Kakaiya, Ph.D, is a psychologist, neuroscientist and CEO of Healthy Within, a brain health neuro clinic. She lives in 4S Ranch.
An innocent, bright-eyed 20-year-old entered United States International University in San Diego on Sept. 13, 1979, to complete her degree in psychology. Having hailed from the cosmopolitan city of Nairobi, Kenya, one of my primary reasons for having chosen an American university was because I did not want to experience the racism I knew I would feel in the United Kingdom.
With Kenya having been a British colony, I knew well how Indians were treated. Moreover, the educational advances we have in psychology in the U.S. would sur any other country. I the warmth and the inclusivity that I experienced on my USIU campus in Nairobi. The American professors we had there inspired me to be an independent, critical thinker.
The San Diego USIU campus (which merged with Alliant International University) used to have students from over 63 countries. Yes, I was on the campus when the 1979 Iranian Revolution occurred, and I saw my fellow Iranian students go from riches to rags. It was devastating, and what I about those days is that we all embraced them. Many of our friends were able to start getting jobs in our school cafeteria, library, etc. The late Dr. Randall Phillips, Vice President of Student Affairs and mentor Mary Ann Sowards were like our parents, when home was so far away.
For me, the U.S. flag symbolizes a country that gives hope to people from so many lands. Americans are all immigrants, the only people who rightfully own these lands are our Native Americans. Furthermore, America is seen as the land of opportunity. It took me about five years before I decided that I would not go back home to Kenya.
Back in the 1980s, the only psychological jobs in Nairobi were in locked psychiatric facilities. Professionally, I knew that there was so much more I could learn, and give back here in the U.S. Now, 42 years later, I can say that San Diego is where I have blossomed both personally and professionally. San Diego and the U.S. have given me so much, and as an immigrant, I give back every step of the way. I have donated thousands of volunteer hours to causes I believe in and have been civically engaged in numerous organizations. I love my San Diego Rotary Club 33, where I have been embraced with warmth and civility. And I wear my patriotic shirts every Fourth of July!
My kids chuckle at me, and I love that they only know the freedoms we have here in the U.S. Indians in Kenya were a severely ostracized minority. Even now, my nieces and nephews in Nairobi cannot go out by themselves as soon as the sun goes down, since they could easily become the target of a mugging or kidnapping.
Currently, even with all the horrendous racial unrest and the reckonings that we need to face with courage in the U.S., we are still a country where our right to speak is honored and allowed. The flag represents so many things to me, most importantly I hold it synonymous with my sense of self — my identity. It is in America that I became who I am today.
The flag represents so many freedoms for me — freedom to do exactly what I want, to have my voice, to express my own religious beliefs, to write what I believe in, to whatever organizations I wish to , to live how I choose, to go out in the middle of the night and do grocery shopping if I choose to, freedom to raise my children the way I wish to raise them, and most importantly, freedom to exercise my vote. I cannot fathom living anywhere else in the world!
