Citizen By Choice My Journey To The American Dream

This is the autobiography of my journey as an orphaned boy from Yauya, a small town in the Andes mountains of Peru, to the U.S.A. I spoke Italian, Quechua and Spanish by the age of three. Before my mother passed away, when I was almost seven, once a year we traveled eight days on horseback from the top of the Andes to a small town in the jungle area of Peru, to trade various products grown in the mountains for various products grown in the jungle. I spent my adolescence in different places with different, loving, family members and part of the time in boarding school or boarding houses, and was responsible for my own studies. I survived a devastating avalanche, going over the side of a mountain in a a car and nearly drowning three times. I explored many parts of Peru, including the Amazon River Jungle, where I hunted wild boars and alligators, and fished for piranhas, while working for an American Mining Company. I left Peru for the United States, with a resident visa, where I attended dental school for the second time, married my wife Betty and joined the U.S. Air Force. I am the father of five children, four living, and have 14 grandchildren.

Dr. Rolando Bernui was born in a tiny town in the Peruvian Andes, and grew up in small cities across Peru. He has D.D.S. degrees from San Marcos University and Indiana University, He has taught dentistry at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. After serving 25 years in the U.S. Air Force, he retired as a full Colonel.