Interview with Karen Lopez
Introduction
The amount of course content that has been published and shown in this sociology class has brought a new perspective to the way I view immigration in the vast world of opportunities that can occur in the U.S. especially. I never would’ve thought that there was so much information involving the struggles and challenges that migrants have to go through, and even when it comes down to discussion over broad concepts such as assimilation and the networking theory to understand how the world of migration works. Luckily a person of interest who has endured such hardships and has experienced the journey of migration is my own mother, Karen Lopez. I’ve had the privilege to interview her for her experience in the U.S. and her home country, and I’m glad to have her as my mother as she has given me an important depiction of her life story to write here for many people to see.
Method
The interview was conducted on December 5th and was done in-person. This allowed me to get a clearer sense of information and to give my mother a better space for the questions that were going to be asked. I also made the questions known before the interview was conducted so that my mother could prepare herself more efficiently and to allow for more communicative responses that would not catch her off-guard. All in all, the interview did not have any interruptions and the questions were answered thoroughly.
Summary and Analysis
My mother was born on May 10, 1976 in Catacamas, Olancho, Honduras to a very wide and expansive family that spanned 9 sisters and 4 brothers. As my mother grew up, she attended Francisco Morazan during her kindergarten period of time then proceeded to transfer over to the school of Policarpo Melara for her elementary education. As a kid she would witness countless amounts of violence and drug use in the walk to and from school, and safety was always a concern in the poverty side of the city in which she resided with her mother and siblings. As my mother claimed in our discussion, the policing system and government as she spent part of her life in Honduras were pretty negligent and selfish in their activities when patrolling or caring about any of the citizens of the region. She would go on to a middle school named “Colegio: 18 de Noviembre” where she continued her education to chase her dream of becoming a teacher to help the betterment of people learning English. This would result in her going to an advanced school to get her teaching degree in which she would find out that working as a teacher in Catacamas is not as swell as she thought because the pay is absolutely miserable. This would be one of the pushes to inspire her to move to the U.S. as it seemed there were more opportunities for her to teach in the United States.
However disaster would strike as one of her brothers was killed from a drive-by shooter, solidifying the fact that violence is so prevalent in Catacamas. This would change my mother’s perspective about staying in Honduras any further, and with the help of her mother and the rest of her family she was able to pack her bags and bring the essentials on the journey to the United States in 1998. She wanted a better future and a peace of mind knowing she would be able to chase her dream with no worries in the back of her mind about being halted due to violence or poor economic governance in the area. One of my mother’s sisters was already in the States in New York to achieve a similar goal of finding new opportunities, so fortunately my mother already had a connection to settling in the U.S. without too much of a problem.
The chase for a better future wasn’t all too bright in the beginning when entering the U.S. though, as applying for a work visa was a bit more complicated than my mother would anticipate. Many documents needed to be signed, proof of a birth certificate, and more just to get herself into the country in a legal manner without a hiccup in the legal process. I questioned in the interview if my mother would arrive in a plane, and she said she did as it was the quickest way to arrive but it still wouldn’t be easy once you’re in the United States. She felt welcome in the country knowing she was with her sister in New York, seeing the tall towers in Manhattan and seeing the Statue of Liberty were memorable aspects of the welcoming atmosphere once she arrived. This would be a nice “pull” factor as the scenery would be gorgeous and a nice change of pace. Learning English in the U.S. was one of the main goals so that she could use the skill of being bilingual to potentially teach Spanish here in the States or teach English in Honduras. Working as a babysitter and house cleaner as her first jobs, the work life was stressful and tough to power through but she would always get the phone calls from her family back in Catacamas assuring her that everything would be okay, and that they would always be there for her no matter what, even if they are thousands of miles away. My mother would eventually face discrimination in some of her workplaces as stated in the interview but as she says, “there is always a price to pay to want a dream”. Throughout the time my mother spent here in the U.S. she would essentially be “locked in” to the country because citizenship is something she’s always wanted and researched for 20 years, but has always come to a dead-end due to the troubling long process of obtaining residency which would affect her in the long run. The political aspects of immigration have always put my mother at a halt when attempting to get citizenship, and it would stress her out greatly.
In early 2022, my grandfather (mother’s father) would pass away, and it would be devastating towards my mother because she was never able to see him in-person ever since she left in 1998 because of the way that the immigration policy works with work visas, as it would punish her if she ever laid foot in Honduras unless she had U.S. residency or citizenship. This would make my mother fight even harder for the dream of becoming a teacher and obtaining citizenship, which she is still currently battling to this day. She was able to integrate well in the U.S. with knowing enough English to understand most of it and speak it, whilst also recently achieving the trip back to Honduras without punishment to see her family once again. My mother aims to provide the best possible future for my sister and I as she fights for her dream, and if she ever were to pass away, she would pass away happily knowing that my sister and I have gotten our higher education and didn’t have to fight as hard as she did to obtain the desired future.
Conclusion
This interview was an eye-opener for me, as I never would’ve thought that the journey to migrate to the United States would be as complex as it might’ve seemed. Although my mother would take a flight here and also charge through the hard work life, at least she didn’t have to endure the violence in Honduras any longer. Listening to my mother talk about her dream and life in Catacamas made me realize that I really need to be more appreciative of the things she’s given my sister and I to provide for us, which gave me a mini epiphany to always help my mother out whenever possible. From her own words, “if my kids finish their education and they get a good job and they get better opportunities, I don’t want them to suffer whatever I have been suffering all these years because I want them to have better opportunities, have better jobs, better living, and at least they got me”. I’m grateful to have Karen as my mother, and I know I’ll always be there for her and she’ll always be there for me no matter what.
Stewart: My name is Stewart Cabrera and I am going to be interviewing my mom about her upbringings in immigration and how she came to the US and what her life was like and where she was born.
Stewart: So state your full name.
Karen: My name’s Karen Lopez.
Stewart: Where did you live before you immigrated to the us?
Karen: Honduras.
Stewart: Uh, where in Honduras?
Karen: Catacamas, Olancho.
Stewart: Do you know how long you were there before you came to the us?
Karen: I came here when I got 20 years old.
Stewart: Okay. Um, so what specific circumstances caused you to immigrate, or why did you think people came here instead of everywhere else?
Karen: People came here to get better opportunities. Okay. They don’t have the, maybe they don’t have, we don’t have the opportunities this country offers. We have better jobs and we come here to give a better opportunity for the kids too, and they’re too much. It’s a lot of. with the people and I think we’re more protected here.
Stewart: Okay. And do you have any like stories from Honduras that, like any dangerous stories?
Karen: Yeah, my brother was kill, uh, he was killed by. By some drivers, people, it’s a lot of dangers there sometimes. That’s why people, sometimes people immigrate here because we are more protected. Yeah, I can’t remember. Family died there.
Stewart: How did that make you feel?
Karen: Feel bad because the country is not safe. Too many. Too much dangerous people there. Too much drugs and that and the government. The police, they don’t do too much. Like here, it’s different. Some people, they just pay and they fix the problems and here we don’t see that.
Stewart: Okay. Um, so what did you hear about the US before you came? Um, I know you said better opportunities and all that but for you, did you come just for like, just for the job opportunities or did you just want a change of view?
Karen: Uh, I came here because, well, I finished my school there, but the jobs there, they do not pay enough, less opportunities than here. I graduated as a teacher in my country. But, uh, the opportunities are not paying good. And I got my sister here, married to an American guy. She told me to come here and go here and maybe I have more opportunities here than there and help my family too, because the people need help there.
Stewart: Okay. And where did you go to school? Uh, in Honduras. And what did you, did you get a higher education in Honduras?
Karen: I graduated as an elementary teacher there. I came here with the dream to my, my own stuff, my own car, my own house, and learn English to go back there to teach English, but my brother was killed and too much bad people. That’s why I didn’t come back. I decided to stay here and give better opportunities to my kids. .
Stewart: Okay. And when you came here to the US did you, did you get what you expected? Did you find what you were looking for?
Karen: It’s not what I get, I expected. It’s because everything we want, we have to earn. We have to work to make money and to get whatever we want. It wasn’t like easy, I thought it was like maybe get the money easy, but it’s not like that. We have to work hard, get up every single day at 4:30 AM to go work and get paid every week to pay my bills and all my stuff. It’s not easy, but at least we got help and we got a job to do .
Stewart: Okay. Um, do you know any other people who also immigrated here that, uh, that you know from like your job or anything that’s had similar, like the same kind of struggles or anything?
Karen: A lot of people the same with the same dreams. Better opportunities, work, at least buy my car or got a place to live, save a little money and then all the people come to the same dreams because there it’s not easy, it’s the jobs. They don’t pay too good and everything’s too expensive. People, I just travel there and I saw a lot of things. People don’t make enough money to leave and that make it hard. That’s what I said here. I got a job. At least I can pay my bills. Yeah and leave.
Stewart: So what do you think with Honduras, how the way it was before you immigrated to the US and now, do you think Honduras is better now? Or what do you think changed from then? Mm-hmm. to now? Has anything gotten better? Has it gotten worse?
Karen: You not say better because the government, they don’t do nothing but um, it looks like it’s more business now, but it still, people don’t have money to, to buy whatever they want. And the people who are there is some people who got money, but they got their own business. But still, the country still poor. And for the poor people who don’t help, they don’t pay enough to live, but I don’t see it is different. Some things are different. Like when I went now, I went two weeks ago. But, uh, the difference between the jobs and everything, some of the same.
Stewart: Okay. And do you ever wish you could, you could ever like, go back there to Honduras? Like, do you want to ever. Go back and just like to settle there or do you think you’d keep like not the living here in the US and just the moment chasing the dream?
Karen: Not at the moment. The dream I want, it wasn’t easy. I had to work hard. I had kids and with kids, it’s not easy here, it’s too much money to spend living everything expensive. But at least I have a job and I got pay every week to cover my stuff. Going back right now, no, because I have to wait until my kids finish school and until they get their own life. When they ready to do that, maybe I decide when I get older, go there and rest. Oh. But now I wanna wait until they finish his education.
Stewart: Okay. So did you come here alone when you, uh, came to the US or did you come with other people?
Karen: Yeah, I came alone. I finish my school as a teacher there. I came here because I went to learn English. I went to study more. I thought it was easy, but it wasn’t easy because it’s expensive. But what was like the, what was one of the hardest parts about. settling here in the US you said it was. Uh, I let my heart, I let my family there and I, I miss my family, and when I went there, I had 25 years. I didn’t see my family. It’s not easy when you leave and you don’t see your family again. My father die. I didn’t see him again. My brother died. , my sister died. I never saw them. And that’s the hard part, because you don’t see the family again to stay in this country.
Stewart: Mm-hmm. And how did, how did that make you feel, like knowing that you couldn’t see them?
Karen: Because like, I feel sad, but at least I got my kids here and I have to make my own decision because I got my kids they need. I know I miss my family, but I got my kids here and they need me. I have to help them until I came or until I die. I don’t know, whatever they decide but now it’s my family, my kids, and it is my family there too. But I think my kids need me now, because I have to help them until they finish school.
Stewart: Mm-hmm. Okay. And, what can you tell me about like the government in Honduras before you left? You said that they don’t do anything. Uh, like they’re pretty, they’re like, they don’t do much when it comes to crime or violence or anything like that but can you tell me like, the more about the government, like what, what’s like, what’s up with that?
Karen: They think the government’s there, they think more than they own. They got money. But the people who suffer are the poor people. But the government and people who were in the government house, they got money. They don’t think about the poor people and that’s what happened. Poor people are the ones who suffer. And the government, they got money, they don’t need it. And they think only then and then. Even they don’t protect the people. They don’t care. The police, there’s the people who have money, they just pay to the police and they fix the problems. They don’t care about the poor people.
Stewart: Um, so you said you came here in what year?
Karen: 1998.
Stewart: In 1998. Um, what was the first place, or where was the first place that you settled when you came here?
Karen: I came to New York where my sister lives. I have lived with her for almost a year. And then I met my kid, my first kid, father, and then that’s why I moved to Huntington, New York. And then after almost two years here I got my first kid, Stewart Cabrera. In New York and it was a little hard because with kids here, it is hard. We have to work. It’s too much stuff. But at least now he is. They’re growing up.
Stewart: Do you think because of like having kids and made it even harder to get that dream you were chasing?
Karen: It’s more hard because it’s not, it is not easy to save. There are too many things to pay, too much the living and all that. But, but good thing we got help to keep working and at least have a life here.
Stewart: Oh, okay. Um, so what about a, have you had any memorable experiences, uh, when, when you first came here? You said you went to Bay Shore, New York. Did you have any like, memorable experiences when you came, or how did you feel when you first came here? You said it was, uh, it’s, it’s a lot, but?
Karen: My first job was babysitting and cleaning houses. Cleaning houses, babysitting. I was happy because I was making money every week, you know. in good pay. And I said at least I gotta, I can help my family there sometimes send money to them because people there really need help. They are poor. That’s why people come here to help the families there. But, um, Yeah, I like the part when I went to Manhattan to see the big towers, the one that crashed. Yeah. At least I got the dream to go there. To the big towers to the top, Manhattan. And you know, things we don’t used to do there, but sometimes we can do it here.
Mm. Okay. And wasn’t, you said it was hard, it was hard to leave. Um, it was hard to leave your, your hometown before you, uh, before you left, because you had a lot of family over there. Um, was it really, was it really devastating to you knowing that like you had to leave your family to come here and just find better opportunities? Was it really, did they understand, like did your family understand it was okay for you to leave? Or what did they say when you mentioned the idea that you wanted to come here the first time?
Karen: My mom, she was sad, but then she said, you grow up, you now have to do your own. And if you decide to leave, at least I’m gonna, I’m gonna help her. You know, that’s the thing. We come here to help people there too, because we have the family and, uh, they are poor. They, they need help. But I think the first day is not easy, even for them. For me because I stayed away from the family. You don’t, you don’t see if you’re gonna see them again. And that happened. I didn’t see my father again. I didn’t see my brother, my sister. But we pay, we pay for the dream. We don’t see the family again sometimes. But I listen now, I got my kids here and I had to leave for them and help them, but the rest of my family at least, uh, I went back two weeks ago and I saw my mom. I was happy to see her back for 25 years. I didn’t see her, but that’s what we had to pay for the dream.
Stewart: That’s good. And do you still help your family when, uh, like during, before you met them again after 25 years, two weeks ago, did you, um, how did you help them while you were over here? Did you know, did you stay in contact with them a lot?
Karen: I always call them and I send money to them sometimes when I can, because not all the time it’s easy here, it’s a lot of things to do to pay water and pay leave. But when I can, I help my mom to pay the medicine. She’s diabetic and she’s in a lot of medications. When I can, I help her because my father is dead and she’s alone. Now is the time we have to help her because she needed our help. And until God gave me life to live, I’m going to help her and the rest of the family.
Stewart: Hmm. And getting to see, like getting to see your mom again after, uh, your trip to Honduras two weeks ago after that long time of not seeing your family again. Um, , do you think you’d ever go back?
Karen: Yeah. It’s okay. Yeah, I saw my family, I saw a lot of people I didn’t see before my nephew and a lot of people, but I saw them and yeah, I think I wanna go back
Stewart: and do you know how big, do you know how big your family is? Like how extensive it is? Um. Do you just know how like?
Karen: well now my sisters and three brothers, and it’s a lot of kids now. My brothers have my sisters, but one brother already dead. He was killed there. Granddaughters, one sister is already dead too. She died with COVID at 30 years old and, and like, um, My father there, but we are a big family. Yeah. My sisters and three brothers, it’s a big family.
Stewart: Okay. Did you, when you immigrated here to the US did you take anything with you, any possessions, any sort of meaningful things and you know, is there anything that you left behind?
Karen: Yeah. We have to any, any sort of things you have, we have to leave everything. Yeah. Just bring some clothes, clothes, shoes. And, you know, we, we, we think everything is easy here. We think we’re gonna buy everything here, but we have to work for the dream, we have to work very hard every single day to get whatever we want. It’s not easy, you know, everything is not easy. We have to work hard mm-hmm. to get whatever we want.
Stewart: Okay. And how did you arrive here? Come here by plane. By car. How did you come here?
Karen: I got with visa a long time ago. I have to stay here. Okay. But now, yeah, just uh, yeah, fixing all my stuff. It take me time because it wasn’t easy, but thank God I’m finally getting almost whatever I remember. It was a long way to get it. Money too, because it’s a lot of money to, to do all the paperwork, lawyers and other stuff. But we’re almost closer together, whatever they want.
Stewart: Okay. And what’s the hardest part, uh, what’s the hardest part about living here in the us?
Karen: I don’t think how I like to work, you know, because I work. every day, but, uh, hardest person sometimes because we are alone. We don’t have family here. But I now, because I got my kids, at least I’m not alone. I got them and I don’t feel alone. But yeah, I feel safe because my family is there. But that’s why I say we have to pay price to live here. Leave every, everything behind.
Stewart: Okay. Do you think immigrants here in the US are, uh, are discriminated? Do you think there’s any sort of bias or anything, do you think like, Immigrants are treated unfairly here in the us.
Karen: I don’t think other people are bad, but there are some bad people here. Like they are good one people too. Because in my job I, I got good people, but sometimes very bad people and sometimes I feel like they discriminate people because they’re still raised that stuff. But that’s what I told them and why people do that anyway, we are. And we are the same when we, when we die, we are the same. God chosen Spanish blacks white. When like the covid comes, we all dying together. That’s why we’re not supposed to discriminate. That’s some people, they don’t understand that, but that exist even in my job that it still exists.
Stewart: Okay. Do you, can you give an example of one time it’s happened?
Karen: Yeah. One time in my job there is a white lady, she, I was working on the line and she was mad one day she always looked to me with not good eyes, you know? But one day she almost pushed me because I don’t know if I didn’t like her or my arrest or I don’t know. But I never discuss with people. I just went to the supervisor and I told him what happened. But I never tried to fire the school with people because the problem get bigger and just let her, I said one day, whatever we do, we pay later. That’s why. Be careful. Whatever they do, you don’t have to treat people bad, discriminate people or even see people with bad because whatever we do today, we can pay anything. God, make people pay because, and be because with God we all are, are the same. We don’t have to discriminate anyone. That’s why I’m telling my kids when they got education, I want them to do good. I don’t want them to do like the other people do. That’s why I’m always trying to tell them to do the right thing.
Stewart: Okay. Yeah. You don’t look for, you don’t look to pick fights with people. You’re just, you want to be as nice as possible to people. You want to make sure. You wanna make sure that everyone’s kind of treated the same, but obviously that’s not been the case, uh, at work. Um, yeah. Uh, I’m very sorry to hear that. That’s, um, so, so, so when you, um, did you consider, did you consider like living. Anywhere else other than the US or anywhere else?
Karen: Other than, no. For now, until my kids finish everything, my son’s tour, my daughter Chelsea, I have to wait until they finish the education. After that, I’m gonna decide what I want. I don’t know if he can get me health and leave, because now with dying nothing with COVID or whatever. But if I got help and I leave and they finish, I don’t know, maybe going back with my family or, I don’t know. I don’t know yet. I’m just thinking and sometimes stay there. Sometimes here, come to visit my kids. I’m a shelter. I don’t know.
Stewart: Okay, so after your kids finish their education, that’s pretty much gonna be kind of, that’s pretty much gonna be. Um, the finish line, uh, after your kids get like, uh, their higher education and they’ve already started to go on their own, then that’s when you, that’s when you are gonna go and do your own thing, right?
Karen: Yeah. Maybe sometimes they stay my contact since I come here to see them. I don’t know yet. Yeah. . I don’t know. It’s, it, it is hard to get all and be lonely to and have no one, and I don’t know. I’m deciding. Yeah. But no, now anyway, I have a lot of things to do now here. I decide that later.
Stewart: Okay. And all of this depends on, it depends on kind of like the legality side, so like maybe citizenship. Do you plan to become a citizen?
Karen: Yeah, that’s my plan At least. At least I can stay here and maybe sometime go for a few months to my country and a few months stay here. I don’t know when I retire and not sure, but for now I have to. Um, work hard now for my kids. My daughter, she is, she’s 15 years old and she needs me and I have to work hard for her. My son is too, he’s almost finished, but he’s a good boy. He is working so hard, and he is, I think he’s gonna be very good in his life.
Stewart: Okay, and let’s see. So you said you were a, that you finished your education, Honduras, and you were, you said you were an English teacher?
Karen: Elementary teacher. Elementary teacher. I didn’t work down here because first I didn’t have the documentation to do it. And I, and second, I had to learn English. I had, because I need English as a second language, and it was a lot of things not start over here. It was hard because by myself and pay rent and all that stuff in the money, didn’t have enough money to do it, but I am still working on that. Maybe it’s not too late to go here as an teacher assistant or something. That’s why I have to study English very hard. Just old, but I think I can still do it.
Stewart: So you didn’t, did you know any English before you came or did when you came here? You learned it?
Karen: Just from I didn’t know English. I just, when I come to New York, I went to the school for two years to, to learn English. I got my diploma for English.
Stewart: Oh, okay. And you said that took how many years? Two years.
Karen: Two years.
Stewart: Two years, okay.
Stewart: Did you get any other education here in the us?
Karen: The GED.
Stewart: The G E D. Okay.
Karen: And I didn’t get more because my documentation didn’t help me to do it because I had to pay a lot of money. I didn’t have the money because the money I make, it was for helping my family and pay bills here, rent and all that. I didn’t have enough to go to school.
Stewart: Would you have kept going if you had the money?
Karen: Yeah. If you got the money, yes. with the documentation. Sometimes they make you pay you here a lot of money and, and it’s hard when you buy your salary. You don’t have anyone, you have to pay rent bills and all that stuff and not enough money to do it.
Stewart: What sacrifices did you, uh, did you make when you lived here in the US or while you’re living here, what sacrifices did you have to make? Uh, I know you said you left your family and that?
Karen: I passed through too many things here. I remember with my kid, sometime I lost the apartment I have to live in, even in the car, because it’s hard when you look at money to pay all the stuff and you lose your jobs and things and you don’t have anyone. It’s hard because your father gone from the family and you don’t have anyone. If you don’t have money here to pay the stuff, they kick you out and then, you know, you lost everything. Sometime, even you have to live in your car, or it should be hot car, but it’s hard sometimes. I, I pass through a lot of things all these years, good and bad, but that’s living. We have to be strong every day. We don’t know. Sometimes it’s good days, bad days, but we have to be strong no matter what.
Stewart: Okay. What jobs did you, uh, um, you must have had a lot of jobs since you came here to the US. Can, do you know how many and can you tell me which one was probably the most difficult?
Karen: Difficult. When I start here, I had to clean houses. Yeah. I had to clean houses because I need my documentation to get a better job, but I had to clean houses, babysitting. Then when I got my social security thing, my papers to go, I got, I work for a warehouse. They make eyeglasses. That was a good job that, yeah. And then when I moved from New York to North Carolina, I still warehouses jobs. Yeah. Most of the time where I have a job like, um, coordinators and things like unit ID coordinator, qa, my present job is like inspection. Inspection, qa. Yeah. It’s okay. You know, I am a hard worker. I’m not scared of nothing. Mm-hmm.
Stewart: Okay, so . . Um, okay. So with all the jobs that you had so far and all, like the hardships you’ve went through, um, is there any sort of like examples you can give of any like, tough experiences you’ve had at these jobs? Like, I know you said like you, I think it was more your more recent job that you’ve experienced discrimination, but have there been other cases of discrimination in, your past jobs?
Karen: they have discrimination everywhere anyway. Yeah, but I can’t handle, but that also, uh, let me see. Uh, in North Carolina, I didn’t see too much then, I see more here in Virginia.
Yeah. Some people, they are different, uh, in New York. Yeah. You know, they deal with a lot of different cultures, people, but I live in New York, North Carolina, Virginia. I see more in Virginia here. I don’t know. Uh, discrimination in some kind of jobs. But yeah, I can’t tell to men. I got a lot of experience with that, but I don’t wanna explain too much. But you know, that’s gonna happen everywhere. Everywhere. There are good and bad people, but we have to be patient. Sometimes. We are humans. I think we are all the same humans. I don’t know why people have to have discrimination with the people because we all are the same. Don’t matter where we.
Stewart: You said you lived in Virginia, North Carolina and New York. In what, in what order?
Karen: First, I live in New York, three years later from New York, I moved to North Carolina and my second daughter born in Charlo, North Carolina. I live there 15 years and then we’re here to Virginia. .
Stewart: Would you say life here in Virginia has been way better? The other places you’ve been or has it been worse or is it the same?
Karen: It’s a little more quiet to live in the beginning, but not everywhere. We have to work hard to to live.
Stewart: Okay. And are you liking it here so far in Virginia. Do you enjoy like the opportunities here? Do you think that’s
Karen: at least now, the opportunity, I was looking now, it’s not looking for me. I’m looking for my kids now and they got good opportunities here and the opportunity here for me is, little far away now because now it is the opportunity for my kids and I want, they got education and they got a good job because how, what they do, the jobs I’m doing because it’s hard. People discriminate and that’s why I want, them to have the, the good education and they got better jobs and you know, they get a different life than the one I have.
Stewart: Okay. . And if you hadn’t immigrated here to the US can you picture or what do you think life would be like today if you didn’t like immigrate at all and you stayed at Honduras? Do you, can you picture how it might be different? Hmm. How do you think everything would’ve played out?
Karen: The life is different there. Maybe the job they not paying enough. Maybe it’s, it’s gonna be a little different, but you know, this is staying with the family there, but the money is not enough to help the people there. It’s not enough for even to cover my expenses. That’s the difference. And, and here at least sometime we can work more and get more pay.
Stewart: Okay. Um, is there actually an example of how like Honduras has changed it since you’ve like been here in the US or do you have any examples?
Karen: I don’t see big changes, everything, the change, how everything is more expensive. But I don’t see changes. Poor people is still suffering. You know, like I feel like I wanna help everyone because I have good heart. I wanna help people, but sometimes I don’t have the money to do it and I don’t have the opportunities to do it. But, If I got money, I can help people there because the poor people are still suffering. The rich people, the government and stuff and all that, that’s the one that live good. But poor people, they don’t live good. They don’t have any money to buy food. Food is very expensive and that’s why sometimes I, I feel sad about the people there.
Stewart: Um, do you feel that, um, do you think that our culture here, , uh, so far in like Virginia or maybe anywhere you’ve been so far in the US do you think they appreciate immigrants?
Karen: I don’t think all the people are the same. I think some people do because. You know, we were hard of this country. We were hard in this country. I think it’s good for this country or have people who work hard because the people grow more the country, but discrimination, I think. There are discrimination everywhere, but there are good people too. Sometimes I see in my job, I see sometimes people have good hearts, but that’s why they are good and bad and we have to deal with that.
Stewart: Okay. And do you think, um, the future of immigration in this country’s gonna get better, or do you think it’ll get worse? Do you think it’ll be kind of the same track we’ve always been on? Do you, what do you think about that?
Karen: Sometimes, I don’t know. I feel like the same track sometimes think maybe one day change, change. I don’t know. Sometimes they have to live with the, they have to, I don’t know. I think people who in come from other countries, help this country to grow more and people who work harder and do the hard jobs, it should change because hard jobs, I think people from here, they don’t wanna do it. I see my job when I, I work very hard in my job and I see white people sometimes from here and they don’t wanna work hard. They want only the easy parts. And I think some people work hard, but not all. And sometime people from other countries, you know, like construction jobs, um, garden jobs and other stuff, who do that? The people from other countries who do the hard jobs because people from here, they don’t wanna do their jobs sometimes. That’s what I said, immigration. People from here come from another countries. They’re hard workers too, and they help this country to grow more.
Stewart: And what would you say, um, what would you say to somebody who, um, who plans on coming to this country for the first time from somewhere else? Maybe it’s, maybe it’s the same thing, maybe Honduras. What would you tell them to. What would you tell them?
Karen: The first thing I tell them, okay, here we have to work more hard on there, because some people, they got jobs, they work only four or five hours, but they don’t make enough money. But I told them, sometimes you have to go here eight, 10 to hour sometime a day, more people don’t have education. We have to work hard because we have to get more hours to get more pay. Mm. That’s why I told them before they wanna come here In this country, you have to work hard, whatever if you what you can get whatever you want. But it’s not so easy. You have to work hard. That’s why when people come here, they say, “oh, it’s hard because it’s a lot of work” I told you before, it’s a good opportunities, it’s a good country, but we have to work very, very hard to get whatever we want. I got a good car now, but I have to work hard to pay my car because you, I can get it. I know, but I have to work hard to pay whatever I want.
Stewart: Um, with all like the stuff you’ve had to go through, all the challenges you’ve had to overcome, um, that is totally understandable. Um, but I guess, I guess, um, my last question would be, what is your, so what is like the dream that you’re trying to go to, or what are you hoping to accomplish in the future? What is the, what’s the end game?
Karen: I think my end game for now, because I got my kids, I got my own family, and now my kids, they have only me. They don’t have a father. It’s just me. I have. See for them, and my goal is if I, one day I die or whatever, I can go back to my country, whatever I don’t know yet. Then my goal is my kid had a good education and they got a better job and. If I die one day, I can’t rest in peace. If my kids finish their education and they get a good job and they get better opportunities, I don’t want them to suffer whatever I have been suffering all these years because I want them to have better opportunities, have better jobs, better living, and at least they got me. I didn’t have anyone. I didn’t have nobody. It was hard for me. I want to go to school. I didn’t have the money to do it. It was hard. I had to pay a lot of bills and, but they got more the opportunity. I can go work hard for them. They have only me because they don’t have two PA parents. They have only one. And it is hard for me because I have to take care for them, work hard, and I don’t care if I have to go hard, but I want them to feed this, finish the education, have a better job, better opportunities, and my daughter, see my kids have a better life and, uh, one day if they do their own, I know one day they gonna do their own, but I wanna see them with a good job and not suffering what the way I have been suffering.
Stewart: Okay. Well, on that hopeful note, I’d like to thank you for doing this interview, um, and letting us see your insights on how life was like when you immigrated and how it’s like now. So I’d like to thank you again for doing this interview. Um, and yeah, thank you again.
Karen: Thank you.
Recent Comments