My name is Nicole Kruger. I am 31 years old and from Chile. I have been living in Philadelphia since 2023. I came to the US to support my husband in his PhD and to search for different opportunities for my career. I have a twin sister, and I love my family. I also love to read and paint. I love having good conversations with different people around the world and learning more about their cultures. My home language is Spanish, and I am learning English in the US. I also speak a little Portuguese.  

 Some of the things that I value in life are my family and my friends. Also, honesty and being around people who want to fight for what they want is important to me.  

Also, justice is important to me, not only institutional justice but also the people who are fair for their rights, women, immigrants, and people. My goal in life is to help others with their mental health, be part of a community, and find happiness with my family and the people I care about.  

I have a college degree in social work since 2017. My work experience is in Clinic social work with women who have experienced domestic violence. I have also worked to help women and people with disabilities find jobs that can help them develop their abilities and careers. Arriving in the US, it was hard to develop my career because I needed a license and a master’s degree. But I am confident that eventually, I will be able to work as a Social Worker again.  

My arrival in Philadelphia was complicated by my loneliness and sadness at being away from my friends and family. It was very difficult to deal with the feeling that I had no support network and could not work in my profession. However, I felt I should not hold on to those emotions, so I started looking for different options to meet new people and feel productive. I started volunteering at Puentes de Salud, taking the immigrant leadership course at the TWC, and taking English classes. This made me have more friends who helped me feel better and made me feel that I had found my place surrounded by people who understood how I felt. My emotions are now more positive, and I am hopeful that good things will come for me.  

I found out about the Welcoming Center through a friend who recommended this place when I told her I would like to meet more people with similar experiences. It was unique and challenging at the same time I learned a lot about different cultures and met amazing people who took the training. Working with people with different personalities and ways of working was a bit difficult.  

Still, it was a great space to learn how to work as a team and about the reality of the city and the inequalities experienced by migrants in Philadelphia. I would also like to mention that being at The Welcoming Center taught me that I am not less intelligent for not knowing a language well, but that I am very capable of still being the person I was in my country with the same and better capabilities to achieve whatever I set my mind to do. I also learned how important it is to have a community that supports and believes in you, and I feel that WC is that for me.  

The impact that The Welcoming Center has had on my life:

A lot has happened to me since I participated in the TWC program. I visited my family in my country and filled myself with energy and love. Soon, I will return to Philadelphia and feel much more prepared to face a new job search. I am also motivated to develop new projects. One of the goals I achieved after the course was to have confidence in myself and dare to apply for new job challenges.  

One of the things that I still use is the confidence to speak in English in front of different people. It was challenging for me to have this ability, and since I am applying for a job, I hope that this confidence helps me do well in the interview. Another thing that I learned was how some institutions in the US work, and that helped me in my volunteer at Puentes de Salud to help other immigrants on the road to integration in Philadelphia 

In the TWC program, I had the opportunity to meet different people on my team, with whom we faced different challenges. We learned to get to know each other, be more tolerant in our work, and understand each other as a migrant community. I also believe that in Karina and Maureen, I found friends with whom I could rely on and trust. I hope they continue to be part of my life and that they can count on me.