The Immigration Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA) has launched a new campaign – called I’M IIBA – uplifting what we know to be the true character and positive contributions of immigrants in the Bay Area.
This week we highlight the inspirational story of former IIBA Board of Directors member, Agnieszka Purves.
I’M AGNIESZKA
I was born in Poland while my parents studied at the University of Warsaw. Soon after I was born they graduated and we moved back to my parents’ small hometown. All my grandparents and many aunts and uncles lived there, so my earliest memories are spending a lot of time with family around. We lived in a Soviet-style “block” building in a one room apartment, which my parents divided into two “rooms” with a bookshelf to create separation between their space and where my sister and I slept. Because of how tiny the apartments were, kids as young as four years old were sent outside to play, even in the middle of winter with banks of snow outside (very fun for sledding). In this way, kids were given a lot of freedom but also responsibility at a young age to look out for each other
I’M AN IMMIGRANT
When we left Poland I was only five years old. Due to the political situation, my parents couldn’t tell anyone about their plans except for their closest family. I thought we were going on vacation and didn’t realize I wouldn’t see my grandparents, relatives or my best friend for many years. We drove across Europe to Italy where we lived for six months at a refugee camp in Capua with other Polish immigrants while waiting to get asylum to the United States. We arrived in San Francisco when I was six years old on March 6, 1987.
I attended the last three months of kindergarten where I didn’t speak English, didn’t have any friends, and generally had no idea what was going on, so it was tough. Oddly, I don’t even remember learning English and how within less than one year I went from feeling lonely and lost to almost feeling like any other American kid, it just sort of happened. I say “almost” because I was always very aware of my cultural differences and feeling like an Immigrant
I’M A LAWYER
I went to UC Santa Barbara planning to study journalism. After taking a class on the First Amendment, I became interested in law – especially international law and children’s rights. My first “law” experience was when I volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate to provide support for adorable twin girls who were in the dependency court system. By the time I graduated from college I knew I wanted to work in international law. After attending UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) I worked in the International Commercial group at Baker & McKenzie. From there, I landed at Google where I work to this day on global technical infrastructure, from datacenters in different countries to submarine cables that connect different continents. I was especially proud to be the lawyer on a submarine cable project that connects California to Chile, named Curie, after the renowned Polish physicist Marie Curie (Skłodowska).
I’M A WRITER
I always enjoyed writing. After many years of kicking the can down the road I finally wrote the book I wanted to write for so long. Red Poppies Turn Golden is a middle grade book based on my family’s immigration story. Because I was so young when I left Poland I had many gaps in how everything happened and I wanted to make sure I filled them before all the people who were present couldn’t tell it any longer. This was not only important for an understanding of my own story, but also to pass it on to my kids and nieces and for them to understand the hardship that their grandparents went through and their bravery in leaving everything they knew behind to secure a better life for their family.
I’M IIBA
I was introduced to IIBA through my Pro Bono work at immigration legal clinics helping IIBA clients with their adjustment of status and DACA applications. At work I lead the Pro Bono program and we have been able to connect IIBA with our volunteer legal staff, who find the time they spend volunteering at IIBA’s clinics extremely rewarding. I was also honored to have served on IIBA’s Board of Directors. The work that IIBA does is critical to the lives of so many Immigrants, people in our communities, who, like my family, arrived with a few hundred dollars in their pocket and who are learning English, raising their kids, working or trying to get an education. Without IIBA many would be unable to navigate the complexities of the immigration system or afford to process their cases. I consider myself very lucky and want to make sure I pay it forward to those who don’t have access to the same privileges.