life as compared to Nairobi. Though Mr Ngugi contends that the green card is just a piece of paper that grants you immigrant status in the US, he says it is a lifeline that has changed his life.

“The green card allows you to move around without fear and comes along with a lot of privileges. You can access loans, and after five years you can petition for American citizenship,” he says, adding that at the moment life is getting unbearable for illegal immigrants in the US.
 
A green card holder in the United States cannot work for either state or federal governments - including the civil service and the police. But he or she can join the US military.
 
US military
 
Armed with a bachelor’s degree from Middlesex Community College in 1997, Mr Ngugi was not sure about his destiny until one day a friend advised him to apply for a job in the US military so that he could finance his education.
 
“When I calculated the money that was offered, including a sign-on bonus that would help me go back to college, and it amounted to almost Sh3 million, I never looked back,” he says.
 
In 1999, he was recruited into the Army Rangers based at Fort Benning, Georgia.
 
Although Mr Ngugi’s is a success story, he says he knows of Kenyans with green cards languishing in US jails for breaking the law.
 
“I once helped homeless green card holders from Kenya,” he says. “There are also Kenyans with green cards living in shelters in the US.”
 
Today, Mr Ngugi lives with his family in Texas and frequently visits his Ngecha village home in Limuru from where about 1,000 have gone to the US. He recently retired from the army after serving for 11 months in war-ravaged Iraq, and he has battlefield tales to tell.
 
“It was a normal patrol day in the town of Tikrit together with my colleague; then suddenly a sniper blew off his head. I was angered by the killing, and there I was shooting back at an enemy,” he says. “I thought of my family thousands miles away. It was quite an experience that I don’t know how to describe.”
 
He advises would-be green card winners to get as much information as they can and to have at least Sh100,000 for processing each immigrant visa. Those with families should make prior arrangements before relocating to the US, he says.
 

By: John Makeni From: allafrica.com Nairobi
 

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