Justine Koffi Capstone '21

For my capstone, I combined my love of writing with my love of my heritage and background. I know my parents immigrated here to give us a better life so I decided to research the reasons behind that in order to make a story. I specifically studied politics in Togo at the time of my parent's growing up and how it is now. I also based the story loosely on the life of my mom and how she came to be in America. This is just one chapter of many of a book I hope I’ll be able to finish someday. Here is an excerpt from the story: “ It is unfortunate because as a woman, you can marry into wealth, but as a man, you have to build everything yourself. Women should not seek men who are born into poverty because they are more than likely to stay there. My mom wants me to marry into money so I can bring my brothers into it so that they too can find wives.”