04-01-2021, 10:37 AM
![[Image: 210331192533-yumi-hogan-headshot-medium-plus-169.jpg]](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/210331192533-yumi-hogan-headshot-medium-plus-169.jpg)
Yumi Hogan
(CNN)Forty one years. That's how long I have lived in the United States since emigrating from South Korea to pursue the American dream.
Twenty years. That's how long I spent working multiple jobs, often 14 or 16 hours a day, to raise three daughters as a single mother, all so they could have access to the countless opportunities this country has to offer.
I grew up on a chicken farm in a small town in South Korea as the youngest of eight kids. I was born nine years after the Korean War broke out. Most Koreans were poor. My family worked hard, and I was taught to be sober and diligent -- to never get lazy. Leftover and broken eggs that couldn't be sold from the farm were my snack. I walked 2 miles every day between home and school since there was no bus available.
At 20, I already had a "hard working gene" by the time I arrived to the US. I was humble and determined. That's how I was taught. But the reality here was tough: I didn't speak much English, and I was in a completely different world culturally.
Moreover, as a single mother with three daughters, I didn't have time to do anything for myself. I couldn't take any sick days because I worked every day to feed my daughters, send them to school, and pay the bills. My life didn't seem to be close to the American Dream. Without letting my daughters know, I would dry my tears quietly, remembering my childhood. I missed everything familiar from my homeland.
But I never, never gave up.
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