Tag Archives: housecleaner

Seeking Better (El Salvador)

              I began the interview by asking my mother something I have asked about many times before – about her life in El Salvador. “Well I grew up very poor, my family did not have much. However we were happy, what we had made us happy, and even though we lived in poverty we ... Read More »

Learning, Nature, and Baseball (Mexico)

Hesitation I didn’t want to leave. I was scared. What if I never saw my dad again? Nothing to guarantee that I would ever be this close to him again. I stood there confused and unsure in front of the large bright red letters of the El Gigante supermarket. I looked to my two older brothers as they turned back ... Read More »

Indomitable Will

    Maria, my mother, has always been a driven and diligent person. She was raised in a small Mexican town. She was living in Mexico City where chances of getting educated were little to none because daily life was challenging. The reason life was so hard was because her family was very poor and had no money for anything. ... Read More »

Live-In Maid Reunites the Family (Mexico)

              I began by asking what was life in Mexico before coming to the states. She said “life was okay, I married your grandpa young and when I got married my mother told me I had to go live with him and to not come back” I asked her why she married young and ... Read More »

Chicago Polish Community Makes Adjustments Easier

Both of my parents come from the same city in Poland, so I assumed their experiences would be fairly similar based on the little information I had. Although, for this interview, I decided to sit down with my mother and hear her side of her experience, since we had never once discussed it throughout my life. Ania, my mother, was ... Read More »

Their Vision Became A Longterm Reality (Mexico)

My name is Cynthia Mendoza. I am 15 years old and my interviewees were my grandparents. My grandmother Angélica Cuevas de Ontiveros is 64 years old and my grandfather Francisco Ontiveros is 67 years old. I decided to interview my grandparents because I never got the full story and I feel that I can honor them through sharing their stories. ... Read More »

Opportunity Calls (Mexico)

                I grew up in Cuitlahuac, Veracruz, a pueblo in the city of Cordoba. We were in the south so it was a lot of ranches where me and my two sisters grew up. When we were growing up we were poor, we would have to go to the city to get a ... Read More »

“A Long Hike” for a 4 Year Old Who Becomes a Teacher

  I am from teavana in my favorite jarrito’s mug but that’s not how my original story started. I was a 4 year old leaving Mexico and migrating to Chicago, IL knowing I had family waiting for me and my family was ready to start a “new life” as everyone calls it.  My story starts in a small Mexican town ... Read More »

Faith, Determination, & Gratitude (Mexico)

A man was walking with us and the night we spent in the desert, he pulled out an entire roasted chicken and began to share with everybody. To this day I remain grateful for that man, he shared when he didn’t have to as he saw all of us suffering from lack of food. Growing up poor, you learn to ... Read More »

Looking for Work (Nicaragua)

My mother was born in Esteli, Nicaragua in 1981.  After she graduated from high school I was born and we lived with my grandmother who was a teacher,  but my mother couldn’t find a job. She came to the United States in 2005 – when she was 22 years old.  She decided to come because she had many needs and ... Read More »