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Latina Experience Moving Towards Freedom In the past months , few moments in the media have presented the United States as the shining beacon of freedom that it maintains itself to be. The death we have been subjected to both at home, through the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, and in foreign lands, through the Iraq War, has forced us to question whether freedom can indeed be found in the supposed “Land of the Free.” Despite the governmental policies that may have created these tragic situations, large numbers of people from Latin America still look to the U.S. as their highest hope, and they believe in it. They believe in it enough to suffer dangerous trips, tedious work and complicated bureaucracy in a foreign language, just in case it might work. And, amazingly, they make it work! María Toro, a 62-year-old grandmother from Bogotá, Colombia, came to the U.S. twice. The first time, in 1972, she stayed for a year because the weather extremes made her ill, but her desire for a better life made her risk death to return. “We were as poor as can be and I was still trying to pay for Catholic school for my daughters. Because of the economic hardship, I came back to the U.S. by sea, illegally, and it was awful. The 18 hours in the sea, in terrible weather, in small sailboat was horrible. I almost drowned.” Ricardo Hernandez, a middle-aged father, had his own stormy seas to tackle when he came to the U.S. from San Pedro, Honduras, in 1995. “I went through Guatemala, hitching rides on trains through Mexico, and then up to Fresno, California, where I was for three months until I saved bus money for a trip up to San Francisco, and then a flight to Jersey City. When I got to California, I had nothing. The folks who were responsible for taking me from Mexico to California left me in the middle of nowhere on the street, so that is where I had to sleep that night.” Romina Mogollon, a 20-year-old student from Maldonado, Uruguay, who arrived in the U.S. in 2002, had a much easier time. “We had visas because we had visited when I was 12 and the visas last for 10 years, so there wasn't any problem. In addition to that, three years ago one didn't even need a visa when traveling from Uruguay, just a passport.” Despite some very different trips, all three cite one main reason for leaving their homelands: the pursuit of economic freedom. Is economic freedom more easily had in the United States? Perhaps, but flexibility is needed. “In Colombia I was an accountant but over here I had to learn how to clean in order to be a maid. I had to learn how to use a vacuum – we don't use those in Colombia because all the floors are tile,” said Ms. Toro. In California, Mr. Hernandez, “did field work – picking onions, grapes and strawberries for $50 a day, from 3:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. – work that I had never done and never imagined I would be doing.” Disillusionment was the word that immediately sprung to Ms. Mogollon's mind. “I worked in a factory and it paid very little, although in Uruguay no one makes $200 a week. Still, the cost of living here is higher so it was tough to make the rent. I didn't like it at all. I signed up with an agency and it sends people to various factories that need workers. You have to show up at five in the morning and they tell you when you'll be working, usually something like 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. They would take you there and then they were supposed to pick you up, but sometimes they would forget to pick you up at the factory. I hated that. Everyone has a life, you know. You feel like a dog, just waiting there.” Similarly, Ms. Toro had to stay in the house where she worked as a maid for six days out of the week. “I didn't go anywhere. I was enclosed in that house for three years. I was used to being outdoors all the time in Colombia, but I did this for my daughters. The family [I worked for] was able to get my daughters into the U.S. legally, so they came in 1982.” At that point things started to change for Ms. Toro, and parallel to that, the lives of Ms. Mogollon and Mr. Hernandez changed, too. “We have to sacrifice and we have to take advantage of the opportunities. The [later] work in New Jersey was a bit more comfortable. It was indoors, in a factory, so if it rained it wasn't a problem. It was still heavy work, loading trucks, but it wasn't as bad. I worked for five years in the Tommy Hilfiger warehouse, but because I took a course on computational work in New York, I was eventually made a cycle counter for a year. Then, when they saw my abilities, I was made an analyst in the inventory office,” said Mr. Hernandez. Ms. Toro took advantage of the New York landscape. “When I saw how beautiful everything was here, the parks, the churches, the museums, it left an impression. I felt a bit conflicted because the level of poverty in Colombia was bad, but here I cried every day because I was trapped in a beautiful apartment,” said Ms. Toro. “Still, on my one day off, Sunday, I found freedom in the parks, seeing so many people of different cultures, it all meant a better life for me and my daughters.” Soon after her daughters arrived, Ms. Toro thanked the “angels” that helped her with her education. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Modern Languages and teaches Spanish. “My daughters are both college graduates. In Colombia, it was so nice to have the entire family together, but we had absolutely nothing. We had no furniture. When I saw that my one daughter was pursuing a psychology degree and my other daughter wanted to be a teacher, seeing them really encouraged me to go to school.” Ms. Mogollon followed a similar path. “While I was working, I immediately began classes to learn English. Then I went for my GED, then for medical assistant training, and then to EMT (emergency medical technician) school. Now I am in college, training to become a nurse, and then, hopefully, to become a doctor.” Still, there is a specific problem that can create an even bigger mountain on the rough terrain towards freedom: los papeles . “In 1997, I took the high school equivalency exam and passed it. I wanted to go to college, but I couldn't because of my legal status. That situation stopped my goals from being accomplished. Now, however, I can continue onto college because my paperwork has since changed.” Mr. Hernandez is currently enrolled in community college classes. This and his employment are possible because he and his family have temporary residential status under the Honduras/Nicaragua Temporary Protected Status Program. The program began in 1998 and has been extended every 18 months through to the present. The Secretary of Homeland Security currently regulates the program and it allows beneficiaries whose homelands suffer ongoing-armed conflict, environmental disaster or other extreme circumstances to work here. (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.) Ms. Mogollon's legal status changed quite naturally. “Even though I had all that training before, I couldn't work because I didn't have the right papers. I had to keep working in factories, and then later in a restaurant. However, this whole time I was dating Juan, who I met three months after my arrival. In two years we were married. We were in love, and I guess I ended up benefiting from it in other ways because he had already become a citizen. He is from Ecuador. So from there I got my work permit, then my social security card, and then a driver's license.” Soon, Ms. Mogollon will have her interview to become a permanent resident. With the work permit, she was finally able to find work in the medical field. So, our subjects have all overcome hardships, found work and success, but have they found freedom? “Yes,” Ms. Mogollon says with enthusiasm. “Here I have liberty. One may have the same freedoms in Uruguay, for example, but if you can't find work and give your children what they need…” Mr. Hernandez feels the same way. “The relationship between the United States and Honduras has been beneficial. At least here one can fight for one's rights – it might not be the case in our countries. We have to let the U.S. know that it has benefited us. We are very appreciative of this. I would like to continue my life here. I feel we have adapted to life here 100%.” However, Ms. Toro is the strongest voice among the three. “I think freedom is when someone feels he/she has accomplished his/her goals. I've known imprisoned people who feel free. Freedom is when someone feels as if he/she is without chains. The United States is the land of freedom, the land of liberty. I don't know why some people don't believe it. I feel so happy, so content, I can't say anything bad about either country I am from. Thank God I found freedom!” Her emotion is so strong; one cannot help but be swept away with it. Nonetheless, as a reporter, I cannot ignore the trends I am trained to see. Ms. Toro is one among many middle-class New Yorkers who was displaced from her apartment last year. She now lives in New Jersey. Ms. Mogollon mentioned that one of the reasons she and her mother came to the U.S. is because the economy in Uruguay, which used to have poor, middle and upper classes, has become increasingly stratified, resulting in just two classes: poor and rich. As if to mirror the problem (and strangely connected to the affordable housing shortage in New York), “the shrinking middle class” has been a topic of much discussion within the U.S. for years. And one wonders if Mr. Hernandez would've had to have come to the U.S. at all if our own economy didn't benefit from the huge, and questionable, maquiladora industry that keeps so many Hondurans in low paying jobs. I believe Ms. Mogollon, Ms. Toro, and Mr. Hernandez are free. They breathe in freedom and release it with every word that they speak. They are free because like so many other immigrants before them, they faced some of the most challenging situations anyone might ever face, willingly. They are free because they used their minds and spirits to work through a labyrinth of language, economy and politics that often works against the mind and spirit. They are free because they looked for freedom, and they found it within themselves. I believe they would be free in any land, but if it took this land to inspire them, vale! My prayer is that at some point we can all come together and take what we've learned back to our homelands, the lands that instilled us with the strength to move towards freedom wherever it may be. Some Informative Links American Friends Service Committee International Relations Center - Americas Program U.S. Department of State - Honduras http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1922.htm#relations allrefer.com –The Library of Congress http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/honduras/honduras117.html http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/uruguay/uruguay140.html http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/colombia/colombia122.html
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