Maritas “Tess” Cortes

Migration

Marites ‘Tess’ Cortes was born in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines in 1960. She Immigrated to the United States in 1990, however, before Immigrating to the United States, she spent about 12 years living in Liberia. In 1978 Tess was a second-year student at University of San Carlos pursuing a Bachelor of Science with hopes of becoming a doctor. That year her father was hired to work for the government of health as a medical health officer in Cape Mount County, Liberia.  He was incredibly passionate about Tess’ education and encouraged her to immigrate to Liberia to pursue her education there, so he could ensure she did not lose focus. After 11 years, Tess had graduated, gotten married, and had two children. She traveled and visited home, however, her main country of residence was Liberia during those years. Civil war broke out in Liberia on Christmas Eve 1989, in 1990 All expatriates were first advised, and later demanded, to leave the country. By the end of the war, there were an estimated 200,000 casualties and over 1.2 million were displaced or refugees. This is a significant number considering the population in 1989 was only 2.1 million. Most Refugees fled to neighboring African countries like Sierra Leone, Ghana, Mali, Gambia, Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire. Rather than fleeing to a neighboring country, Tess and her children came to America seeking refuge in 1990.[1] When she first came to America she came with her two children, Alexis, who was 5 years old, and Amabel, who was 3 years old at the time. Tess’ mother, stepdad, and one of her sisters were already living in Springfield, Missouri and had become citizens so they lived with them once they initially arrived. Her husband met them in America a few years later.[2]

Tess’ immigration was motivated by family reunification, but her main reason was for her son Alexis who was diagnosed as having special needs. She wanted Alexis to be happy and have plenty of opportunity as a child and an adult and made that one of her highest priorities in deciding whether to go back to the Philippines or to Spain. Tess was aware that in both the Philippines and Spain they tried to hide special needs children from the public and keep them out of schooling, yet rights for disabled people in America at this time were radically ahead. The second half of the 20th century, and especially the decade preceding Tess and her children’s immigration to the United States, there were many advancements in civil rights for disabled children and adults in America. One of the most significant ones was the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975, later names The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This law prohibited all students with disabilities from being barred from attending schools with nondisabled students and receiving reasonable accommodations. Additionally, the Americans with Disabilities Act was introduced in the House in 1988 passed in 1990 just before Tess and her family arrived. The ADA’s purpose was to ensure equal access to government services, public transportation, and employment. There is no mentioning of citizenship, nationality, or legal status are made in any civil rights legislation for disabled children-this is in 1982 the supreme court ruled in Plyer V. Doe that under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment all public schools were required to educate all children residing in the U.S. [3]

[1] Although fleeing as refugees, Tess and her family did not claim refugee status.

[2] Shelly Dick, “Liberia,” Forced Migration Online, August 17, 2011, , accessed April 28, 2018,http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/expert-guides/liberia/alldocuments; Veronica Nmoma, “The Civil War and The Refugee Crisis in Liberia,” The Journal of Conflict Studies 17, no. 1 (1977), https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/11734/12489 ; World Bank, “Liberia: Data Sources: United Nations World Population Prospects,” World Bank organization, 2018,https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=LR&view=chart.

[3] Margaret A. Winzer, From Integration to Inclusion: A History of Special Education in the 20th Century, Washington: Gallaudet University Press, 2009; Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Public Law 101–336, U.S. Statutes at Large(1991). http://library.clerk.house.gov/reference-files/PPL_101_336_AmericansWithDisabilities.pdf; Edurne Chocarro De Luis, “Inclusive Education in Spain: Promoting Advocacy by Legislation,” Support for learning 31, no. 2 (2016): 165-172; Maria Isabel T. Buenaobra, “Overcoming Disability Challenges in The Philippines,” The Asia Foundation, 10/26/2011, https://asiafoundation.org/2011/10/26/overcoming-disability-challenges-in-the-philippines/

 

Immigration

Image from Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, 2008.

Tess entered the country on a visitor’s visa. She did not intend to stay in the United States permanently but decided to stay upon realizing it would be the best option for her kids about after a year. They applied for green cards easier since her mother was able to petition them but complicated by the fact that she was over 21 and married with children. Tess said when she got married before Immigrating to the United States she had the option of becoming a Spanish citizen because her husband was born there but she was too nationalistic to change citizenship from Filipino to Spanish. Her children, however, did have Spanish nationality. Spanish nationality made receiving a green card easier for her children due to the Hart-Cellar Act, also referred to as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The Hart-Cellar Act was monumental as it removed the National Origins Quota System which had been policing Immigration for decades.[1]  The above graph demonstrates how Filipino Immigration increased as a result of the Act. While the Law did eliminate racially motivated discrimination, it still restricted on the basis of origin per section 202 which includes:

No person shall receive any preference or priority or be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of his race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence…Provided, That the total number of immigrant visas and the number of conditional entries made available to natives of any single foreign state … shall not exceed 20,000 in any fiscal year.[2]

 

Additionally, the Hart-cellar Act placed annual limits on each hemisphere. The Western Hemisphere was granted 120,000 Visas and the Eastern Hemisphere was granted 170,000 visas.  These annual limits produced a shorter “waiting time” for her children’s visas to be approved than hers because family-based immigration to the United States was much lower in Spain than it was in the Philippines. Tess applied before the wait times increased drastically for as a result of the 1990 amendments to this section which became effective in 1992 and which made wait times much longer. Tess’ younger sister, however, was not as fortunate.[3]

The Immigration Act of 1990 reformed the Hart-Cellar Act. The sections related to family preference immigration and per-country limits were amended to say the total number of immigrant visas granted per country may not exceed 7 percent of the total number of visas per category for that year. The annual limit for Family-preference Visas has been 226,000 for the past twenty years. Although no longer called a quota, the law functions in a similar way as all countries are given the same limit irrespective of size. Waiting lines have been years long for Family preference Visas from the Philippines, India, China, and Mexico since it was enacted. According to the Philippines Final Action Dates Visa Bulletin. In 1992, F1 Permanent resident visa petitions being reviewed from November 1984.[4] Tess’ sister Applied in 1992 and had to wait over 10 years to immigrate from the Philippines and meet the rest of her family in the United States as a result of the Act. Long wait times are now a something virtually all Filipino Immigrants have to deal overcome. As of May 2018 Family-sponsored applications of Filipino Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens from October 1995 were being reviewed- over a 23 year wait.  [5]

 

[1] The National Origins Quota system was established by the Immigration Act of 1924 which capped the number of visas to be issued to each country at 2 percent of what the total number of people of that nationality was recorded as living in the United States during the 1890 Census. This act Banned Nonwhite immigration in an attempt to prohibit Asian, Indian, and Arabian immigration and to restore “American Homogeneity”. Note: under this Act Latin American’s were conceded white and Black African Immigrants were exempt from the ban.

[2] An act to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for other purposes, Public Law 89-236, 89th Congress, 1st Session (1965), 911-912.

[3] An Act to Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act p. 911-912; Cortes Interview; John M. Liu, Paul M. Ong, and Carolyn Rosenstein, “Dual Chain Migration: Post-1965 Filipino Immigration to the United States,” The International Migration Review 25, no. 3 (Autumn 1991): 492-500, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2546757

[4] FB-1 Visas are granted to unmarried children of U.S. Citizens over 21 years old.

[5] An Act to Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act p. 911-912; Immigration Act of 1990,Public Law 101-649,  U.S. Statutes at Large 101 (1990): https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg4978.pdf;  William A. Kandel, U.S. Family-Based Immigration Policy, CRS Report No. 43145 ( Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2018), https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43145.pdf; Cortes Interview; “Philippines Final Action Dates, U.S. Department of State- Bureau of Consular Affairs, 2017, https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/family-preference-cut-off-dates/Cut-off_Dates_Philippines_online.pdf; Daniel Huang, “A Devastating Wait: Family Unity and the Immigration Backlogs,” Asia Pacific American Legal Center, 2008, https://advancingjustice-la.org/sites/default/files/DevastatingWaitFamilyReport.pdf.

Life in the United States

All of Tess’ Immediate family have immigrated to the United States. This includes her Two younger sisters, mother, step-dad, and ex-husband. She has two children, Alexis who is her oldest son who was born in the Philippines and Amabel who was born in Liberia. She also has one grandchild. Tess’s children and Grandchildren live in St. Louis Missouri while she lives in Harrisonburg and works a Laboratory Technician at Cargill Turkey and Cooked Meats in Mount Crawford Virginia. She says this is difficult, but she has come to peace with because she feels they are much better off there. Tess enjoys the company of the people she works with, the work she does, and the benefit her job gives her. She hopes to retire at 62 or 63 and spend time with her children and grandkids.

Tess was born Catholic and raised in the Catholic church, but cut ties with Catholicism after her divorce. Tess discusses in great detail how her relationship with God improved once coming to Harrisonburg and joining the Harrisonburg First Church of The Nazerene at Boyers Rd. The Church of Nazarene also connected her with many Filipinos in Harrisonburg and volunteer opportunities throughout the community. Tess is also very involved with the Community interaction in Harrisonburg International festival of Harrisonburg and Filipino American Community of Shenandoah Valley. She served as Vice President of the organization from 20010-2014 and as President from 2014-2016.

Common Immigration Misconceptions

During the Interview at 1:32:30-1:38:30 Comments based on common misconceptions related to DACA and Hispanic Immigration were made which the Author feels but be addressed here.

Click here for link to original DACA Memo.

DACA does provide a path to citizenship, nor does it provide free education for immigrants. not permit immigrants to Attend college for free. Undocumented Immigrants are not permitted to receive Federal student aid which includes loans, grants, and work-studies. DACA simply allows undocumented Immigrants who were brought into the country while they were younger than 16 years old and lived in the United States for at least 5 years to apply to proactive deportation deferred action. DACA Does not change the legal status of these immigrants.

The above graphs illustrate that Documented and undocumented Immigrants from Hispanic countries do not “bring crime into America.” According to the 2000 census, the percent of males ages 18-39 who were incarcerated for each ethnicity were higher for U.S born individuals than foreign-born individuals. Additionally, the number of White, non-Hispanic males incarcerated in the US was much higher than all other ethnicities.[1]

 

[1]Facts and statistics from https://www.policefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Appendix-D_0.pdf

Ashley:                         00:00:00          Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. Um, to start, can you tell me your name, age, and who you are?

Tess:                             00:00:06          My name is Marites Cortes. I am fifty-seven years old and I work for Cargill. I am their chemistry lab technician at Mount Crawford Virginia. I came to Virginia in 2008, 26, 2008.

Ashley:                         00:00:06          And where did you come here from?

Tess:                             00:00:48          I came from a uh Missouri. Springfield, Missouri. Cargill is a big company dealing with a meat solutions. I was working at Willow Brook foods dealing also with Turkey. I was their lab tech for chemistry and micro. And Cargill bought it. And the lab supervisor here in Mount Crawford Cargill came to do inventory of our staff in the lab and she offered me to come here and see if I like to find out if I would like to go and work here also. So it was a last decision that I said, OK, I’ll go three days. It was all paper came and see and I liked the place and I saw a big opportunity for me to learn more testing. They had a bigger lab than where I was and plus the associates who were working there. They were all women and I feel like I, you know, I was accepted. I feel very comfortable with them, so I decided to come just for a year to find out something. I told my kids, I have two kids, and I told my daughter to give me one year, let me go there just to change that scenery and know something. So, um, I came then I like my job. I like the plant where I worked too. Everybody were very friendly and accommodating and feel like I have family too. and from coming over here. I met the especially Pam Showalter, she was out assistant HR and I was looking for a church so she invited me to go with her to Church of Nazarene at Boyers Road and Republic Road. And so I went with her and from then on I’m also a member and become a member of the church. And through that I met a lot of People oriented, very humble, and, and I learned more about that,  our God and  through our work too some people there took me to become a member at the RMH wellness center. So I went there and meet a lot of people also who are very positive minded and very supportive and was invited. One day I was, I met a Vounda Brown, she used to be the director for international festival of Harrisonburg. and she invited me to go to one of her meetings. So I went and then I, I got involved with the international festival of Harrisonburg. And from then on until now. And still, uh, I’m still, um, I’m one of their planning committee of the International Festival of Harrisonburg, which they always do It end of, it’s a Saturday, last Saturday of September every year. Um.  So, uh, my story is, very long. [laughs].

Ashley:                         00:04:42          I know you said that you planned on coming here for one year, but I feel like it’s been more than one year? {4:45}

Tess:                             00:04:54          It’s more than one. Yeah, my reason of staying more here is I think because uh, I got so much involvement with the community and uh, I feel like I really like it and it made my life more interesting. So I met a lot of people from different cultures, met a lot of people who are distinguished rich people, but I found them very, very humble  and, and, and most of all I learn more about our God and  with that knowledge I’m, I’m able to, um, to defend and talk about him to my friends and even to my family. I’m Catholic by birth. I mean I was born Catholic, but um, since I got divorced I feel like I was, I’m not anymore a Catholic because  of a, I know how rigid, you know, the, the way it is with the Catholic church. So I was looking for another church, like the assembly or God and some other churches. But when I came over here, uh, I find that a church of Nazarene is really where I belong because of their goals is knowing God and knowing God after that is go and reach out to people, you know. And share what I learned from there. There’s now pressure that’s which I like and, and just just being there and being very accepting, you know, and I think that’s how I am accepting and at the same time wanting to learn more about our lord and also trying and doing, doing his way just to, you know, to be his foot and hands and able to share what I know about him, to tell my friends and to people who have come to know me. And well the first time I really, I came here, I came here in 2008. That was like August somewhere maybe 24 of August and um, I came by car, uh, my, my daughter and Anabell came with me and my coworkers here already reserved or already um renting a place for me in Massanutten. I was there in Masssanutten for six months. Then when one day I went, one Sunday I went to church, a church of Nazarene. When I came out there came Eva Tran, a Filipina and married a foot doctor here in town. Dr Tom Tran and asked me if I am from Philippines. You know, or I’m Filipina and then invited me to go with her to meet other Filipinos because. Because I thin I said OK, because I was alone and I that time really I did not know a lot of Filipinos. Like it took me two months to meet a Filipino. I go to Walmart, sometimes hung out there and most of the people that come near to me are Spanish speaking and they talk the Spanish to me. And well I know how to speak Spanish too, so they thought I was Mexican and even I think my Filipino friend that I made later on, they thought I was Mexican because I could, I could speak Spanish. From church of Nazarene. I met a lot of yeah Mexican Spanish speaking people that I made really good friendship with, one from Dominican Republic and she just left this, uh, this month to go home and take care of her mom. But I’m hoping to see here one of these days to visit. Any ways, from church of Nazarene. I made like the doctor, ah pastor’s son and I got involved in hope distributed. It’s a food bank. So I started volunteering. I think that’s why one of the reason I came here because I came to, I feel like when I do service I was happy to do something at the same time I would say where I do this, I learned something. I connect with other people know more other cultures at the same time, learn, learn how to speak better or being learned to communicate with the Hispanic people because I sat down in the computer and asked for their basic questions in Spanish so my Spanish was being practice.  So I love doing that. And so I’ve been doing that a lot. And Cargill at the same time, is a very good company because the support ambassador hours, you know the support. Well I’m doing this job outside Cargill. I get the hours, as ambassador hours for Cargill. So they, you know, the acknowledge it and which is one of. I think that year when I started doing a lot of things, I became one of their ambassador of the year for that plat because I had so many hours. I mean I wasn’t doing something. I was just. I mean, at home I couldn’t stay home because I was like lonely thinking about my son, my kid, and so I devote my time doing service so it was good and I feel good and I, I was not really so lonely because I know, uh, I found myself having passion, doing community service. I did not know that when I was in Springfield I was very attentive to work, family, my mom and there, so my life evolved with my work and my family. I came over here, my work and my life become involved with my work and the community and I found that I love doing it and being with the Filipino community at the same time, um, i got involved with them. And at first I did not want to be a member because they have this membership and all this thing and I didn’t want to be any officers. I was just saying I come and help out. I don’t have, I don’t want to be an officer or something. But then Eva Tran, then one day said, no, we want a vice president. Our community’s name is Filipino American community of Shenandoah Valley. So she said, we need a, a, a vice president because our vice president stepped down and they want a replacement and they so me, I think I was very engrossed with community services, so she said, you can think that place. So I said, no, I don’t know how. But then later I said, OK, so I become vice president in that starts in 2010 until 19… oh 15 because 2015 the president stepped down. its a two years a term. So, um, when she stepped down, there’s one more year for her to do. So I have to step up and take her place. So I was doing that and then the following year there was an election again and I just did it. So I did three years of presidency in our community until, uh, until 20… 2016. {13:33}

Ashley:                         00:04:54          And was that a lot of responsibility for?

Tess:                             00:13:38          oooh [laughs]. It was. And I was asking, I was, I was saying it was a lot of responsibility being president. Um, I learned a lot from them from that experience. I learned a lot. I learned to be strong and I learned to be more independent and I do find some shortcomings that if I had to get, you know, be that or be another person, I could do something different, I can modify it because I know how, how short I was in some areas, but I know that during my time I did give my best, I did it all and that made me more satisfied and happy with myself despite of all these struggles is it’s a big struggle. So when you are in a position, if you have to step in when somebody is not there or you have to do it or if there’s. No, no… [laughs].

Ashley:                         00:14:47          I understand what you mean. {14:47}

Tess:                             00:14:48          I think it’s everywhere in any kind. It doesn’t have to be a president or even like what you’re doing if you are like you have friends to do one job and some is not. giving total energy on it. Not giving effort, doing it. Somebody who leads us to take over and make sure that it’s done. And it brought me that realization that, um, to be that maturity type of thing. Where become I become, I think became very responsible and the only thing that I could have done also is I could have it. I became very serious and I should not be, you know, I mean because that’s for just for myself, you know, but I could have, you know, just not give in to people when they said I should have bought more thing. This is your part, you should do this. I am not taking all of the work.  I mean that’s what they should have done, you know. But anyway, it’s an experience that when it comes back will not do it again. Right. Because we learn from it. So. But through to our community, the, in the, in the President, I also meet a lot of community leaders from different culture. So it’s really my, a  friend circle become big responsibility becomes bigger because they asked me to, oh we have a meetings leaders and so we can, we are going to do this and that for the community. And I was always, you know, I was always doing it for community. I think. Yeah, I think about the community for me. So most of the time my home is left because I’m always out out, out, and they invite me. I’m always up, come back home. I said, oh my goodness, it’s good. I’m alone.  Or else I would be in trouble. That’s, that’s the life I had an being. Um, and then, um, the expectations of people also. Sometimes if you don’t, if you think about that, you’ll be lost. You’ll be depressed. So now I said no. I mean what I did, I know that I said I cannot promise you anything, but I’ll do my best while I’m in that position. I cannot do more than what you expect me. It’s just giving my best. If you find me somebody who can do better than me, go for it. That’s what I did. Yeah. So, but with our community, our community, I feel like with me and the other people, I cannot just do it by myself during my time. We achieve a lot of things, you know, we have done, like we registered a social group that’s during my time. Then we have been performing during international festival. We do our cultural dances and also two years ago we also started our own Dahlia is a string instruments and we added it in our performance in, during the, when we, the community, we were able to like, I’m also one of their dancers, so we were able to perform dances. We used to be invited by elementary schools. So we go like stonespring elementary, the Harrisonburg school, that school behind, um, Lowes, I forgot the elementary school right there.

Ashley:                         00:14:48          Skyline?

Tess:                             00:18:48          Yeah. So we perform our cultural dances there and when, one time also we at for the first time and last time we participated on a July fourth parade and we had, we had uh, we won as the most creative. Yeah. Float. So it was something that I could think that and feel happy with it because I know it was, it was not given, it was with a lot of effort to do things like that, you know.  So, but now that I’m not here, I could say I could take deep breaths and I could say, well that’s good to know. I can, I can. I told myself I can take care of myself. Now I have a, I bought me a house three years ago, a two bedroom house because from one I told you it was for my son six months. Then I’m to Eva splays for over a year. One year something. Then, uh, because she was saying that they were selling their place, so they helped me find another one bedroom apartment with the crystal field properties at pleasant valley. So I stayed there. Until  Yeah, June. I think that was June until June. 2015 I stayed. I stayed there and then at that time I said, well, I don’t know if my kids want me back. I would go back to Missouri.  I will just forget my job. So I asked my kids, you really want me to be there? Back to you? I said, I’m ready. I am ready to go back if you really want me. Then my daughter said, no, mommy, just stay there because they found out that my company is a big company and I would not be able to find me a job like that with the privileges. you know I have invested a lot of my time because where when I was working with Willow Brooks, I have 13 years and they have accepted that years, so that year plus this year, so I’m now 20 something years, so that was a blessing for me to have that because the owner, my years of service at Willow brooks, so at this time I, I’m now getting all the benefits of the Cargill employee and it’s, it’s not easy to go start all over again and I’m looking into our am 57 years old, 58 in October, so looking into an early retirement which is maybe 62, 63 so I can spend my time with my grandkids.  I have one now.

Ashley:                         00:18:48          Congratulations! {21:50}

Tess:                             00:21:51          Yes, I had. She got, she turned one year old in March this year and so that’s my plan as of now. You’ll never know. It can change, but I’m. Where I am now is I have changed quite a bit from that experience of being the president and the going in to do the service because I was very active with Relay of life through our work. Very activity that relay of life, united way, um black run clean up, which we just did up Harrisonburg and then I am a mentor of also the bbs big sister. Big Brother’s and I started with them, draw our, a company to, uh, this is my third year.

Ashley:                         00:21:51          oh, nice!

Tess:                             00:22:48          I have a, maybe she’s 12 years old. No, I think know she was nine when I started. So, uh, black run, united way. And from time to time there was a time I was with the climate change, which are Johnny and the voice of Harrisonburg. I don’t know If you heard about that, it started about two years ago. I was there in the first year…

Ashley:                         00:22:48          Yes I have.

Tess:                             00:23:15          with Lisa Porter. Yeah. So I started with that, but then a last year really I had, I was, my health was going down. I have a knee surgery, total knee replacement. It was hard for me. So I had my surgery in November last year. So I really, my health that prevails me to be more active because every time I started it was just hurting. So I decided to have the total knee replacement and came back to work this early 18th of January up to now and, and trying to just reorganize my life, you know, it’s not easy. I did not know that, you know. Yeah. Going back, doing your normal work and then being alone. Now I have a house, I have more responsibilities the yard the inside, you know, it’s different when you are just being in an apartment and there’s so many things like the hope distributed. We’re raising funds for, for a We have a new building and we’re raising funds. So this year really I’m very much involved. I am still trying to. Yeah. But I’m planning to be, to go back and be also a help with the international festival this year. You can see as you come and see us!

Ashley:                         00:23:15          of course, yes!

Tess:                             00:24:56          yeah and and we will be needing some help too [laughs]. we will be needing a lot of help.

Ashley:                         00:24:59          I love to get involved too, Yes. You have my phone number

Tess:                             00:25:01          yeah and you can even come and be in our meetings. So. So the more people. And we know that the more diversity we are, the better we can be where I am to that I am so enthused. And so I’m motivated to, I like people to come, you know, give them support and give them encouragement and motivation to be involved because really life is short and when you are involved as when you’re, you feel more in it and you feel more heartier because you see the fruit of your labor talking. It’s not you talk any work with it and that’s the best way. Yeah. So yeah, 2008 and 2018 by August, this 18 years here in Harrison, in, in, in Virginia because my son not in six months, then Harrisonburg after that until 2015. then my I, my house. i’m now in my house.

Ashley:                         00:25:01          okay.

Tess:                             00:26:14          Yeah. So that’s Harrisonburg has changed a lot really when I came in and it was a very small town, it was like a very few people. But then lately, like maybe two, three years ago started going up and that everything’s like now I see lots of houses right there in republic road. There was no houses in that side.

Ashley:                         00:26:38          Do you think these have been good changes or?

Tess:                             00:26:47          For me it? is me. I love changes because I know in changes there’s it’s, it’s beneficial for everyone. You know, you cannot stay like history, you know, you need to evolve and be a better person. Maybe you encounter things that are not good, but at the same because there’s always bad and good things even as we have our bad side and good side, but if we cultivate our good side we will be more better person. They’re not cultivated bad side, so that’s when I meet somebody.  I always look for the good things because I know when I look for by bad things, there’s always something that I can be, but when you meet somebody and look at the good things, you hear people saying, oh, she is. Like I said, I’m not going to be that judgmental or not. just letting them because of what they said. I will just follow. It’s how the person react with me and how the person talk with me that I can say something and sometimes I said we are now because I know God. I said, God, please help me. Help this person change or realize what she’s doing because there are certain. Say there are certain, there are certain times, there are certain ways when you can also tell this person, you know, you cannot just tell you’re not good, you did this one is something like I learned to feel, to feel how, how may react or something. I don’t know if you have that.

Ashley:                         00:26:47          yeah, understand what you mean there yes.

Tess:                             00:28:27          As you grow, as you get more experienced, you learn, you learn that feeling. But it’s sometimes it’s just if our mind is so busy we don’t have that. But if we just slow down a little bit and even listen to what the person say you can, you can get it.

Ashley:                         00:28:47          Can you think of any um, I guess any further changes that you would like to see in our community in harrisonburg or improvements?

Tess:                             00:28:56          I would love for the people to be more involved, you know, on what we’re doing here because in reality it’s when you are involved that you can make more changes. You know, I want to see the other people get motivated, excited, get, you know, find some, find something in them that will, that will, that we can use to excite them. So they see the good changes, you know, we, we need to be more on top of the good changes even though we cannot say that it’s a good change but be open to it and if there’s something that’s you think that will not give a positive impact, then we can find solution that solution yet get solutions from, you know, from the discussion of the different groups in the community. Because I know we have different culture and mentality are different. Even you, even Americans, I think it depends on how they grew up in their houses. So they had their own culture at home and more on us. We come from different country and sometimes I know a lot of my friends, they have a terrible time. um just terrible time to adjust in this country because one example is like in my country, you can go and visit your friends anytime here we need to call and, and you go, sometimes you come to our place and we’re eating. You are invited. That’s why we always cook more, more food because if there’s somebody there we can always have this share our food because we don’t want somebody sitting down there and we’re eating. We want to share and have them with us and sometimes it was for me it was one of them, my shook because I know that this, these kids are coming to my place and when we are eating we were always so open and get some, give them something to eat. But one day I was in their house and they were eating. I feel so bad. I was embarrassed because they were eating under just like looking at me and didn’t say nothing. you know? so it was so bad i didn’t know what to do. so i just said oh can I just go home, I’ll come back. Yeah, because you know, it’s just, we’re not used to it.

Ashley:                         00:28:56          It’s different yeah. {31:37}

Tess:                             00:31:37          But with my step dad, my dad, my dad passed away. He was 42. My mom remarried. My Stepdad, who is from [inaudible], Missouri and she, they were here in. She came to stay here in 1984. I think that when and I came here in 1990 to  stay. I came from Liberia, Africa. So we. He did not know too much too, and we were sitting there and you’re used to just, he was just eating and eating and I think he was thinking that we just go dig in and eat because we, at first we were staying in their house. We took refuge because of the civil war in Liberia. So I had to, we were, we were, um, order to get out of the country because it was really getting bad. So me and my kids came to my mom and stayed with them for a year, but at first it was hard a little bit because that at least he was a very nice step dad and he was used to eating and all. But then later on he, he’s, he changed too because they were there and he said, come on, get some food, you know.  So we kind of. Yeah.

Ashley:                         00:33:03          How old were your kids when you came here with them?

Tess:                             00:33:06          My son was, um, it was in 1990 and he was born in 87, 85, so five years. And my daughter is about three, three to four years old because he, she’s born in 87. The first time I came here in America is 1985. Then I stayed a little bit longer because I went with my mom to Philippines and we did have his birthday in Philippines and then came back here. So I came for vacation for three months. That’s including Philippines and here. Then when my daughter was four months old in 87, we took her also here so my mom can see, can see her. So in 1990 we came to stay because of the bad thing and I was I was not that. I came with a passport with a. How you call this one. I was not an immigrant yet. Then, uh, we applied for  a green card holder and then my mom, because my ex-husband is from Spain, didn’t say your mom is coming, whether it’s getting married, an American. Don’t tell me that you want to go to America. You know how Spanish people something. So I don’t know if you know some other. We have also this thing of them that they are so proud people too. So I really I never thought that being a citizen. Yeah. we immigrate and then we realize that Africa is not going to be a better country for us. And the kids started going to school. So my mom, um, petition as, and we work on our papers. We were still here, we did pay a lawyer to take care of our papers. We didn’t have to get out of the country, so we have our green cards. Then later on the time that we could do our, um, being a citizen a, I did not do it until like, I think I came to tell since become a citizen until about 2007 I think. 2007 or 6  I applied for my citizenship.

Ashley:                         00:35:26          And what was it like coming here and I was adjusting to this new climate with your kids being so young too?

Tess:                             00:35:31          that was not really a problem because Africa It’s very hot and humid. It came here in April so, um, it was a little bit colder over, so scared. Remember in in, in Missouri, the thunder and the lightning, they were like giant  hearing it was there was a child and the three of us, because my mom had this big bed a queen sized bed, so the three of us, when we hear the lightning and thunder, we were three of us were just covered with them. with the blanket who were hugging each other because we were so scared, but then later on it was kind of. Yeah, it did. It was so cold and it was like, yeah, we did. One thing that I learned through my mom is she was always on top of me. I said, you will not survive in here if you’re too slow. Because I did. I usually just cook, so I just attended to my cooking. When I washed my clothes. I just attend to washing clothes. Say not, not here in America you have. I learned multitasking, so when I cook she showed me cook, wash clothes and iron. we used iron clothes until the time that we learned not to iron it [laughs]. but she showed me when you don’t have to iron, if you are on top of it. I mean when it’s done you take it out and fluff it and it’s almost like you’re ironing. Yeah. But if you let it stay there will be all wrinkled, wrinkled. You can just turn it on again. The best thing is put in a hanger. I learned that one.

Ashley:                         00:35:31          yes my mom taught me that too [laughs]. {37:24}.

Tess:                             00:37:26          Yeah. So you don’t have. But my mom is very good, with it when she just take it out and all this fold it good and it just kind of like you iron it and its still warm. Yeah. So my mom would say, you can not do this in America. all the time my mom was here so. you know,  I used, at first I was not able to work because I came here as a, just a visitor visa. Yeah. Until uh, we had a friend, my sister was working uh, in one restaurant and she knew the owners and she waitressed is good money in the, you know, when you went to such really good, especially on a good restaurant, they give really good tips. So to change my environment and being bored, being home and not doing anything. So I go like Fridays, Friday nights and Saturday nights, like being, I was doing a hosTess. Yeah. They later on when I have my, you know, when my papers were OK, I started, I love to cook, so I found a part-time job, just a part-time job cooking for some priests in that and I learned a lot of things doing it also because they just let me go and just let me go to the grocery stores and just sign my name and get whatever I want for me to and it was nice. Then later on I went and my mom was always on top of me so you need to go back to school and she wanted me to become a nurse because it was in demand, so I went to school, do my pre nursing courses and started a [inaudible] for registered nurse at St John’s School of nursing and know it in Springfield, Missouri in Missouri. So I do have a bachelor degree in zoology.  That’s my major. And my minor chemistry. I have graduated in Liberia, University of Liberia because that’s where I came from. I, yeah, I, I went there when I was 18 years old and went to school. [inaudible confusion]  Yeah. My, my own. I should not be saying that. Where my dad worked for the government of health. He was a medical doctor. That’s when he went to Africa and he was one of the, uh, like a, a doctor in one province.

Tess:                             00:40:13          He was the medical officer of one province of Liberia and I was 18 and I had a boyfriend, a Filipino who was in Canada and asked my dad for marriage. I was in Philippines. they left us in Philippines because we were still the second years. I was a sophomore and doing a bachelor of science. My Dad called and said What? What’s this? I was not ready for marriage. My ex, my, my boyfriend was. And so he decided for me and my other sister to. Take us to Africa because he did not want us to get married so young. I was 18, so after they are, when we went to school there. But then that same year two, my dad passed away. He had a cardiac arrest. He was and he was doing so much work where they had some epidemic from that province and he had to take almost everyday travel to Monrovia.  The capital. Liberia too, [inaudible] for his patients because they did not have the resource, the medicine to take care of them so they have to go to the main main hospitals. They were just at that time they were just building a hospital also, so my dad stayed in the hospital for two to, I think it was two nights, one Saturday we went there and spend time with them in home to our friend to sleep. On Sunday morning we were woken, waking up and said, hey, you need to go to the hospital, you need to go to your dad. So. But when I reached there, that already passed away.

Ashley:                         00:42:23          I’m sorry to hear that.

Tess:                             00:42:25          yeah, Forty two years old. So we took his cadaver home. Philippines, everything is paid by the government and the government of Liberia offered us scholarship to finish school. So that’s what happened. And then there I met my ex-husband from Spain because my mom started working for the company and my mom met my dad, my step dad, and I said, well I better go home to up Philippines. I don’t want to be in the middle of them relationship. I don’t want to stay with them and they get married and there comes this guy, my ex husband and said, hey, this. He felt, he told me how he felt and that is OK if I go back to Philippines. But then I decided, OK, I just marry, got married with him for 16 years and have two kids, Amabell and Alex and got divorced here in, um, 19… I cam 1990 So 9- about 97. You got divorced and at the same time my stepdad passed away the same day we were in the court. Yeah, my step-dad passed away. My mom is never married, but, um, were four girls. All girls? No. No boys and the oldest

Ashley:                         00:42:25          Are your siblings here here too?

Tess:                             00:44:02          yes we’re all here. Yeah. My Step-dad one was in Philippines. Before then my dad was asking, only went for her. It was very hard for her to come because she was over age already. When my mom get married with my step that it took him only a week or two weeks to change the nationality. Yeah. My Dad, my step dad was a diplomat. He was a agriculture specialists in Liberia at that time. We. And USA personnel, so it was OK because my sister was only eight or nine years old when it happened. When they got married it was easy for them. So she went and traveled with them and we went to Bangladesh and then they gave me, said 60 or sorry, my stepdad said no, I want to retire. So he stayed here and my mom stayed with them and she went to work and, and get some certificate. Become uh, you know, the one that gives medicine to the older people that’s like she had to do. She was only as a nursing student when she married my dad at that time when they get married. So when she came, she worked in the nursing home and then we get certified. And that’s the thing when I came in here, yeah, it was hard for me because I wasn’t so use.  I was used to have my own place and have somebody do things for me. I came back here, had to do everything and nobody would take care of my daughter and my sons. I have to do that. And then I also found, we found out that my son was also, he’s disabled. He is, uh, he has a retardation, mental, like a child. So that’s the main thing, I think really that it’s the main thing. That’s why we decided to stay here in America because of the, his future, you know, I want him to be happy and, and I found out and I’ve seen how the American um, Accept disabled people and how they make the support and have their life better where I could not find it at home in Philippines or in Spain because I’ve seen a lot of disabled people in Spain. They hide them from people. They stay at home here. I see a lot of the, a lot of things they can do, you know, a lot of things they offer for them to have a full life if possible. So that’s the one thing I liked and made me, you know, so yeah, this is a place for my son

Ashley:                         00:44:02          And what kinds of things has your son been doing?

Tess:                             00:47:22          well, yeah, at first it was stuff also really having the not same for him because he is mentally child. He’s  33 years old. He just turned 33, last 18 of this month, so he, he goes to workshop in Springfield and there’s an access bus that comes picking up. We pay a little bit because it’s government funded, so Monday when Monday to Wednesday he works in the workshop and then choose a Thursday to Friday he goes to continued ed and to learn skills. Like a money casheir. Yeah, but during like Mondays and Mondays after work he goes bowling when you have. Yeah. We enrolled him in bowling and on Tuesdays he goes to team. He goes to a park. There were a lot of the same disables people, different categories. They go meet and they do things together. Yeah. And I wanted him more, but my, my daughter said, no mom he wont even have more time to Spend time with that with dad.  So I said OK, but he wants to come here with me. And as a mom I feel so bad about it though because I know whenever I go visit name she, he has me that day that I go home, he just has mum I want to go with you to see that. Yeah. But before that he was always with me. We got divorced, he was with me, she stayed with me, just me and him because my daughter was with that middle school. She went and, and with him stay with him and different city which is like about 20 minutes away. Yeah. But my son was always with me. He only go and visit his dad on weekends, like Friday night he comes to pick him up and he said he sent to me on Sunday afternoon. So when I came over here, that was really tough. I know I was crying almost sometimes I was doing my job because I miss him a lot and whenever I go he likes it to me and he hugs me that when he turns away and then there was one time I know he was crying. Yes, he was because. When I leave  sometimes when I go there I drive by myself how to draw them. So much driving time. And then one time I went back, I say I forgot something. [interruption] He turned around and I see this big tears just running on the cheek. So when I went back to  then and i’m just crying crying half way to St Louis and I don’t know if you know springfield, Missouri, Springfield and St Louis, like about four hours drive my. I have two sisters and they live in O’fallon outside simply is. So that’s where I go sometimes stop there before I proceed my trip to Springfield. Like I live here like 7:00 o’clock in the morning or if I could better five I reached to,  to their place in St Louis about let’s say about 8:00 because you know the time change because one time. So I reached about 8:00 in the evening. So yes, sometimes I just stayed there so spend time with them, sleep there and then the following day I go proceed to Missouri which is about four hours drive . But there was a time I went straight though I went straight from here there I reached like maybe 11, almost 12  o’clock.

Ashley:                         00:51:24          oh wow, Do you feel like here in Harrisonburg there would be less opportunity for your son or? {51:29}

Tess:                             00:51:29          There is a lot of opportunity because I went and looked for it. I went to the workshop, I met a lot of people, I was researching about the opportunity, the possibilities for him to come, but my, the reason that I just stopped doing it because I don’t want to have any bad relationship with his sister Amabell and his dad because his dad told the kids that the only reason why he’s here is because of them or is he would have been in Spain. So I think in my daughter’s mind she said, mom, dad did not go and for, for, for him to be with me and i’m just me, you know, if something happened to me, what will happen to Alexis? So while there she is there and her dad is there and my mom is there. So that’s the main thing. So I did, I just stop because she told me if you’re insistent taking him there, I will fight you in court and I don’t want that. I want, I want our family to be close to be together. Now that they have accepted that me and her dad cannot, we outgrow each other. We cannot be together. You know, it just not she, she knows that. And she accepted that I don’t want more, more, you know, conflict. So that’s why when I go there, yeah, he spend, he has a bowling is like, he’s so happy. And wherever I go he wanted to be with me all the time. We got to walmart, i said stop talking because he’s loud. And then he tells the cashier, this is my mom from Virginia. Yeah.  that’s my son, but he is Is Very, he is fun. Loving. Very um, helpful was to help all the time. Only my mom didn’t want him to help. She thinks that she is faster. Know she didn’t have the patence but we knew how, you know, mom doesn’t have patient. She’s in hers. She, my mom’s 77 years old. So I miss him. But at the same time thinking I have to be strong because I want him to bond with his dad and his sister. I know if I’m there, even my daughter I think will not be so strong like now because I know they want something. I will be running, I’ll be there when I’m not there. They have to struggle to. And struggle makes you strong.

Ashley:                         00:54:26          umhm, kind of like how you learned how to be more independent. when coming here {54:30}

Tess:                             00:54:28          Yeah. And becoming more independent. Yeah. First Time I came here in Missouri In Missouri not. Not the time that we spent. I was so scared to go out alone. I don’t want to go out. And My step dad taught me how to drive. I was, I already drove in Africa where I have a stick-shift car. But when I came here, so my stick that showed me how to use the automatic. Yeah. So, but then yeah, I learned and then I realized that if I don’t go venture to other places I’ll go nowhere. So that’s what I did. And I showed my other friend who’s been there for a while. She was so scared to go to Kansas City. I know Kansas city. Have you been there?

Ashley:                         00:55:22          I have not been there, no.

Tess:                             00:55:25          Boy, they have this four lanes and drove fast. And my friend, she used to go there to act as a service because she is Church of Christ, but Christ founded by a Filipino in Philippines. So they have a church there and she’s part of that. And she used to call me and tell me, let’s go drive the car. For me and yeah, it’s so fast. It’s like 70 up there  and four lanes. and then now she, she does drive.

Ashley:                         00:55:59          Did you teach her how to drive or?

Tess:                             00:56:01            I think it’s not teaching. She knew how to drive, but the thing is the courage, the courage to go there, to be brave, to go because she was frozen, scared and I know that’s our thing is when we are scared we cannot do anything. It stopped us from doing something. It stopped us from feeling the good things. It does stop us. It makes us do just do something. You don’t want to change because you want just the common thing, a normal thing. You want what you used to be, but it’s when like change, like you said, the change in Harrisonburg. if we are not opening the change. Just imagine. Just imagine we will not grow. The mentality over the people will not. They will be stopped and then when somebody come in and it was a what? It’s when you are exposed to these, exposed to other people, exposed to other culture that your your knowledge also really expand and then by that I feel like when you know about them, you really learn to respect. You will learn to understand why they do it is in that because if you don’t know, you see thats so weird. why are you doing that, that’s not right.  How do well, how would you put this not right when they don’t know how we are brought up or how we see things. I mean as for me, yeah, that’s me and I think I feel exposure, exposing people to other culture, the things that maybe kind of weird will help a lot too. To open the mind or the community. thats why  involvement of everyone and and discussing things together where we can discuss. We can talk in an adult way. we don’t have to quarl. We didn’t have to fight. We can compromise and find good ways to do things. You know where everyone involved gets the benefits. I will just that there’s always a way where we can benefit and only also we. That’s it. It’s, it’s, it’s educate.

Ashley:                         00:58:42          I know you’ve told me about quite a few important changes in your life. Were there any other important changes?

Tess:                             00:58:51          My religion, the changes, uh, for me now I have changed a lot through experiences. Like relationship for me is I wouldn’t say sacred, but I do respect and it’s a big thing for me. relationship And when I relate with people I do the best way I can, where I can be more authentic. The one that changed me is like being in a lot of people are so down to earth and are so open to, to their bad experiences because it’s very hard to tell other people your bad experience. We want to tell the good things, you know, and it’s so hard to accept that we do make mistakes and that’s one thing that I have learned that being honest and being authentic and being respectful and, and an open minded will will help me a lot. it makes my life different.   My perception has changed. i have changed, I have changed. Yeah. I have changed and I know I have been patient, right? Patient. But um, I was a little bit judgmental before. I now I’m not, I’m not. That judgemental.

Ashley:                         00:58:51          Judgmental in what sense?

Tess:                             01:00:39          judging people. How the…like culture wise, you know. why do you do this and why do you do that? I accepted that. It doesn’t mean that I have to do it.  I will not tell you. Oh, that’s not good because I mean, I know, I know God, but that’s the part where I could not see God. Did they know what they’re doing or you don’t know what they’re doing please. It’s not for me to tell them, but it’s, you know, I will pray for them. You know, because there are so many things here that’s done that like morality, you know? Uh, it’s not for me and, and I, I just like, I just pray for that because now they have something [inaudible]. Girls don’t be so freezing. Girls don’t just open your legs. [laughs] I’m sorry,not just open then.  boys don’t do that. Don’t do that. You know, your, your mom, you have to thing you need to respect the women. But it’s just that the thing that people really do value our values are, you know, I think there’s a lot of…I just feel like being a woman, we deserve the best. And having the best is also finding self respecting us because if we don’t have the self respect you, you cannot expect the best for you need to allow yourself to have your own value and the Stand firm for it. It cannot be just because like this guy got so much money, have the best sports car and all. It’s OK. It’s not OK. You have to think of the consequences. Is that I feel like everybody has a choice. No, it’s not for me to judge them, that kind of way as for me, I want the best bring God’s blessing. And so I think that’s why I’m still like this. I mean people will say, why didn’t you get married again? I have experienced, but it’s hard, you know, it’s hard to trust in our relationship. Substance is very important. If somebody cannot respect you and don’t have any value, how can you? i want a Marriage, I don’t want any more divorce. I want marriage for life if there is. Yeah. And so that’s, that’s what I said. I’d rather be not married somebody and I’m still happy they think i’m lonely, i’m not. I know god. I have a lot of people.

Ashley:                         01:03:30          Yeah. You have youtr whole community here.

Tess:                             01:03:31          Uh, yeah, I have the whole community and I learned and I still, I’m still growing  every day. We are growing rating every day we’re learning something. We just have to be open and, and one thing also I learned is to accept  it because I think I have that feeling that I don’t deserve it. I said, thank you.  If I said, oh no, no, I didn’t do it, you know, that’s not now. I learned to say when somebody say something good, I said, oh thank you. Need to learn to love our self being human being a woman

Ashley:                         01:04:13          That’s a great attitude to have {1:04:15}.

Tess:                             01:04:18          Yeah, and I know we can Instill it to other women because we deserve the best and to be really the best is to have our own self value. The be firm, but money isn’t everything because you know what? Have money now, how about tomorrow

Ashley:                         01:04:18          it could be gone.

Tess:                             01:04:41          its gone and when its gone what you do, you’ll be crying in the street asking for help. Nobody’s helping me. Maybe three friends we’ll have even now or for two, three days it will be awake, but they cannot continue helping you with your own family.

Ashley:                         01:05:01          I have another question. Since being here, building on the judgment. Have you experienced any judgment from other people?

Tess:                             01:05:09          Maybe, but I don’t look at that way. I, I, I don’t put it in my mind because I know there’s people that were, are always they survived from negativity, you know, to get people, so to do that, I’ve seen people that will put you down to make them feel good about you, but that’s up to you really is. That’s up to us. If we let them do that, does we call toxic people? Never happy, never happy. They always complaining. I met those people too. People were always stock something. No matter how you try, you’ll be positive with them and try to put energy in them, but they are not happy. I learned to stop doing it. I learned to just get away. Stay away from that. People. Stay away and have your sense of you don’t want to be crazy. You don’t want to be depressed. Be with people who are, who give you positive energy, who makes you feel happy because  it happens a lot to me, especially at work when sometimes you are overworked and people get like depressed and, and start bickering. i dont want too or not just work friends. I don’t get involved with that. I don’t want to get involved with them. Stay away from drama.

Ashley:                         01:06:50          So I know you told me where you’re working now and I told you, told me back when you were in Missouri that you worked as a hosTess and as a cook. Did you do anything else in between that time or?

Tess:                             01:07:01          I work, I will work with that. I work with willowbrook foods to. I know everything right there because I started as a….how you call this one? Um, I started from the bottom like any production, we’re dealing with turkey in there. So I started second shift and I was fun to, it was open wide and eye opening for me because learning, oh this is how to make. This is how ham was made you know the slices that you buy at the grocery stores. Oh, this is how I did. I said, they say we need to strip it and say what’s stripping because we put this, they make, they make this ham and put it a special, a plastic and they put it in the oven, Cook it, and then after the oven, that’s when we strip the plastic. We take out the plastic bag and then when we take it from their we  either wrap it with spices. Sometimes you can this, there’s lots of spices. so either wrap it or some of them we, it goes through the conveyor belt with a liquid smoke liquid smoke on it. I a.. I mean that’s, eye opening for me. I’ve never seen this how are they made. from there. We put it in the machine where it bags again, we bag them. Then it was the uh, dates and then put in the box input. But from that box it goes to pallets then to the car, to the truck that will deliver it, you know? And some of them we fry. And from there I worked, that’s production for sometimes. Then I got so tired because we were. I said, what’s going on? We may work better than men though. I’d seen guys. Is this a big guys? But look at this. They’re like, im not saying lazy but um I think they let the women work.

Ashley:                         01:07:01          I believe it.

Tess:                             01:09:18          Yeah, we work more than them So I said no, let me go to sanitation and worked for sanitation. But first I was working in the laundry six months now I did not forget because that was a tough job. Never ending washing, folding, drying, just we smocks white smocks, big glovess of these sleaves, the aprons, the gloves standing and its never ending. And then somebody asked for supplies, you know, come there. I was, I was doing second ship. So I said, oh, I went home to the Philippines for a vacation. When I came back I said, no, I want to do other things. So I went and do other things. I clean stuck cleaning floors, cleaning bathrooms,  never done that before in my life.  never cleaning floors. And then I’m cleaning a containers where the grin for the Turkey, the the grin that they fixed for Turkeys. Makes So injectors, injectors, choppers. Huge massagers use much bigger than this. And at first I was waiting for somebody. I’m too small. I cannot love something. You know? Sometimes you have to lift the cover. After that I said, no, I cannot wait for somebody to come and help me. I find ways where I could take it out so I can clean it, so I started from that. Then I become a trainer from you see its by hats, white iand then we have yellow, which is training. Then blue, the blue. It was become you become a an area leader, how you know and red is the supervisor, so I become blue. I got the hat for blue and when you have that you have to learn, know how to train, how to inspect because you have to inspect machines before a QC quality control before, but production come and do use the area so you need to clean all those areas.  I learned to. Nobody wanted to climb. It’s not claiming, but you have to have a G cliff where it push you, that thing that machine that  it goes up to clean the units. yeah you have to harness and all. I had to do the things that I’ve never done in my life and dealing with different kinds of people there because there’s a lot of people that can stay. It was third shift from 10:30 to 6:30 in the morning. So a lot of us, our, our coworkers come from a halfway house. You know what this halfway house?

Ashley:                         01:09:18          No, i’m not familiar with it. {1:12:32}

Tess:                             01:12:32          they were, they were criminals. They were like, some of them were mostly the one that I had was um, they were the meth the main meth, so they were in jail halfway house. It’s like halfway going out. They’re almost ready to get out the finish their sentence. So they were in the halfway house and then their supervisor, they have something in there somewhere in the ankle.  They have that one become an work willow brooks It’s OK for them. But Cargill don’t accept felons though. They were fellons, right? Cargill don’t accept those. If you have a felony, a thing, they will not accept your accept. But Willow Brock’s before. Yes. Especially for sanitation because Ah, we’re always short of people and it’s hard to get people to work third shift. So we have people from halfway house, some of them mostly from meth and production and some of them really killed some people too, but they were in the halfway house. They are almost done and there’s always somebody that we can call if something happen. So  I started from knowing everything from there and then I feel, so for me, I, I’m happy because for me I knew, I knew it. It’s just the knowledge of knowing, being able to do it. That’s where I am. I mean I was not thinking about this status really. It’s  just my knowledge that learning things and being able to do it and at the same time really is also a having respect with other people even though they come from that type, from the area of their life, you know, because there are things that I find very good in them because they are criminals doesn’t mean that they are so bad. They are bad.

Ashley:                         01:14:37          And now, um, so what kinds of… I know you told me a little bit about your job now, but what kinds of work and like what kinds of people are you working with now here in Harrisonburg?

Tess:                             01:14:46          oh, Here we’re like family where where I’m working with were not so many and there’s one guy and one guy. most  we are women and, and now this time I really am so happy because I see a teamwork helping each other. Before when I came first came in. It’s just like, you do this, you always do that. And then the others just do this, you know, now there’s more, um,  there’s more people getting into each other, helping each other and if somebody can not do it, they just jump in and help you. Before said nobody helped you finish that one. Nothing there. nobody. And before. Also, it’s like when you, you’re new, you do the worst thing. Some just want to sit down somewhere, you have to continue doing this thing like that. But now I’ve seen so much that uh, do you have changed in a way where, excuse me, I wanted to learn other things that not just this thing. Now I’m learning more different stuff because when I came in I was really more on the chemistry side and doing nutritional value. testing for nutritional value of our products, like routine salts, calcium, fats, and some other special testing. That’s the use it for. I think they use it for a labels of our product moisture’s now, uh, when I came back from the surgery since I was in there, I think because I was in there to do all that. So she stopped accepting other testing. But the more basic one in chemistry there were only doing bones Calcium, moisture. I think that’s more or less all. We’re not doing any more like fats, fats, protein.  We’re not doing, so now. I’m, I’m more and more of my time is really micro is micro area, we’re testing samonela, bacteria, confilobatra. all this bacteria that make us sick. we’re growing it to find out we grow using some samples from different plans. We get samples from Nebraska with Erskineville in Nebraska, from springdale. We have Dayton man, we have Timberville. They sent us products, Albert Lee to, to test for Salmonella and to test for some. Um, bacteria and uh yeast  like digging the grave is there. So I’m, I’m learning all those  and, and I’m working now on learning to really finish the whole process, like a, putting the  samples into the machine. We have big machines that will analyze it, it will read it and gives us results after, I think it’s after three, four hours. So that one I have quite a few to learn more like reporting stuff,  reading the, we have plates, we culture it, put into plates and then after incubator and we read, read how many spots there and then they have their space shelf, how many colonies and stuff like that  and what is acceptable and not acceptable. So it’s like it. Yeah. Because before I told my supervisor member that um, I was not, I wasn’t just doing my chemistry and I think I was bored. So I went out to the community. I bought more of my time to the community and I don’t know, it was God’s thing too because he let me do it. Like attending voices of Harrisonburg meetings, like on Wednesdays, like at the icehouse ice house, the house I used to go there like for an hour or two I think I came out from my work and she did not mind. I come, I came out, I go back into chemistry. I didn’t mind staying alone too, I mean staying for long as long as I finished my testing. She, that she did not mind itself flexible she is. So it was really, I think God put it in a way where I could come in and out.  I’ve been going to lots of meetings. I come out, I broke, I had these meetings and I said, OK, then I come back and finish what I have to do on that day. Sometimes they come home like 8:00, 9:00 in the evening for some occasions where I have to go and attend meetings. And she did not mind. So he was OK. Now, uh, I think she’s still OK, but I have not really done that because we are very short handed and I see my friends, they’re need, need my help, you know? And I hate to leave people doing those thing and I’m out there, you know, I, I think I have to prioritize, you know, I work. I told myself I came to Virginia to work. It’s not the community that my main, my main reason why I’m here because of my job. I came to work, I came here to connect with people, not to separate them.   That’s my main thing and I want to see improvement. I want to see this. I think for either for my goal  community that people will learn and other things and that life is short and there’s so much stuff you can learn if you’re just open to it. There is a lot of things, even in the small things just be open to. It doesn’t be close and, and, and, and  I just think life is, is very interesting.  What do you think?

Ashley:                         01:22:00          I agree yeah, and especially being here like on a college campus, there’s so many things that when you just open your eyes and look around, you realize there’s so many things that you can learn from all the experiences that you have and the people that you interact with, like whether or not you realize it at first. When you reflect on those things, you realize how they kind of changed who you are.

Tess:                             01:22:16          Yeah, it does. And then you become acceptable. We are accepting to them and you become the realize that the you give respect, but when you do that, you are respecting yourself. Did you know that you respect yourself, respect yourself, respect others, but sometimes you don’t. Maybe we will because we get our minds going somewhere. We, we tend to forget. There’s just so many things,  things in our mind and then then you come to realize, oh wow. And you learn something from them.

Ashley:                         01:22:55          I just have a couple more questions to. Um, I just kind of wrap it up. Are there any. I know I asked you about changes that you would like to see in Harrisonburg. Are there any changes that you’d like to see in the nation General?

Tess:                             01:23:06          I always think about really what I want love. people that we are here on earth to love each other. You know, and that I always think like in all of this really come back to love, you know, all in thinking about it that at the end it’s all about love because, you know, if we can only read love, you have respect, you have understanding, you have compassion and you know, if we have only that one, there will be peace in our nation.  And, and, and  what do you do? why do We have to complicate life, you know, now. I mean I think it’s us, it’s us. People thinking only about ourselves is us thinking I’m, I’m better than the other one says thinking I want more. If we don’t have that one, if we just be accepting and, and be able to be just satisfied or what we have, you know, and I don’t think we’re, we have to fight, we have to kill each other. You know, it’s, it’s like it’s degreed in as maybe being selfish being, you know, if that, if we can work it out and take that one out from the mentality of other people who have that, I think the world will be a better place to live in.  Amen. Yeah, it, it’s, it’s that thing. It’s the material things. I think if we learn, I’m not seeing it. I know God, but maybe you think other people think of other person, you know, that the, the believe in. If, if only we can be, we can really learn to understand and we learn to respect each other. I think we can solve this case. this a war in, in other countries. No, and want to say some thing too that like you think about the union union, some people want to have union, some people don’t. I was just going into what happened with Cargill to the other day. I don’t know if you read. They were trying to unionize the Cargill and my friend called me and said, Oh, I’ve just been thinking about  because I saw her name on the paper that she was one. One of the people that was arrested went to Dayton plant Cargill and they want to just demand something, talk to them and nobody came out so they went. I think they went to the premises instead, so they were caught because they were not. They were against the law, right. They will listen to them. They should just be say not in the property, but at the same time Cargill did not send any representative to meet these people. So I told my friend, I don’t know because  that I will ask God to give me more guidance about it because this is very sensitive. I just feel like if there is somebody who knows how to, who, who knows somebody who talk to Cargill somebody and how you called iner… intermediate person that can talk to Cargill with the other people who have demands or who or who were afflicted. You feel depressed or they he’ll feel repressed or by them because you know they’re. They’re out of job because things happen. If there’s some representative that can talk to them and make them see what’s happening. I mean if they could resolve with that, resolved the problem. We don’t need a union, we don’t have to be unionized. I mean it’s the same thing. You have to pay, you know, and, and it’s the same. The same thing. Some people are good, some people are not. Some people take advantage of it, you know, like my sister has been telling me about their two in New York. They are union is good, it will represent you, but there are some people too that is using it. You’re saying in a way that because some people use it in a bad way so I just feel that whatever we do, we have the choices but then our choices, there’s always a positive and negative negative outcome. So we just have to balance, you know, to find balance where, where it has a positive or negative at that that  there’s more positive than negative because you don’t think that we can have a perfect thing. only god. I don’t think there’s always something because I just feel like life is made a positive and negative and then to find out how can you. How can you see what is positive and negative? If everything is positive or everything is negative?  you know? You see how I easy it. If you don’t like you, you behave the same way and you see the same thing. A child watching you is decieved, you behave the same so the child will will see that behavior. It’s the same thing, but if he sees something, no. The other one is not behaving the same way. Then he can compare and he can tell which one is better for him. That’s my analogy or something…

Ashley:                         01:30:00          yes, you you like to lead by example. You know?

Tess:                             01:30:02          Yeah, and I like that. I always say talk is cheap, so it’s like like lead by example. If you say something,  not just with lips, but the with…work work with it, what you’re doing, you’re going to school. It’s not just talking, talking. You have to put effort in and you have to read. You have to do your thesis. You have to do a lot of things

Ashley:                         01:30:02          [laughs] yeah, a lot of things. {1:30:32}

Tess:                             01:30:33          but you know afterwards you don’t realize how great you did, how great you are, how you can. You can feel more satisfaction than having like something just given to you. You will not appreciate it that much. I’ve seen a lot of incidents where a child is given so much  stuff. full of toys all at Christmas time, room full of toys. At first is the child is so happy with this one. then afterwards he doesn’t understand. then comes another and he’s happier. What happened to the rest?  in Just four seconds.  He was laughing and so happy. Then afterwards, go back to the other one. How can appreciate. He never appreciate anything and by doing that too, it’s not. I don’t know if he will appreciate his life. He would just think that it’s everything is given, handed down, but if you work for it, you really feel it. I thought before for me to add before I’m the oldest child, so I was the favorite one. What I wanted i always got. Sometimes I said I wish I’m still a child because now I have to work. You know what, I always tell my friends, the more I went, the more I feel about myself, the more I’m happier. that’s what I’ve learned.

Ashley:                         01:30:33          That’s great. Yeah,

Tess:                             01:32:06          yeah, because I can see something. I can see my, the, my labor. I could see that I really, really did the best I could. I was really putting a lot of my energy to that thing and then I can see results even if there’s no result. I just. That feeling that you did it, that satisfaction that you just don’t let it go. You, you, you did something out of it. {1:32:29}

Ashley:                         01:32:32          Another question I have. I know there’s a very strong rhetoric around the issue of immigration, the public sphere today. Do you have any comments that you want to make on that? {1:32:40}

Tess:                             01:32:40          I see a lot of conversation and I like, I want to be neutral, you know, I want, I like to hear from them. I like to hear from them and yeah they are right in their own way and my friend are also writing their own way and, and, and, and they said they want to change this way and then somebody said, how could you do that? You know, it’s not fair because the way their experiences so that they have to work very hard. Like the Dama Da…Da what’s that?

Ashley:                         01:32:40          Daca?

Tess:                             01:33:11          Daca. Yeah. I said, I asked my friend, what do you think about Daca? I said, no, I don’t. Why it’s not fair. Look, we come here. I come here. I struggled. I seen my kids to. I go to work every day and all this. I seen, I seen my kids and I have to pay from my pocket. I worked very hard and I’m not very familiar with daca but She said like that daca is like a. do you have these things and they don’t have to go work they’re Just given the thing. They go to w– they go to school.  I don’t know how true it is, but something like, yeah, they don’t have to really work that much. Like, like then-

Ashley:                         01:33:53          what i’ve heard is that [microphone moves] I’m sorry. My understanding of daca is that it simply allows children who were brought here and are undocumented to be protected against deportation while they work and go to school. And that once your-

Tess:                             01:33:53          yeah, free. right?

Ashley:                         01:33:53          I’m not entirely sure if the-

Tess:                             01:34:14          Yeah, but something like that. But like here that who, people who has been here, like my sister, I mean, yeah, like my sister didn’t have that. She has to work very hard. She has and my mom and you have to help pay for her education. You see I, that’s the free education for daca  I think thats the thing and she has to go [inaudible]. You to get her own money. But I think I honestly the daca is different. So that’s, I think that’s, that’s the thing. I said well if you say, if you look at it that way to know. And I think for the daca people they look at other things they have for me, I think they have to think also what, they have to  listen to what the other people say. It’s not just I have to do this, I have to do this, you know, you have to do this, you have to give it to me. They shouldn’t be. And I mean it’s a privilege. I think that’s a privilege for those people who have daca to. So I think they had to listen to other people. Why they do they don’t. Why you have to find out why they don’t want it to continue.

Ashley:                         01:34:14          some more open communication-

Tess:                             01:35:25          Yeah. They have to. And then at the same time, maybe by that they can be, you know, they, the, there’s some kind of changes where both sides can be satisfied.  you know? not just like i want this like a kid. I want this. I want this. I said, I mean this should be something where okay you can have both of them. How about you can have it this time and then tomorrow I cannot be stuff. I think that’s the best way though.

Ashley:                         01:35:54          But do you have any thoughts on, I guess the debate around the border control issues and the idea of building a wall and not building a wall.

Tess:                             01:36:05          ohh not building or buildina a- who was telling me something? i, I don’t know. I just hear something like somebody was telling me that here is one of this. She is asked to be a witness or something. How? I don’t know the name of that. You are asked by the government to be one of the witness out to, to judge. I’m

Ashley:                         01:36:05          on a jury?

Tess:                             01:36:34          yes jury duty? and I have heard a lot and not, I’m not discriminating the Hispanic people, you know, because what I heard is really in Harrisonburg. There’s a lot. That’s what she’s saying. That’s what I heard just from her that a lot that’s happening is Hispanic people are in Rampant having criminal criminals that are Hispanic, you know, so I don’t know if you hear about Filipinos because Filipino, we are group of people that we want to just, we don’t want to trouble. We want to do the best we can and we are more or less Filipino is like we are like family oriented and we just want to stay in one side.  We don’t want trouble so we don’t want to go out and, and, and, and, and have [inaudible]  like I said Oh we want this and that, you know, we don’t want to be in that. We are just people that don’t want any trouble at all and wants to stay away from that. But I know a lot of, some people, they are so vocal with it, but then do they didn’t know really why they really know really what they’re doing, you know, the, the, do they have the, the full knowledge, you know,  or don’t know the consequences of what they’re doing. I don’t know because myself, I want stay away from that. No, I, I’ve been asked to rally that what they call rally and all.   I’m not very comfortable with rallies. I’m more on, on helping other people on other things Than Rallys voicing out those things. I just feel like negotiates negotiations and, and if we can avoid rallies that would be great. This, this things I stay from.

Ashley:                         01:38:38          Yes. I understand where you’re coming from.  so Is there anything else that you would like the public to know about your story that you want to mention that you haven’t told yet?

Tess:                             01:38:47          Oh, did I tell you about that? Uh, we are, we are in the archive, Shenandoah  archive.

Ashley:                         01:38:47          Um, I don’t recall.

Tess:                             01:38:55          Yeah. One time I was, we were interviewed by Hannah mosses. That was in 2015.

Ashley:                         01:38:55          Oh Yes, i-

Tess:                             01:39:04          And we have, you can find me, my thing too in special umm…

Ashley:                         01:39:04          collections?

Tess:                             01:39:15          collections yes  Shenandoah. they talk about how we come from Shenandoah valley, .something like that. This one is a little bit different because your, your, your, your thing is, you know, with the government with the Daca

Ashley:                         01:39:15          well-

Tess:                             01:39:24          there is more on how we come and I think you can. Some of my stories, some of them are there. I mean, the way I say things might be kind of different. You might get something new in that.

Ashley:                         01:39:37          OK, nice. Um, is there anything that you want students to take away from this interview after they listened to it?

Tess:                             01:39:43          Ooh, can I at least. [laughs]. I don’t know. You know, what I know, I’m just letting you. I’m just telling what I feel in my experience, but I don’t know [laughs]. you know how hard it is to think. how about you, what you think?

Ashley:                         01:40:08          What I think students should take away?

Tess:                             01:40:08          uh huh

Ashley:                         01:40:10          well, I think you’ve told a very nice story about staying true to yourself and always being open minded and being open to change and trying to always work as hard as you can to just improve yourself and kind of get to the best place which you can. Which has been very inspiring. I love how you also spoke about your motives to stay here in the United States and how um, how you kind of coped with adjusting to the different culture and how you kind of found your own way and like an industry that was ideal for you and how you continue to build on your education and I’m a do what you wanted to do, which I think was very inspiring. I think that’s definitely something a lot of students can take away from this and benefit from in listing to this. Would you agree with that or?

Tess:                             01:40:55          Yeah, I think I get a. That would be nice because my thing really is to inspire and motivate people and be more open minded to change because change is good. It’s for the better. If it changed that that’s bad, then I don’t want to be part of it. But maybe somehow if some changes you cannot stop so maybe I can use it for something else. Something good. We can make something good out of it. You know? It’s always like doing the, doing the good thing, doing the right thing. Yeah. But if you use it for bad things, I am not for it. Yeah. We need to change for the best for everyone. It’s not just for one person because we want people to accept maybe sometimes it’s harder for them to accept, you know, some people are so used to all things and some people, I think it’s personality, you know, there’s some fixed for personality, right? But you know, we, there’s always ways to, to the to do things that where we can show, show this person that this, these [inaudible] is good. like I said talk. It’s not enough you need to do the walk.

Ashley:                         01:42:20          I just have one more question for you to take a second to think about this. You can, I guess, what was the biggest struggle or challenge or barrier that you had to overcome in immigrating to the United States, which you think is important for other people to hear?

Tess:                             01:42:36          Hm.  Well lets see about that, well, one thing I want to say, so the people in our country are always thinking that coming over here in America is a land of poss-lots of potential to a land where we, a land . Oh, now I don’t want to say gold, but a lot of opportunities where people are given the if we want to work, there’s work, you know, like in my country is hard because you want to work. It’s hard to find work. There’s just so many people. here, You work no matter what, you can find money and there’s so much stuff to do. i know A lot. I know what in my country, a lot of, even people like stealing in department stores, I heard their, they’re graduate, they’re college graduate. they wont accept people not college graduate anymore. So here, I mean it’s like some people been work  three jobs [laughs]. yeah, three jobs, so they get more money there. It’s like there’s no more national. Not as much opportunity, you know, but here if you just work hard work and you have the energy to work three, four jobs, you can do it. [laughs] Yeah. But immigrant immigration here is, it was not, well some people are blessed. I can just say some people are blessed and have not a lot of trouble doing their paperwork’s in bringing their kids here. In sort time. A lot of people have troubles. I don’t know.  What I can say is about my sister, she was like 20 something years old when my mom petitioned her while she was petitioned before that, but she did not agree. My mom remarrying my Stepdad, so at that time she was in Philippines and my other sister, she was 18 years old yet, so my sister, youngest sister went and gave her or two papers for her just to sign so she could have been- easier in Bangladesh, in Asia because it’s this, you know, everybody knows everyone. So it was not as bad as my sister was so upset with my mom. She, I think she was she burned it, she burned the papers. Then the time when she decided that, oh, I want to be there, I want to be with you guys because we were all here already. It took us a long day. I took her I think over 10 years

Ashley:                         01:46:14          just to be able to come here?

Tess:                             01:46:14          yeah

Ashley:                         01:46:14          oh my goodness.

Tess:                             01:46:21          For her paper to, for her paper to come out.  Yeah. Because, um, we, we, we did a lot of things. We I know we went to the university and we wanted her to help continue ed or master degree and she was, we were denied because she’s, oh, she’s already petition, wait for it to come out.

Ashley:                         01:46:21          so you tried to try to get her a student visa?

Tess:                             01:46:46          yeah, student visa. We tried, my dad since he knows some government officials. We- he tried to go and ask for help.

Ashley                          01:46:54          What year was this around?

Tess:                             01:46:54          uh my, my sister?

Ashley:                         01:47:00          When you first started trying, if you can recall.

Tess:                             01:47:03          I think I came in 1990, somewhere in the [number confusion] She comes in about 98 Maybe 99. Yeah, but because I know my sister’s 10, 12 years younger than me. No, no, eight years younger than me because the youngest is 10 years younger and she is second to the youngest. Yeah,  It took us that long. we tried and so she wanted. She really wanted to come now. Yeah, it took her that, but for us it was not really that hard because my ex husband is from Spain. see and my kids have a Spanish nationality? And I was the only Filipino because I did not want to become a Spanish. When I married my ex husband, I could have changed my nationality into Spanish right away. Automatic. But I stood up and said, no, I don’t want to be. I want to be Filipino citizen. Yeah. So but when I came here. So that’s the time when we decided that o w, so my mom petition us we. But yeah, we spent money. I don’t know how much we spent maybe around on 5,000. Yeah,  three to five thousand for the lawyer.

Ashley:                         01:47:03          So it was-

Tess:                             01:48:49          We didn’t have to go out. We stayed, you see some people, some people were asked to go out.  And wait, we stayed and we’re able to work.

Ashley:                         01:49:00          You’re able to work while you stayed-

Tess:                             01:49:04          Yeah. Yeah. So that’s the thing that we had and So I know some of our friends here, they came here to marriage. So I know one friend she came to two years ago and after a year she is able to bring her kids. They were under under, under 18 years old though. yeah, they’re here  So I, I said, I told my friend you’re so blessed because I know a lot of other friends that have been waiting for their kids. They’ve been here for awhile and you just come in. See?

Ashley:                         01:49:44          Were there any other comments that you wanted to make just to wrap up the interview?

Tess:                             01:49:53          Yeah Um, I want the best for everyone and I would like if this, you know, with this work of yours that um, people will get something out of it and it will be something that maybe can, it can help, uh, open, open the eyes of other people to be more understanding and respectful of other cultures. And if there’s a way that we can be together, get united and discuss things and I’m just negotiate and compromise whatever is the problem that we encounter in our life here in Harrisonburg.

Ashley:                         01:50:42          OK. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. I really do appreciate you sharing your story.

 

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Migration from Colombia: My Interview With Fernando Gamboa

Oral Narrative

My interview with Fernando Gamboa was among one of the more memorable academic events that I was blessed to have while in attendance at James Madison University.  During my time with Fernando Gamboa, I learned a lot about his migration to the United States of America from Colombia.  Throughout the interview, I gained valuable insight into the views and opinions of one of this state’s—and this country’s—many Latino immigrants. I will divide the rest of this text into several distinct sections to help explain his journey and views as an immigrant living in America.  This particular interview occurred on March 12, 2018 on the campus of James Madison University.

 

Migration and Cause(s):

Fernando Gamboa left his hometown of Bucaramanga, Colombia following the footsteps of his father in February of 2001(Where-is-Bucaramanga-map-Colombia.jpg).  His father left in search of better economic opportunities here, securing an H-1B visa to work in the United States.  He was a systems engineer and technician back in Colombia and found work through one of his relatives by working at their local travel agency.  While Fernando and his family left Colombia in seek of better economic opportunities, some fled due to the violence of the Colombian drug cartels.  These cartels, along with the communist Colombian paramilitary groups ELN and FARC,

“began target[ing] the civilian population during the 1990s through mass execution, enforced disappearances, mass displacement, and torture.  Additionally, the conglomerate of paramilitary groups, AUC, [was] involved in drug trafficking and [had] committed numerous human rights abuses, including sexual violence against women, restrictions of freedom of movement and recruitment of child soldiers.” [1]

This forced many people to find a safer home in other nations.

 

Religion:

In my interview, Fernando Gamboa told me that he was not practicing a religion, and thus was not religious.  He told me that his family grew up Catholic and that he was briefly raised Catholic, but that he no longer practices a religion.  However, he still says that he participated, and participates today, in occasional religious activities with his family.

 

Education:

Fernando Gamboa was five when he arrived in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  His formal schooling began here.  He was a public school student of Harrisonburg.  He states that his experience in this school atmosphere was enjoyable and for the most part, unproblematic.  After reading an article entitled, “‘Just Like Me’: How Immigrant Students Experience a U.S. High School,” I think that he may have had a better experience in a school teaching English through collaborating with other students who may have been in a similar situation.  As Jennifer McCloud states in this article, “[p]artnering within someone ‘just like [them]’ [is] significant,” as it helps to construct “relationships with other English language learners.”[2]  Most importantly, this gives these students the unique “opportunity…to enter into the school’s social and institutional context as English language learners.”[3]  This may have played a small role for Fernando as he was very young when he started to learn English.  Yet, it may have played a much larger role for those incoming student-immigrants who needed help or for those who are currently in the ESL programs.  Fernando could have provided this type of assistance to help these non-English speakers learn the language.

 

Policies:

In regards to policies on immigration, Fernando believes that the United States government should abandon institutions like ICE and the Border Patrol.  He believes that the actions of these groups have become increasingly violent and too powerful.  He states that ICE can detain people for over twenty-four hours with no reason or questions asked.  He believes in a more open form of immigration as a better and easier path to citizenship.  Also, soon after he arrived in the United States, the September 11 attacks happened.  These attacks greatly changed the policies of the United States.  Under the Bush administration, the 2001 Patriot Act and the DHS “imposed significant hardships on the millions of people who have applied for entry into the United States, or who have already gained entry.”[4](sand-dune-fence.jpg)

 

Racism and Discrimination:

After asking if there were any racist encounters between him and other Americans, Fernando responded that there was one particular occasion after 9/11 where he and his father were encountered by a man who inappropriately and intrusively asked Fernando’s father about his identity.  He also remembered attending a rally in which racism was prevalent.  While these are the only two encounters that he recollected on the day of the interview, he believes that the United States is still an incredibly racist nation that it has been exclusive of non-white people, such as the majority of the Latino community.  He also finds it very problematic that some people are rounded up by ICE simply because they look brown or appear undocumented.

 

 

[1] Whitney Drake, “Disparate Treatment: A Comparison of United States Immigration Policies Toward Asylum-Seekers And Refugees From Colombia and Mexico,” Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy 20 (2014): 132.

[2] Jennifer McCloud, “’Just Like Me’: How Immigrant Students Experience a U.S. High School,” The High School Journal 98, no.3 (2015): 269.

[3] McCloud, 269.

[4] Thomas W. Donovan, “Immigration Policy Changes After 9/11: Some Intended and Unintended Consequences,” The Social Policy Journal 4, no. 1 (2005): 34.

Transcript of Interview with Fernando Gamboa

William Finch: Today I’m here with Fernando Gamboa, interviewing him. It’s 5:20, March 12th, 2018.

 

Finch: Hi, Fernando. How are you?

 

Fernando Gamboa: I’m doing well. How are you?

Finch: Pretty good. Pretty good. Now, can you tell me your name, age and, uh, where you’re from?

Gamboa: Um, I’m Fernando Gamboa. I’m, uh, 22. Uh, I grew up in Harrisonburg, um, but I’m from Colombia.

Finch: You’re from Colombia. Now what part of Colombia?

 

Gmaboa: Uh, Bucaramanga. It’s like a city in Santander, which is like the department, I think is what they’re called.

 

Finch: Okay.

 

Gamboa: …the state.

 

Finch: Okay. Now, what about your childhood, now. Where were you, were you educated originally in Colombia, were you educated primarily here?

 

Gamboa: Um, I guess like I’m, I came here when I was five, um, so I went to like preschool and like, that’s about it in Colombia, and then I just went to like Harrisonburg City schools and now I’m here.

 

Finch: Okay. All right. And, uh, did you grow up with a religion, if you don’t mind me asking? Um, are you still religious, do you still practice that religion?

 

Gamboa: Um, I am not. So I do not. Um, my family, I guess, is Catholic, like a bunch of peo- like a bunch of, I guess, Latinx people are. Um, and I guess I was like raised Catholic. Like I went to church, um, up until I was like halfway through high school then I jettisoned the whole like religion thing…um, my parents are like, what I, I generally like to call it Catholic light.

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: They just only sometimes do church things, ’cause a lot of other stuff gets in the way.

 

Finch: Okay. All right. And how did you come to the United States?

 

Gamboa: Um, we flew here in 2001. Um, my dad had a specialty workers visa, it’s one of like the H … is it like the H-1B, I think is what it was. Um, and then we were like on the, I guess like adjacent visas, it’s like H, H-something, for like spouses and dependents. Um, and so like we flew here February 2001…and yeah.

 

Finch: And can you explain those, those visas? I mean, what are the different types of visas-

 

Gamboa: Um …

 

Finch: … for those who don’t know?

 

Gamboa: I guess, um…H1 is a specialty workers’ visa. Um, so it’s like…I guess, yeah. I guess special workers’ visas are for like computer jobs and stuff,and there are other types of visas, there are visas for, um, people who are like part of like the judicial, like, stuff if they’re like a victim of a, a crime, there’s visas for, like, celebrities, there’s a bunch of different kinds of visas, I guess. I’m not super well versed.

 

Finch: Okay. All right.  And, uh, did you live, you know, somewhere else before Harrisonburg when you, when you came to the United States or was Harrisonburg the first location that you went to?

 

Gamboa: Um, no, so like we came here right away. Um, my dad had, or has I guess, my godfather, it’s like my godfather’s cousin’s husband owned, owns, I guess owned, ’cause that company is no longer around, owned the company that my dad, uh, started working for. He came here on a tourism visa, found a job and then we came here follow, uh, like, following him after. Um, he, like, changed his visa status-

 

Finch: Okay.

 

Gamboa: … from tourism to like the specialty workers’.

 

Finch: And what was that job, if you don’t mind me asking you?

 

Gamboa: Um, it was something to do with old, like, real–time sharing, like vacation company that was around here. Um, and so, I think he like, he did something with computers ’cause he’s a systems engineer, um, er, back at home in Colombia, so, um, it was like working with the computer stuff.

 

Finch: Okay. All right. And, uh, I guess you’ve already, you’ve already answered most of this, but how did you end up finally here in Harrisonburg with the, your father.

 

(04:15) Gamboa: Yeah. So, my, yeah, my dad found, um, yeah he got that job, uh, or, yeah, got hired by that company while he was here on a tourism visa, um, and then we just kind of followed suit.

 

Finch: Right. Okay. And what was Harrisonburg like when you got here? What was it?

 

Gamboa: Um …

 

Finch: Was it friendly, hostile, was it …

 

Gamboa: I mean, I don’t, so I was like five-

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: … um, so it’s like kind of hard to sort of tell. Um, I mean, so like, when we first got here it was like before 9-11, obviously, ’cause it was, um, February 2001. Um, so it’s like kind of interesting to sort of like hear my parents talk about the, like, flying before that versus like then now, like flying afterwards and then some of like the, so like responses other people had to like brown bodies post 9-11, um, we were like in DC at some point and, um, my dad who’s just like, I don’t know, he’s like a brown dude with like curly black hair, um, some guy like stopped him and like demanded to know where he was from.

 

Finch: Wow.

 

Gamboa: ‘Cause he’s like, looked like, I don’t know, someone who could be like, potentially have been a terrorist.  Um, so it’s like those sort of things, but that’s like, obviously not like Harrisonburg itself. Um, growing up and like the city schools and everything was like all right. Harrisonburg’s always like–there’s a lot of people of color here. Um, and, uh, I guess the way like the city is like, was sort of like built, it’s like there’s a huge Mennonite population like the Eastern, I think the Eastern Mennonite University does a lot of stuff of like, um, immigrants and it’s just sort of like a, this, like the people that prescribe to that religion to my understanding, are like this, those kinds of people are very like open and like welcoming to others. Um, I don’t know, it’s like a, just like a pretty nice place to be around.

 

Finch: So, in general, accepting.

 

Gamboa: Yeah.

 

Finch: Have there, have there been troubles, um, for you, I mean I kno- I know you mentioned your dad.

 

Gamboa: Um …

 

Finch: That encounter.

 

Gamboa: Yeah. I mean, like, personally not really other than like with trash people here at the University. Um, I remember there was like uh Senator Gutierrez, um, from, I think it was like some district in the Illinois, I don’t know, came here, um, to talk about, uh, immigration. We had a rally, uh, in Court Square with him there.

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: And there was like some a**holes that like were being loud, like, while they were driving by. Like, nothing like super, at least to me like, to myself and my family have not experienced anything that’s like, um, viscerally violent.

 

Finch: Okay. All right.

 

Gamboa: …of our immigration status.

 

Finch: Right. Okay. Um, and currently do, do you hold a job right now-somewhere?

 

Gamboa: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I work at Staples. Um-

 

Finch: Okay.

 

Gamboa: … uh, I worked at Martin’s before that, or at some point for two weeks. That was no fun.

 

Finch: *laughs*

 

Gamboa: Um, um, but no, yeah. I have a job.

 

Finch: And how have the … How have those jobs been, how … are there, are there other people of, um, Latino descent working those jobs or have those jobs?

 

Gamboa: Um, used to, there was like … I mean like, no. Uh, at least in my department at the store, I’m the only person of color. There’s a bunch of other white dudes that work there.

 

Finch: Wow.

 

Gamboa: Um, the staple, like the store at large has a bunch of, uh, people, I mean it goes in and out, just people like are hired and quit or going to do something else, but, um, our, like I think the general manager is Egyptian. Um, they’re, and they’re like, no, like some … yeah. There are just people of other ethnicities that work there. Um, not entirely sure of like everyone’s migration status-

 

Finch: *laughs*

 

Gamboa: … but I can, I’m like, I’m, I would be pretty confident to say I’m like the only non-citizen that works there.

 

(08:55) Finch: Hmm. And how has Harrisonburg changed since you moved here? Changed a lot?

 

Gamboa: Mmm, it’s gotten bigger. So like-

 

Finch: Bigger?

 

Gamboa: … yeah there’s a lot more people here. It’s like, sort of, like the whole overcrowding problem, like, the schools have right now. It’s gotten a lot bigger, it’s gotten a lot more brown. Um, there’s a, there’s a huge influx of like, uh, there’s a larger Kurdish population, um, that’s here, um, and like the demographic’s just like gotten, um, a lot more diverse. Um, when my brother graduated high school, um, like, I guess one of the things they talked on at the, his Commencement, uh, ceremony was that there are a l- like it’s over 100 countries or something that are represented at the high school. Um, most are like there’s a large percentage of students there that speak more than two languages.

 

Finch: Okay.

 

Gamboa: Um, that are more than just English and Spanish. Like, the, um, a bunch of different dialects or like people that speak a bunch of, a lot of different languages. This is just a very diverse, um, city. And that’s the sort of interesting, sort of to see that juxtaposition between like Harrisonburg itself, and then like JMU, ’cause JMU is like very white, very rich…

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: …compared to like everyone outside the bubble.

 

Finch: Right. Um, and you mentioned that you’re part of the debate teams-is that right?

 

Gamboa: Mm-hmm.

 

Finch: Right, what, what other organizations are you’re part of right now?

 

Gamboa: Um, I, I guess I would say I’m in a JMU Feminist Collective, um, and then, but, I guess I’d like to be more involved with, uh, JMU NAACP Chapter, but, um, like work has gotten in the way of being able to go to General Body Meetings…um, I’m trying to think. I guess the Society of Physics Students. Um, that’s just sort of like if you’re in the major you’re in, with, in, that organization.

 

Finch: Okay. And so, I mean, I don’t know if you could answer this, but what are the plans for those organizations for the future, um, specifically more the, the cultural ones…

 

Gamboa: Yeah.

 

Finch: …and the political ones.

 

Gamboa: Sure, um, I guess the NAACP, I’m not entirely sure I’m not on Exec, I’m like a General Body member. Um, I’m not entirely sure what their sort of like mission is outside of JMU, um, I know they do a bunch of stuff- like sort of like outreachy sort of things, they do some community service, um, for Martin Luther King, there’s like a breakfast, they had, I think, like a … what’s it called? Like a, a gala sort of thing and festival for that, um, up- upcoming, they have, like, Image Awards, so like you sort of like nominate people for, um, in some essay competition, uh, for that. The Feminist Collective, that one’s a kind of interesting, um, they’re sort of like, I guess, figuring out how to be more, uh, like, sort of have more Praxis, instead of just sort of like sitting and theorizing or talking about things, um, trying to find more instances where, um, there’s like opportunity for doing things with the community or sort of, um, yeah, like making spaces more avai- uh, like accessible to people.

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: Um, because right now it really is mostly just like a, like a meeting to go to, uh, once a week. Um, and there’s like some stuff like I know during Sex Positivity Week, we sell, like, penis and vulva pops, um, to sort of like promote sex positivity.

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: Um, uh, for … In the past they’ve done like, um, things with the One Billion Rising on Valentine’s Day, which is a sort of like, uh, movement around, uh, the world against sexual assault. Um, I’m trying to think. When Project Condom comes around, um, we enter, I think, like, um, I don’t know, it’s like a fashion show where you build a costume out of condoms. Um, I made the one for last year, that was really fun. Um, I guess it’s a more, I think everyone is attempting to, like, sort of reach outside of JMU, but it’s just kind of hard.

 

Finch:  Right.

(13:56) Gamboa:  I think this is a sort of disconnect or sort of an, um, like a gap in people’s ability to do things more than just around them, because it’s like kind of hard to do that as just students.

 

Finch: Right. Right. Um, in more broader terms, what do you see as the future for, uh, the, the current Latino population that’s living here?

 

Gamboa: Um, I don’t know. So there’s a bunch of organizations, right, there is like GOSPUS um, which I think that was the Salvadorian organization, um, that does stuff, um, but I don’t know if there’s like, there’s like, I guess New Bridges Immigration Center, like there’s a lot of, um, a lot of st- a lot, a lot of like different organizations. I don’t know if they like, any one like central goal that anyone is like trying to go towards. Um-

 

Finch: Right.

 

Gamboa:  It also like, I guess sort of problems I get, um, if it’s like questions about immigration that’s like sort of necessary to understand that, um, not all Latinx people are immigrants, not all immigrants are Latinx.

 

Finch: Okay.

 

(15:12) Gamboa: Um, ’cause they’re sort of like large, so there’s large groups of, um, mostly like, I well, not mostly, that’s like are Mexican, Americans that are like the border across them, right? Um, when, when the, you, like the southern border of the US got drawn, they were people who, it was Mexico, 55 of Mexico got turned into the US. It’s sort of like those people then became American by virtue of where they happened to be living at that time…um, and then, um, also sort of like, yeah, not all immigrants are Latinx and, um, it’s sort of like a problem and when people discuss immigrant issues and like the needs of immigrant or like the needs of immigrant populations, they sort of only ever focus on Latinx issues, because it’s like, yes, there is a lot of, Latin- a large of a large portion of Latinx, of immigrants are Latinx, but, um, there’s a host of issues that other communities, other people in the immigrant commun- in like immigrant communities face that aren’t addressed or like are focused on, because the overarching narrative is of that of like a Latinx immigrant.

 

Finch: Okay. Uh, this next question is … it starts kind of small but it’ll expand, um-

 

Gamboa: Mm-hmm.

 

Finch: So, what are the changes, um, that you currently like see in Harrisonburg and then, second part of the question is much broader, what are the changes you’d like to see, uh, in the nation in general, and you can speak on immigration if you want to, you can speak on any issue, um, that, that you think has affected you or those around you-

 

Gamboa: Mm-hmm.

 

Finch: … like that is really important to you.

 

Gamboa: Yeah. Um, I guess, I don’t know insofar as like Harrisonburg because there’s not, like, Harrisonburg is very much like a pro immigrant city, right?

 

Finch: Right.

 

Gamboa: Like those, um, I been, it would have been nice, or like nice to see, I guess, in like the current climate sort of like, things like moves to be more of like a sanctu- like, uh, things like becoming a sanctuary city. Um, and taking effects to do that…um, I think the more pressing issues like the sort of like nationwide, so like how policies change, right, so like, um, ideally, just like abandoning ICE and like border, and border patrol. I think those things are unnecessarily, um, violent and-

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: … kill people. Um-

 

Finch: Right.

 

Gamboa: … uh, sort of like ending deportations, um, sort of moving away from like citizenship as, um, the sort of barrier to be able to access public goods. So, um, yeah, like open migration sort of things. Um, because at the end of the day like, this is stolen land. It’s, um, I think really hypocritical for like white people to stand here and complain about immigration, because, um, they stole this country. Like, they kill- killed a bunch of people, um, in order to create this, um, this, like, this nation, um, and then, are then hurt because brown people come. Because at the end of the day, like, a bunch of that shit’s just like racism.

 

Finch: Yeah.

 

(18:40) Gamboa: Like, people are racist. Like, I think it’s really telling, um, uh, when like recently when South Africa sort of I guess voted to take back land that was taken from, like, Africans by f**kin- colonizers, um, that a bunch of like racist people want, uh, like special attention to be given to, um, white South Africans. It’s like, they only really care about them because they’re white, not because they’re like immigrants or that they even need anything, because at the end of the day the, those are the same people that were, that like, there are the colonizers, they’re the ones that caused all this f**k s**t to happen to people of color, um, around the world. So-

 

Finch: Yeah.

 

Gamboa: … and, uh, I guess as a nation like I would love for the US to stop being, I don’t know, I think it’s like unnecessarily an, a violent body that does f**k s**t abroad and domestically, um, to people of color all around the world. Um, I don’t know. I don’t like the US. The US is like-

 

Finch: There are a lot of problems here.

 

Gamboa: There are a s**t ton of problems.

 

Finch: Yeah.

 

Gamboa: Primarily caused by angry white dudes.

 

Finch: I would agree with that. Um, so I mean, adding to that, what do you think of the rhetoric, uh, specifically in terms of the, you know, regarding the issue of immigration in the public sphere? I know you sort of touching on this, um, if you want to add to that.

 

Gamboa: Um, I guess like the rhetoric that’s been used around immigration is sort of like a long sort of like, it was like, has been constructed to be that way, right, so like the sort of, um, the construction of like the criminal immigrant, the criminal immigrant? Yeah, like crimmigration, um, with like the categorization of an illegal immigrant since like the creation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, um, that sort of like creates a…cl- a classification of person that is not deserving of being here. Um, really based on them not having been born here or not coming here the right way…um, so like, sort of moving away from, like, calling people illegal, um, which is just like violence in and of itself, but then also that justifies a bunch of f**k s**t from happening. So like, it’s like Operation Blockade and, or Project Blockade an Operation Hold the Line, sort of like Clinton era, uh, border enforcement that happened along like border cities of San Diego and El Paso, so like in California and Texas, that sort of literally militarized the border and forced people to, um, stop crossing in urban areas and to go enforce it and sort of funnel them to the desert. The sort of ways that the like policymakers, uh, were talking about that as like sort of, um, prevention by deterrence, uh, sort of making it really difficult and dangerous for people to come into the country…uh and then sort of justifying the deaths of those people both, um, in the desert in Mexico, but also, uh, in the US by saying that they’re criminal and that there was just a necessary, that that’s just an inherent risk that they took coming into this country illegally, um, when those are just like artificial constructions because they don’t want brown people to be there or be here.

 

(22:19) Finch: Right. And adding to that, what, I mean, so out of curiosity, I’d like your opinion, your input on this. Uh, what do you think they should do about the border?

 

Gamboa: Um, get rid of that s**t-

 

Finch: Okay.

 

Gamboa: … like a border is unnecessarily a violent institution. Um, yeah, no, like, I think the open borders, I think like the border fences, like … It is asinine to think that you can do that. It’s sort of misunderstanding of like how the geography and topography works-

 

Finch: Right.

 

Gamboa: … um, in the border lands, um, and like the Sou- yeah, in the south, like the south, the southern border of the US. Um, and sort of like the hyper, um, militarization that’s happened to it, like that s**t needs to go, right? Like get rid of border patrol. Um-

 

Finch: Seems to create a lot more violence.

 

Gamboa: It really does. It, um, kills a bunch of people, uh, that it doesn’t need to, and shit like getting rid of, or like preventing, there’s like militias, um, just like white dudes that have nothing to do, but like, attack brown people. They go around and round up people that look brown or look undocumented and will turn them in to ICE.

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: And they ride around in like SUVs with like AKs, just like militarizing the border on their own accord outside of any sort of like governing body. I think that sort of stuff needs to not happen.

 

Finch: Okay. And I wouldn’t happen to be well versed on this, but is, does ICE have a large presence here in Harrisonburg?

 

Gamboa: Um-

 

Finch: …you can finish eating, don’t rush.

 

Gamboa: Um, there’s a … Yeah, there’s an ICE office here-

 

Finch: Okay.

 

Gamboa: … um, people have been picked up before. Uh, I know in the past there’s been a sort of like, ICE detainer that gets placed on someone so that, um, you can be held more than 24 hours after like being pulled over for something, and it gives, um, ICE the, like, time to be able to, like, check whether or not that person is in the country, um, like as, has like, is authorized to be in the country. Um, so there is that. Um, sometimes I know there’s been raids at, I think that poultry farms, like the poultry, uh, poultry processing plants that are around here. Um, but I personally have not seen like ICE agents. But then again, pigs look the same regardless of what they’re wearing. So.

 

Finch: Yeah, and they seem to, just from my understanding, from what I have discovered from class and that is, uh, we’ve watched, seems that this country continues to do that and then the people that they need working in these plantations or these, these farms, like these chicken factories and stuff like that happen to be people, uh, you know, some people of Latino descent who are willing to put in a lot more effort than-

 

Gamboa: Yeah.

 

Finch: … a lot of people here.

 

Gamboa: Yeah. I mean, white people don’t want those jobs. Um, they don’t think, they think they’re above it.

 

Finch: Right.

 

Gamboa: Um, and don’t do that. And that’s sort of like, it is a job that no one wants to do sort of like leads to exploitation of very vulnerable populations because they don’t-

 

Finch: Yeah.

 

Gamboa: … want to. Um, I guess I’m also not super big on a fan of like justifying having immigrants here to do jobs that white people don’t want to.

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

(25:46) Gamboa: Um, was I, it’s like I don’t know if it was like post election or pre election, uh, what’s her name, well, Osbourne’s daughter, Kelly, whatever her name was. She was like, “Donald Trump, who’s going to wash your clothes if you deport all the undocu- like all undocumented people, something like that. And it’s just sort of like thinking that that’s the only thing we’re good for is like not the case. Um, like, we are not, we’re not here to be like sec-…second class citizens, not here to, um, do your laundry or pick your fruit or like kill your chickens. Um, so like here to f**king live.

 

Finch: Yeah.

 

Gamboa: Um, and sort of only wanting people to be here for those reasons, um, just, again, sort of like adds to the kinds of violences that we experience, because it then sort of … What happens to the people that aren’t willing or aren’t able to work low like, um, low skill jobs, or people that aren’t like the valedictorian from their high school that got into Harvard on a full ride? Right? It’s, there’s sort of like a gap between their deserving-ness, um, to be in the country.

 

Finch: Right. Yeah. It seems very, uh, seems very dehumanizing to consider immigrants as only, uh, yeah, people of exploitation.

 

Gamboa: Or a commodity. Yeah.

 

Finch: It seems like, it is very exploitive and, yeah, it’s awful to see that, uh, seem to be dehumanized very quickly when they come here.

 

Gamboa: Mm-hmm.

 

Finch: Um, so what would you like people to know, I mean, from this interview, from this story? Are there any final thoughts, um, any other opinions you want to share?

 

(27:36) Gamboa: *laughs*. Yeah. Um, I guess like things like the Dream Act are good insofar that, like, they have material benefits for people. But they’re bad insofar that it, again, sort of plays into like, uh, undeserving-ness or like an exceptionalism narrative of immigrants. Like the only people that deserve to be here are not just like the valedictorians or the people that are like working hard or came here of their own, like, not of their own accord, like, or against their will. Like the sort of people, like myself that, like, qualify for DACA stuff, right?  Because those sorts of policies unnecessarily exclude people like our parents who should get to be here, because they worked super f**king hard to be here, um, and didn’t do anything, um, to not be here…other than like be born in a country that wasn’t this one and was honestly probably f**ked up by the US or other white people. Um, they’re like, a long process of colonialization, and like economic exploitation, like … right, so like, sort of moving away from those things and seeing like we are not free until everyone is free, um, and do stuff like that…Also, um, so like sort of, there’s an, I think there’s a, there’s a very strong need to sort of move past dreamer narratives and sort of like, “We are all Dreamers.” No, we are not all Dreamers. Um-

 

Finch: So what does that new narrative in your mind look like?

 

Gamboa: I, I just don’t …

 

Finch: Like the rhetoric of it?

 

Gamboa: … just like, I … I don’t know. I think that’s like, that’s like super layered-

 

Finch: Mm-hmm.

 

Gamboa: … right, ’cause I think it’s a product of, like a long history of colonialization that’s happened in this country. I don’t think that can-

 

Finch: Right.

 

(29:24) Gamboa: … I don’t think that necessarily can happen, um, without like fixing a bunch of other issues. Um, moving on from that, I guess it’s also important to like, I think vilify the Democratic Party, they don’t give a shit, they never have, they never will. Um, they didn’t, they don’t want to help us. The only thing they’re doing is seeing potential voters, uh, at the end of the line…um, like a bunch, or like, uh, like the sort of holding a ho- or attempting to hold the country hostage in order, um, in order to get a DACA deal, um and just not actually being able to do anything or not… pressing hard enough.  They only care so much as to like be, do things that are put on paper, right, like Clinton was the one that passed a bunch of border security, or border security legislation in the ’90s. Obama deported a bunch of people, more than, I think like Clinton and Bush combined. Um, loved deporting women and children, um, he’s like a piece of s**t, like, it’s important to understand that no one at, like, I’m very hard pressed to believe that any politician actually cares about immigrants, um, because at the end of the day they don’t really have to, um, and we’re always sort of a population that is like pushed on to the sidelines. It’s like we have to do these things, and then we’ll figure out immigrants. But there is always something that gets pushed to the top of the docket before we’re ever considered in anything. Um, so it’s sort of like fore-fronting our needs and like people have to start caring about people as people, or like thinking it, seeing people as people before like they can do anything. Otherwise we’re just like the people who are going to clean your clothes and pick your, pick your fruit.

 

Finch: Yeah. It’s very problematic. Anything else you’d like to add?

 

Gamboa: I don’t think so.

 

Finch: Okay. All right. Well, this concludes my interview with, uh, Fernando Gamboa. This is William Finch, 5:50, March 12th, 2018.

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Arsalan Syan: The Refugee Experience

On the 24th of February 2018, I interviewed Arsalan Syan, an Iraqi-Kurdish refugee and case worker at Church World Service refugee resettlement office in Harrisonburg, VA, as part of the Immigrant Harrisonburg project conducted by Dr. Morales’s History of Immigration to the United States course at James Madison University. This project seeks to collect oral history interviews of immigrants to Harrisonburg, VA, and document their experiences of immigration, resettlement, and life in the United States.

Arsalan agreed to do this interview after I reached out to Church World Service, asking if they had anyone who had immigrated to Harrisonburg who would be interested in participating. Arsalan hoped that by sharing his story he could help people gain a greater understanding of the refugee experience in America, and help foster more compassion and understanding towards them. As a case worker with a refugee resettlement agency, and as a refugee himself, Arsalan is familiar with a wide range of issues that impact refugees to the United States and is thus an extremely useful resource for modern immigration patterns and experiences.

Going into the interview, I must confess I did not know that much about Iraq, or even the Kurds. As such, when I conducted the interview I didn’t ask as many questions about Iraq that may have been useful for future historians. The purpose of this piece is to help anyone using this interview as a resource to understand the historical context that Arsalan grew up in, and to help them understand what led to some of the immigration policies he’s personally dealt with. Below is a timeline of Arsalan’s life alongside one of major events in Iraq, which are explained in more detail below.

Timeline of Arsalan’s life alongside a timeline of major events in Iraqi history.

To help orientate the reader to the cities discussed in this piece, I have made the below map which marks where the cities of Kirkuk, Erbil and Baghdad are.

Early Life in Iraq:

Arsalan was born into a Kurdish family in Kirkuk city, Iraq in 1969. The Kurds are a stateless ethnic group that form minorities in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.[1] They have faced persecution in Iraq, and have tried for decades to assert their independence and establish the country of Kurdistan (the land of the Kurds). This desire for independence, much to the chagrin of the Iraqi government, has over the last few decades led to several violent confrontations between Kurdish nationalists and the Iraqi government in the northern part of the country.

Arsalan was born a year after the Ba’thist party, which had carried out a campaign of “Arabization” in the mid- 1960s that had displaced several thousand Kurds, had taken control of the Iraqi government. In order to preserve their fragile hold on the government, he party had negotiated a ceasefire with the Kurds in 1970, and had recognized the rights of Kurds in an interim constitution that year. It was a short-lived peace though, and hostilities between the two resumed in 1975. During this war, 600,000 Kurds were displaced and sent to collective settlements, while over 1400 Kurdish villages were obliterated. In Kirkuk, the Kurdish population was reduced and replaced by Arabs.[2] During my interview with Arsalan, he mentioned that he did not grow up in the city he was born in (Kirkuk), but instead spent his childhood in the city of Erbil, which is further north.

Arsalan was ten years old when Suddam Hussein became president of Iraq, assuming the role after his cousin, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, had stepped down. Facing threats to his power from Shiite Muslims in Iraq, the Kurds in the north, and from Iran, Hussein started the disastrous Iran-Iraq War in September of 1980 in order to curb Iranian influence in the region.

Saddam Hussein circa 1979, the year he assumed the Iraqi presidency. Photo credit: Wikipedia.org

Young Adult Life in Iraq:

During the war, Iran supported the Kurdish resistance in northern Iraq, which prompted retaliation from Hussein in the form of the Anfal (Spoils) campaign against Iraqi Kurds in 1987.[3] The campaign involved the destruction of hundreds of Kurdish villages, with the use of chemical weapons in many villages, and the clearing of Kurdish civilians to holding facilities.[4] Human rights investigators estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 Kurds were killed during this campaign.[5] The violence only stopped after eight years of fighting between Iran and Iraq. After fighting each other to a stalemate, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire on August 20th, 1988, and Iraq was left economically drained, and in debt.

Possibly to counteract some of the economic difficulties that Iraq faced, on the 2nd of August 1990 Hussein invaded Kuwait. Arsalan had recently begun his studies in engineering at the University of Baghdad when this conflict began. The international community condemned the invasion and called for Hussein to withdraw. When he refused, a US-led coalition began an areal bombardment campaign against Iraq, which started the Gulf War (17 January-28 February 1991).[6]

Along with the bombing of Iraq, the coalition also cut power and water lines to the capital city of Baghdad which made conditions in the city so horrible that Hussein risked an uprising. As a final effort to draw the coalition into a ground war, where Iraqi forces could hopefully beat them, Hussein set the Kuwait oil fields on fire on February 22, 1991.[7] This proved disastrous, as the Iraqi forces were crushed by the coalition who drove back the Iraqi forces on the 25th of February 1991. Iraq was forced to surrender, and on the 28th of February, UN resolution 687 laid out the terms for a ceasefire and placed restrictions on the Iraqi government. Under this resolution, Iraq was required to destroy all their weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and submit to UN investigations to show their compliance.[8]

There was relative peace in Baghdad for a time after the war, and Arsalan was able to graduate in 1992 with his degree in engineering. Soon after he began working as the head of the mechanical department in the Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism in Baghdad, helping to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq. In 1993 he married his wife, Sakar Mahmood, and began to raise his family. While living in Baghdad the couple had four sons: Sivar, Danar, Renar, and Ali.

 

The Iraq War- Arsalan begins work as a translator:

It wasn’t long before war came to the country again, however. In the wake of 9/11, United States President George W. Bush claimed that Iraq was continuing to produce WMDs, and that they were aiding the terrorist organization Al-Qaida. Against the advice of the international community, Bush issued an ultimatum to Hussein on March 17, 2003: Leave Iraq willingly in 48 hours or be removed by the US military.[9] Hussein did not comply, and on March 20th the United States military invaded.

The force swept rapidly through the country, taking the capital city of Baghdad on April 9th. By December 13, the US had apprehended Saddam Hussein, turning him over to the Iraqi forces in June 2004. He was convicted of committing crimes against humanity and was publically executed on December 30, 2006.

Following the deposition of Hussein, the Bush administration approached Nouri Kamilal Maliki, a Shiite politician, and convinced him to run for prime minister. As a political unknown, the Bush administration felt that he would help to curb the growing sectarianism between the Sunni and the Shiite.[10]Maliki was successfully elected as prime minister in May of 2006, and helped ease the conflicts between the Sunnis and Shiites, along with several other key factors. One factor that helped bring more stability to Iraq was the “Surge”. In response to the growing unrest in the country, and to help the country transition into democracy, President Bush committed another 50,000 troops to Iraq in January of 2007.[11]It was during this time that Arsalan began working as a translator for the US military based in Baghdad.

Lunch with Military Personnel and Families with the Prime Minister of Iraq. Photo credit: The White House Archives

The Bush administration and Pentagon officials hoped to keep US forces in Iraq past 2011, as the country was still in a fragile state and Maliki was beginning to show sectarian tendencies that concerned them. However, when Barack Obama was elected to the Presidency in 2008, the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq was one of his priorities. In 2009, Obama officially announced that all US troops would be recalled from Iraq by the end of 2011.[12]

With the Obama administration’s gradual withdrawal of troops, and without the Bush administration keeping restraint, Maliki began to consolidate his power and displayed strong bias in favor of Shiites. These actions deeply concerned officials at the Pentagon, who strongly urged Obama to keep a residual force in Iraq. Obama did not, and in the spring of 2011 the United States military fully disengaged from Iraq.[13]

The Rise of ISIS and Migration to the US:

With all restraints gone, Maliki began a violent crackdown against Sunni Muslims in the government and military. This sparked outrage from Sunni Iraqis, and led them to enlist the support of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS) and former Ba’thists in 2014. Together, this combined force took Fallujah, Mosul, and Ramadi. Maliki revived the Mahdi army to try and combat this force, but was crushed by the opposition. Obama was forced to order 300 military advisors back to Iraq to deal with these developments.[14]

As the war against ISIS continued, Arsalan was finally granted his Special Immigration Visa (SIV) thanks to a program established by the Bush administration through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2006. This act authorized the issuance of fifty Special Immigration Visas to Iraqis or Afghanis who had served as interpreters for the US forces, and who met certain requirements. The Bush administration recognized the dangerous risk that many translators like Arsalan took in aiding the US forces, as they became targets of extremists who accused them of aiding the US occupation, and so established this program to provide them an avenue to the US. Under this act, any Iraqi or Afghani translator who had worked for the US forces at either the Baghdad or Kabul embassies for at least a year could apply for an SIV.[15] When this program was made known to Arsalan in 2007, he reached out to the US ambassador at Baghdad to see how he could apply for one.

Arsalan was one of the lucky few able to obtain one of these visas, although it took him nearly ten years to receive it. In November 2016, he and his family boarded a plane for Washington, DC, where they continued on to settle in Harrisonburg, Virginia. On this visa, he was treated as refugee, and the Church World Service refugee resettlement office helped him and his family settle into the US with a government stipend and with assistance in procuring a job.

Arsalan’s experience with the United States refugee program is typical of many. While the government assistance helps tremendously, he did mention that many refugees do not get enough assistance in learning the English language. In his view, this is one of the biggest hurdles for refugees, and can inhibit their ability to find work and get through the system. He was lucky, in that he was already familiar with English, but many others struggle immensely with it. Another issue with the refugee program is that it does not provide health insurance beyond the initial three months, which becomes an issue of great anxiety for refugees who otherwise cannot afford it.

Arsalan’s interview provides powerful insights into the experience of refugees in the United States, through his discussion about his work as a case worker at a refugee resettlement office. He is also a valuable source of information for events that occurred in Iraq and led to the establishment of the Special Immigration Visa Program. Future interviews could yield more useful information for historians.

 

[1] “The Time of the Kurds,” Council on Foreign Relations, October 4, 2017, accessed April 14, 2018, https://www.cfr.org/interactives/time-kurds?gclid=CjwKCAjw2dvWBRBvEiwADllhn-lWPGdaz2vF0hY3osX_NT-J-AplWTIRn_0LAOgnfUdqU0VT3-Z34BoC2FIQAvD_BwE#!/time-kurds?gclid=CjwKCAjw2dvWBRBvEiwADllhn-lWPGdaz2vF0hY3osX_NT-J-AplWTIRn_0LAOgnfUdqU0VT3-Z34BoC2FIQAvD_BwE.

[2] Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq (Westview Press:2012) 233-237.

[3] Phebe Marr, 298.

[4] Martin Van Bruinessen, “The Kurds Between Iraq and Iran,” MERIP Middle East Report, no. 141 (1986), 14.

[5] Phebe Marr, 300.

[6] Daniel Beers, PhD, “The New Humanitarianism: “New” Wars of the 1990s,” (lecture, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, March 15, 2018).

[7] Phebe Marr, 334-335.

[8] Daniel Beers, PhD, “The New Humanitarianism: “New” Wars of the 1990s,” (lecture, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, March 15, 2018).

[9] The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Iraq War,” Encyclopedia Britannica (Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.: December 6, 2017) Accessed April 15, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War

[10] Losing Iraq (PBS:2014) Accessed April 16, 2018, https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96579&xtid=114698.

[11] Phebe Marr, 451.

[12] Losing Iraq (PBS:2014) Accessed April 16, 2018, https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96579&xtid=114698.

[13] Losing Iraq (PBS:2014) Accessed April 16, 2018, https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96579&xtid=114698.

[14] Losing Iraq (PBS:2014) Accessed April 16, 2018, https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96579&xtid=114698.

[15] U.S. Department of State- Bureau of Consular Affairs, “Special Immigration Visas (SIVs) for Iraqi and Afghan Translators/Interpreters,” U.S. Visas, accessed April 18, 2018, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/siv-iraqi-afghan-translators-interpreters.html

For a more detailed history of Iraq and US immigration policy, view the research paper produced for this project, Historical context-Arsalan Syan

Maria Matlock: 00:01 This is Maria matlock interviewing Arsalan Syan for the
immigration, uh, 439 immigration history course at Jmu. OK. So,
um, uh, when, and where were you born?
Arsalan Syan: 00:19 Kirkuk City in Iraq. A in nineteen- nineties, uh… 1969.
Maria Matlock: 00:27 And, um, did you grow up there or did you grow up somewhere
else?
Arsalan Syan: 00:27 Excuse me?
Maria Matlock: 00:34 Was that the, the place where you grew up, where you had you
spent your childhood or did you grow up in another place?
Arsalan Syan: 00:39 Yeah, I grew up in Erbil cities, a city around one hour distance
between my own city, and other city. Uh it’s called Erbil City.
Maria Matlock: 00:49 OK. Um, and what was it like living there? What was it like living
there?
Arsalan Syan: 00:56 What was like,
Maria Matlock: 00:58 yeah, I’m like, what kind of experiences did you have living? Um,
in that place?
Arsalan Syan: 01:04 You mean my graduation and my experience or?
Maria Matlock: 01:08 Yeah, just like, um, what was your childhood? Um, like. Um,
what kinds of things did you do as a kid? Um you know where,
did you go in that city
Arsalan Syan: 01:18 when? Uh, when I first six years I started the study and uh, uh, I
completed, uh, my engineering degree dsc engineering in
Baghdad city, that’s the capital of Iraq. It’s far from my city
around three, maybe five hours driving.
Maria Matlock: 01:18 That’s a long drive.
Arsalan Syan: 01:53 I thought, “I will stay in Baghdad, not moving daily, so it’s just
stay there and
Maria Matlock: 01:53 [Arsalan’s wife comes in] Hi
Arsalan Syan: 01:53 I, uh, this is my wife, by the way. She’s named Sakar.
Sakar Mahmood: 01:53 Hi

 

 

Maria Matlock: 01:53 Hi, how are you?
Sakar Mahmood: 01:53 I’m nice, thank you.
Maria Matlock: 01:53 I’m Maria, it’s nice to meet you.
Sakar Mahmood: 01:53 Nice to meet you.
Maria Matlock: 02:08 Um, let’s see. Um, so what did you study when you were in
school? You mentioned engineering earlier.
Arsalan Syan: 02:19 Yes, I just uh, After I graduate high school, I joined with the
university that I studied, mechanical engineering, general
mechanical engineering. And I graduated at 1992. Then after
that I started working my job. So I work with the government,
uh as the head of the mechanical department, in the ministry of
municipalities and tourism, and I spent it the around 23 years,
but I moved to different places, like a different position higher
than that, What I started. But the last job that I, [coughs] Sorry. I
was a deputy of general director. The ministry after that, I
supervise at the 120 meter, as I mentioned to you before we
start, I think that’s the biggest road in urban city.
Maria Matlock: 03:30 Right and how did you meet your wife? When did you get
married?
Arsalan Syan: 03:30 We married at 1993.
Maria Matlock: 03:38 And um, how did you meet her?
Arsalan Syan: 03:40 Actually, uh, uh, me and her cousin. Uh we was student in
university together and we have a far relation with this family.
But, I didn’t meet her before. I just meet with her cousin, and
we are students together. I feel that this family is a good family.
So I can find someone from this family that’s going to be my
wife for future. I ask him if, uh, they have a year, like a to
compare with my age is going to be OK with me. And he offered
to me, uh, his cousin, uh, because his wife, a sister with uh, my
wife, so he say that uh, uh, we have uh, my cousin and you
come speak her, and if you on if you feel that you can, Eh,
interesting together you kind of do the process. And I meet her
one time in the marriage ceremony. I feel that I am interested
with her. So we start the process. And we married. yeah.
Maria Matlock: 05:00 And You said that you had four children earlier.
Arsalan Syan: 05:00 Yes.

 

 

Maria Matlock: 05:04 Um, how old are they and what are their names?
Arsalan Syan: 05:10 Uh the old one, His name’s Sivar. He’s 24 years now and he’s
working like a team leader in Shenandoah Grows. And the next
semester, on the summer semester he was starting his study in
a college community, that’s in Blue Ridge.
Maria Matlock: 05:10 Ok.
Arsalan Syan: 05:29 Yeah in Bridgewater. And then my other son who’s named
Danar, he’s 22 years. He’s already student in the college, uh
Blue Ridge uh, what you call it? college. uh Besides his study, he
is working on the weekends in Marshall as a forklift driver. And
the other one, his name is Renar, he’s 16 years now. uh, Sixteen
years. Ah, he’s a great kid in high school. Harrisonburg high
school. And Ali, he is the small one, and he is uh only seven
years. And he is in Smithland elementary school, grade one.
Maria Matlock: 06:13 All right. Um, so when did you leave Iraq?
Arsalan Syan: 06:17 I leave Iraq a actually, I arrived at United State on the twenty-
nineth, uh November 2016.
Maria Matlock: 06:28 Ok, Um, so right in the middle of the presidential elections.
Arsalan Syan: 06:30 I have uh, uh, because we, we, uh, we have a special
immigration visa because after we arrived with united, because
after two weeks or maybe three weeks, we received our green
card. So we are permanent resident now.
Maria Matlock: 06:48 Um, so what was it like coming in here during that time in
America? It was a very fraught political time. And especially with
um like the, the candidates that we had.
Arsalan Syan: 06:48 Um, I don’t understand your question, excuse me.
Maria Matlock: 07:06 Um, so what was it like seeing the elections going on here in the
us? like um seeing now President Trump and Clinton going
against each other in the election? um like, what were your
reactions to that?
Arsalan Syan: 07:22 Uh, I think that’s not the effected on us, because when we
arrived he had not started to be a president. After we arrived,
then he uh a president of the United States is a political

decision, is sometimes is difficult for us as a refugee. But the, I believe he sometime speak something going to, uh, after that, uh, it’s something would be changed. So he, uh, maybe change

 

his mind sometimes. I believe it’s a little confusing for us
sometimes, when he make a decision. And after that it’s going
to be clear, uh, the change of decision. In the beginning when
he, uh, when he, uh, president, he decided to get out all non-
United States resident to outside. But after that he changes that
plan to, for example, people who’s coming so big already on
there legally they can’t stay. But only the people who is not
coming, uh, like a closing border the yellow, they have much
anymore in the United Stated. And I don’t know if this is the
things that they use them sometimes for like people like us.
Maria Matlock: 08:57 So what made you decide to leave Iraq? Why did you leave
Iraq?
Arsalan Syan: 09:05 Uh, we have, I forget to inform you that I worked at the, uh,
behind the United States army and I serve as the United States
army in our country, more than one year as a translator and
interpreter. Uh, so, uh, there is a law in united state, I believe is
that any county that the United States army to go to that
country and use the Army, and any people who leaving this
country help the United States army for more than one year
they have a right, and um their family, to get the visa and the
immigration process through to move to the United States after
the United State army leave that country. So after 2007 when
the United States Army is moving to outside, with the president
George w Bush when he make a decision the time, uh, after
that, uh, this immigration processes was open for people
whose, uh, was uh, working with the United States army, so I
just a send an email to the United States embassy in Baghdad
and I requested, for me and my family, our situation after the
United States Army moved. We are feeling, we are not safe in
this country anymore. So they make a decision and the forces
after that, we moved to the United States.
Maria Matlock: 10:44 And um, did you come straight to Harrisonburg or were there
other areas that you stopped in?
Arsalan Syan: 10:44 No, straight directly to Harrisonburg.
Maria Matlock: 10:44 Ok.
Arsalan Syan: 10:52 And I mean the fly when we, uh, arrived to Washington dc, and
directly to, uh we not stay in Washington DC, we direct to
Harrisonburg.
Maria Matlock: 10:52 What made you decide to come here?

 

 

Arsalan Syan: 11:05 I actually, we have no aid here before we come. Uh, which city
is better than the other in the United State? I, I just researched
something to find which city is more safe, more comfortable for
us. But the, actually we have some, uh, like a Kurdish
community here. In Harrisonburg.I hear that. And uh, we have a
relative, his name Uhmed, he was live here before we come and
he told me about this. This is area is fairly safe, and very good to
people who’s coming new. And jobs available, easier than other
places. Uh, uh, that’s why we decided to come to the city that
there’s some Kurdish people like a community with us. In the
beginning, you know, it’s not easy to go to the other country
and you not find in the city Anyone speaking your language is
going to be difficult. Uh, but, uh, anyway, uh, he was like, our
US tie with us and help us in the beginning, first month to find a
house, uh and Church World Service also provided services,
medical services for us. But he’s also helped with the two
biggest of our sons to the schools and health insurers. Um, uh,
that’s, it’s like a relative. It’s good. Better for us.
Maria Matlock: 11:05 Um, so, um how did you start working at the CWS?
Arsalan Syan: 12:55 Um, actually when we arrived with the United States, the CWS
provided many, many things, uh, services for me and for my
family. Like you’re finding house for us, furnishing the house,

provides food, help us to register for the food stamp in the beginning before you start to work, and they help us to find a job for me, for my sons, for my wife. In the beginning I worked in Ariake, because it’s, you know, when you arrived to other like United States you cannot find a job for. I have BSC degree in engineering, but I believe that’s not easy for you to find a job equivalent to my experience, so I decided to start any job available in the beginning to …to get some income for me and my family and I work at as a mechanical, uh mechanic operator in Ariake, but after two, three months I feel that this job is very hard to me because it was a night shift starting from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM. All the night. It was very hard job. Then I, eh, feel that I’m not healthy and I visited a doctor. He told me, you cannot continue with this job so you have to move to other positions. After that…that this job actually not CWS find to me. Social services, because I applied for ten-up also. So they provided this offer to me, eh but I told them that I cannot do this job anymore. And they try to find some position, like a cargo marshall. I feel that this job also is maybe it’s not. Then I decided to find a job by myself. I searched through the internet, and try the civil cases. And then finally I find the job is filling a machine operator, a second shift in Andrews, uh, Andrews Food North of America. Uh, I feel that this position is OK me, especially working at a computerized, and you can by the

 

computers control the machines and it’s easier and closer to my
experience. So I started seven month, eh, working there. And
they’re finally, Lucia, I think you know her, she’s a caseworkers
in CWS. She’s called me and she offered to me that there is a
position available that case worker for Polish, Arabic, and
English language. If I am interested in, I can go on and fill out
the form and apply for this position. Then I decided that this
position is OK with me, uh, and it’s office work, not that hard
like uh planned places. Uh, so I decided to go and fill out the
form, and eh make the interview. And then they decided that
I’m qualified for this position. And it was supposed to be a
temporary job for three months. After the, eh during this
agreement, if I prove it that I am qualified person for this
position, they make a decision to be available to employ for that
long time and staying with them. After two month, not three
month, they decided that I’m qualified for this position.
Maria Matlock: 12:55 Oh, that’s great!
Arsalan Syan: 16:56 So they make the decision, eh yeah, that I’m staying be a regular
full-time employee with them as a case worker.
Maria Matlock: 17:00 Ok, and what do you do as a case worker?
Arsalan Syan: 17:04 As a case-worker I am, um, working on the RMP, RMP
replacement and the replacement of placement. That’s a
position is there for the people who’s new coming on the first
three month we provide on… uh, before they come, we
know…we get a notification that, the capacity of the family,
how many, and if they have a disability or they have uh big kids
or small kids… daughter, son. We, we, we know everything
about this family. Uh, then we try to find the house for them.
We have some sources, like agencies help us as the CWS to find
the house, compare with the capacity of the family. And then,
for example, if they have a disability, we know not find an
apartment on the third floor, for example. We have to think
about all these issues, uh, uh, after we find the house or we do
a, like a, an inspection for the house to see if it’s healthy or not.
Uh that’s our responsibility. And after we make sure that the
house is ok, we make an agreement with uh, the uh, land
owner.
Arsalan Syan: 18:22 And then, uh, we furnish a simple furnishings that require to the
family, like a sofa, like a kitchen table. Uh, the kitchen should be
available with all the things that are like to open and you no,

[coughs] excuse me, the simple requirement. It should be available like the eh hot water, cold water, electricity, a heating system, the AC system should be available in that house. And

 

then we provide a depot one day, uh, before they come. Uh,
we, uh, we bring some foods are going to be like a, a normal
foods you’re using for one week or two weeks or keeping in the
house for the family. And in the day that they arrived, eh, we
have to go to the airport to escort him to the house. Sometimes
we not do that, we waiting an hour or… this because IOM
arrange these things with us, uh, for example, a renter to
provide the transportation for them to our office and we are
awaiting them on in our office, so when they arrived we just
introduced ourself as a CWS, and we are the case worker who’s
covering their cases. Then we pick up with the house and we
explain everything to him that said, for example, the open
house. How is the house working? Every details of the house, if
it’s um, if they arrived in the night we not take a long time with
them because, you know, we feel that they are very tired,
maybe because they have a long trip.
Arsalan Syan: 20:15 So we just give him some simple things. And then there we have
a next-day visit. The next day is very important and it’s required
for us as a case worker to make sure that everything is OK with
them. So the next day we’re going to visit him to see if they
need anything, that they are all healthy or they need some help
there, emergency things. Also that you signed the agreement
between the landlord and the newcomer. And also we, uh, uh,
be given to him some cash money in case they need it, that’s
also required. Per adult is 50 dollar, per child is 25 dollars. That’s
maybe simple things they need. And then, uh, within seven days
we have to arrange an appointment with him, let’s call it, uh,
orientation, uh, the family they are, we pick up into the office
and we have several people that’s working in different fields like
education, like a help, like a job, like a community.
Arsalan Syan: 21:38 So we meet together with this family on each one, provide the
service that he’s specialized in. For example, you have uh

Megan, she’s specializing in the accounting issues. And Sara, she’s in education. If they have a… kids that need to go to register to the school Sara is going to help them. If they need a, for example, for Medicaid and other issues, uh, Megan, she’s responsibility. For the food stamp in the beginning because they have no job for the … because, uh, also they need, uh, uh, some, uh, like a help, like a food stamp. So a that’s my responsibility to fill out the form. And also we have to register the, and make an appointment with the social security administration to get them social security card. That’s my responsibility also. And uh, we have to enter another appointment with the social services. That’s one, the staff for snap and food stamp and if they need to apply for the tenant.

 

Arsalan Syan: 22:46 So you have to arrange also another appointment. That’s all the
things that we have to do in the first week. Uh, we another
program, we call it the MIC. That’s for the parents who have a
kids say under five years, uh, we have to apply also for these
services. Also beside that, we have a match grant, that’s a
matching grant. That’s the other program. It’s also a CWS
provided to the family before they start the job. But it’s a little
like… a complicate. If he applied for tenant, he cannot apply for
the matching grant. If he apply for matching grant he cannot
apply for [tenant]. So we had to organize these thing eh with
that family. And uh, we explain everything to him to make him
understand that the, which one they, they decide to involve
with. Eh, also, I forget eh during the orientation, we do explain
everything to that family about the United States, about the job,
about how money is, how much is important the job in this
country to, people have to work and they have no disability
toward a up the. We have another visit, a family visit. It’s before
30 days. I think I’m speaking a long time.
Maria Matlock: 24:18 No, you’re fine.
Arsalan Syan: 24:18 It’s ok?
Maria Matlock: 24:18 Yeah, absolutely.
Arsalan Syan: 24:21 OK. Because I want to explain everything to you.
Maria Matlock: 24:24 No, that’s absolutely fine. It’s good to like here exactly, like, how
you’re helping these people getting settled here.
Arsalan Syan: 24:34 Yeah, yeah because I believe it’s very important for the people
to know what we are doing at the CWS. Um, after, uh, before
thirty day we make a, like a home visit, next home visits to the
family to make sure that everything’s OK with them. And then
the unit this time our colleagues register those kids to the

school if they required or if their ages are OK with the school. Um, uh, we invite the in the household or like a mother and a father to our office if they have a kid’s over 18. They need to, they need to starting job. So we tried to find a job for these families, on some of them online. Some of them is a, uh, like a face visiting to work with a place and apply for them until they get the job. Then, uh, we just, uh, provide the, if they need in case any other issues, help. Uh, and we also decided that we have a one person, she’s a responsible to, eh, learn them how the transportation to the city, for example, if they need anything, any places they do like a training for him, for the transportation, how they use it. And they provide the ticket. Is pretty good for them, for the beginning to not spending their

 

money. It’s like a service now, CWS provided. After that, when
they passed three months they changed it, they transfer it from
the RMP to RSS. RSS, if they, you know, they are not much
involved with a match grant we not providing and not give them
any other money. Uh, but just we, uh, help them to, if they need
a job, we’ve helped them. If they need the uh, any health issues
we can help them. And also about the education, in case they
need any other extra help, we can help them for this. That’s our
responsibility.
Maria Matlock: 26:52 That’s great! Um, so, so when you came here to the United
States, were there any culture shocks when you came here? Or
was there anything that really surprised you?
Arsalan Syan: 27:03 Actually, it’s not surprised me a hundred percent because of,
you know, I worked with the United States army in our country,
and, uh, during my job with them as interpreter sometimes we
would, uh, like a friendly, we speak together. And I learned how
the people living in the United States how, for example, how
much they have to pay for rent, how much they have pay to use
electricity, the internet and all these things. I collect some
information before we arrived, but. But it’s, you know, it’s not
like people, eh speaking something and you go into the place
and see what’s happening there. It’s totally different.
Maria Matlock: 27:03 Yeah.
Arsalan Syan: 27:03 You understand what I mean?
Maria Matlock: 27:03 Yeah.
Arsalan Syan: 27:55 It’s a little bit surprised but a too much. But maybe it’s a
surprise for, for other people. Who’s not having communicate
with United States people before going to be like a totally
different.
Maria Matlock: 28:20 Yeah. Have you liked living in Harrisonburg? Have you felt
welcomed in this community?
Arsalan Syan: 28:29 Yes. I like Harrisonburg so much. It’s a very quiet city. The
people here is very nice. I like to be on, also is good for like a,
for the family. It’s a very good area to live and I decided, also
uh, decide that I’m now starting to process to buy a house for…
Maria Matlock: 28:29 Oh Wow!

 

 

Arsalan Syan: 28:51 myself on my family because you know, decided that we
staying here, and we prefer to stay in Harrisonburg, not that
other places in United States. So we staying. Yeah. We decided
to stay here.
Maria Matlock: 29:09 That’s great! See, so you mentioned that there’s a pretty strong
Kurdish community here.
Arsalan Syan: 29:09 Yes.
Maria Matlock: 29:13 So, I know that last year there was a referendum about Kurdish
independence. How did the community react to that?
Arsalan Syan: 29:13 I’m not understanding what you mean?
Maria Matlock: 29:23 Um, so last year there was the referendum on Kurdish
independence. How did the Kurdish population, like the Kurdish
community in this area feel about that?
Arsalan Syan: 29:35 Uh, actually, uh, it was, uh, uh, we communicate with each
other about the independence referendum, it was easy for us to
apply. It’s a online so we just register and apply online to say yes
to independent. And we applied. Me, my wife, my sons.
Maria Matlock: 29:59 And you all voted for independence?
Arsalan Syan: 29:59 Yes. I like independence.
Maria Matlock: 30:06 Um, So what was it like when you found out that, uh, they
actually weren’t granted their independence?
Arsalan Syan: 30:13 Ah, I’m not understanding what you mean?
Maria Matlock: 30:16 Um, so I believe in the referendum they ended up not getting
independence. So how did that feel seeing them not getting
that?
Arsalan Syan: 30:29 Well, I feel sad about that. Because, uh, uh, you know, the, the
referendum is a, like a first step, the first step that the people
who’s living in the same places that they are decide to be
independent with the other parts. It’s like, our right. It’s our
right to say that’s our dream. But if the political situation in the
world is against this decision, that’s not our fault.
Maria Matlock: 30:29 Yeah.

 

 

Arsalan Syan: 31:03 That’s the work the for that and not accepted the this uh, uh,
it’s a democracy process. So we applied a democracy process to
get the independent with other parts of Iraq, that’s our right.
And we not say that we are going to eh, use a military for this
issue. Just we have a vote. So I think totally is democracy for us
to ask the world to accept that we are a Kurdish people, we
have a dream to be independent with other part. Especially, you
have a totally different culture, different language, uh,
everything we are different, not like other people, so we have a
right to have a independent, and to have our flag in there, in the
United Nations.
Maria Matlock: 31:58 Um, so do you think that they’ll maybe have another
referendum on that? Or do you think independence is still
something that they can have?
Arsalan Syan: 32:05 Eh, Kurdistan people make it a referendum and they register,
they voted for the firm. So I believe it’s not needed to do that
another time. Because already it’s available, and registered, and
all the world know that uh, uh, around eighty or eighty five
percent of the Kurdistan people, they have a dream to be
independent. So I believe it’s not necessary to do this process
again. Even even if, uh, if we do that because you, it’s
complicated. Because, uh, uh, Kurdistan, the big country of
Kurdistan, it was a separated after the Second World War. To,
four places, four countries. So part of us with Iraq, part of us
was the other part of Syria, and the other Turkey, and the other
Iran. I believe if we, uh, make another referendum that’s not
only for our part. Is going to be like a majority for all the Kurdish
people in the world. In those countries, together. And maybe
it’s going to be useful also to do, another referendum, but
including all the parts together.
Maria Matlock: 33:30 Yeah, so how has the conflict in Syria affected, uh….like have
you gotten any refugees from Syria in recent years? Or what
kind of, what areas do the refugees you work with come from?
Arsalan Syan: 33:40 Actually, after I started working there is no refugee coming new
um, from uh, Iraq or Syria. Only I received one refugee, who is

also on a special immigration visa from Afghanistan. The family’s from Afghanistan, uh, they arrived 2017 to December. So only this family I recieved now. But uh we have a newcomer. But during this time there is some family from coming, but they is from Cambodia, from Eritrea, or from other places, not in Middle East.

 

Maria Matlock: 34:20 Yeah, So do you think that has something to do with President
Trump’s travel bans? Or maybe just the growing, um, hostility
towards refugees from that part of the world in this country?
Arsalan Syan: 34:38 I believe yes, Mr. Trump effect it. Effective to not the people
coming from Iraq or Syria or the Middle East, totally. Uh, maybe
that’s his decision effected negative on people, and it’s not
going to be easy for people who’s a already applied to come to
United State. And they have a right, because the law of the
United States that allow him to, to come to United State
because, uh, they have, uh, cases, um, it’s approved already.
And there’s many, many cases approved from the Special, eh,
special agencies that are responsible for that. But uh, maybe I
believe it’s a Mr. Trump’s, eh Trump’s decision that these
people is not coming anymore, and that’s affecting negatively.
Maybe. Because some people need really to come here to the
United States. They are not safe in these countries. Yeah.
Maria Matlock: 35:50 Well, I believe that’s all the questions that I have. Um, let’s see.
Is there anything that you would like to talk about? Like maybe
your experiences either in Iraq or here in the US?
Arsalan Syan: 36:03 We’ll, uh, for the people that I believe when they arrived to the
United States there is two challenge. The first one is the
language and the second one is the health…health insurance.
That’s, two things is like a challenge for everybody. If he came
from any other country he have to face-to-face with these two
challenge. Especially the language, if you… the key to, to the
language is the key to, to, to be a part of this, uh, country. To
understand, to communicate with people. So I prefer, and I
suggest is also to CWS, to make focus on this issue for the
people, especially when they come to the United States in the
beginning and they have no language. They have no skill to
speak English. So, uh, but it’s not easy to find, like a special
places to learn English. There is some places like a Skyline, like
other businesses in the JMU, you also.
Arsalan Syan: 37:37 Last year it was some classes, but this is not available. I’m not
happy with that. Last year there was a semesters for the people
who’s coming. They just pay $25 per semester. It’s was, uh I was
very happy with that service available at JMU, but I don’t know
why this year they decided to not the provide the services to
the refugee. Uh, from there I asked him again…ask the JMU to
open this service to the refugee because it’s really important.
Excuse me…
Maria Matlock: 37:37 Oh, it’s fine!

 

 

Arsalan Syan: 37:37 [Speaking to his son, Ali, in Arabic]
Arsalan Syan: 38:09 And also, uh, uh, as I mentioned, uh, the language and the
health insurance. The health insurance is in the United States,
the process is, I believe it’s very complicated for a newcomer. In
the beginning, a social service provide the Medicaid during the
six or one year to the newcomer family. But after that they not
provide these services. And the people have to find a, uh,
insurance by themselves or during [their] job. And during the
job, you have to spend monthly or weekly, you have to pay for
that and it’s going to be like a extra load to the new family. I
believe if the social services or United State health department
make a decision or help his people for at least three years, at
least three years, they provide medical insurance to those
families who’s coming new. And then after that, maybe they
learn better. For me, for me myself, uh, I speak English good,
and I have a graduate university, and I maybe have a mind for
how to arrange these things for me and my family. But there’s
people coming, they cannot, believe me, They need to learn
how they opened the door. They need like a lecture to open the
door or how to use the…excuse me… how to use the showers.
They coming from Africa and they have no experience for
nothing if they live in the open area before they come.
Arsalan Syan: 40:01 So these people need at least three years health insurance to
be, to be a learning. Uh, after that they did this three years, It’s
helped them to learn English and they find a job. And doing the
job, they learn how they communicate with people and what is
the required to the family. Like a health insurance, like a
transportation. There’s people who come to here, and maybe
they not use the card. So these kind of people is not easy for
them. Maybe for me it’s easy to, to, to involved with the new
country, like the United States, or any other country. But for
other people it’s not easy.
Maria Matlock: 40:01 Yeah, I’m sure it’s very difficult.
Arsalan Syan: 40:52 Yes, very difficult. That’s why I maybe many, many of the
refugees, they are not happy. Because these two things. First
the language assistant and the second thing the health
insurance. That’s my opinion.
Maria Matlock: 41:04 I’m sure it’s difficult. I can’t even imagine, you know, picking up
and moving to a completely new area like that. Um…
Arsalan Syan: 41:04 You find any question?

 

 

Maria Matlock: 41:16 Um, I think that’s, that’s everything. Thank you for talking to us.
This is very interesting. Is really awesome. Getting to hear your
story.
Arsalan Syan: 41:22 Thank you so much for you. Throw a house and the discuss this
position together. Hopefully it’s going to be like a a voice to to
tell somebody in the United State that these things is happening
and this is required. Especialty for that new refugees and I thank
you again for coming.
Maria Matlock: 41:22 Yes, thank you so much.
Arsalan Syan: 41:22 Have a great day and hopefully you pass this project! I am
happy you are here.
Maria Matlock: 41:22 Thank you so much.

 

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