Interview with My mother
Method
Due to the distance, the interview was performed over zoom, but this nonetheless enabled me to comprehend the information clearly. In order for things to go more smoothly and my mother to have some time to prepare, I told her what kinds of questions I would be asking in advance. Computer problems caused a few disruptions in the very beginning and the end, but overall it went smoothly and everything was made apparent.
Introduction
On January 6th, 1972, my mother was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She shared a home with her parents and two younger brothers. She met the man who is now my father while traveling for a relative’s wedding. She had not necessarily planned to relocate to the United States, but instead to complete her schooling and pursue a career in Venezuela. She did, however, move after acquiring her green card. Throughout the conversation, Omali tells us about her journey, her experiences with economic integration, her reception, and her connections to both nations. She was fortunate enough to have an experience smoother than others but nonetheless provides information on the process of immigration.
Summary
The hardest aspect for Omali was having to adapt to American culture after leaving her family, friends, and the Venezuela she knew behind. She describes a wide range of difficulties, including rudeness from others, the process of obtaining the correct documentation, the language barrier, and the feeling of not belonging to one country. She notes that without the assistance of my father’s family, as well as her cousin who was already in the country, her transfer would not have been as easy. She had specific expectations for herself upon her arrival which were simply, find a job and adapt to this new environment.
“You never want to leave your country, but imagine how bad it has to be to leave your family, friends, your whole life” Some people relocate to join family, pursue education, or find employment/better economic opportunities. Others relocate in order to flee hostilities, persecution, terrorism, or human rights abuses, these are what are known as the “push” factors. It is what compels or pressures people to move away from their roots. In her migration, my mother had the good fortune to experience more pull factors than push factors. In other words, the positives for leaving a certain place.
Not everyone’s experience is as favorable as hers. She has contributed to the community by working with the English Second Language programs for the school system after beginning her career as a translator in the hospital. She has firsthand knowledge of the struggles children go through when their parents are not citizens. Given the example of Dennis, who lost both of his parents to deportation and was forced to live with a step-mom. She notes that the children typically experience financial difficulty, insecure housing, and food poverty as a result of the separation of their parents due to deportation. Putting a young child under such stress at those ages.
The immigration procedure is challenging, time-consuming, and complicated. Immigrants do not deserve to be treated so poorly just because they were not born in the United States. You do whatever you can to provide for yourself and your family. She hopes that more people become knowledgeable about immigration.
I am aware that her experience was not nearly as difficult as many others. It provides a useful contrast to the teachings we’ve studied in class. She was fortunate to meet my father, but not everyone’s story has a positive journey.
[00:00:02.890] – Isabella
Hi, I’m here with Omali McClanahan, also known as my mother. She will be giving a brief introduction, and then we will begin with some questions.
[00:00:11.330] – Omali
Hello. My name is Omali Amor Arias, which is my maiden name. I am from Caracas, Venezuela, and I came to the United States in 1998. Go ahead, Isabella.
[00:00:27.210] – Isabella
So I have a few questions for you, mom.
[00:00:29.880] – Omali
Okay.
[00:00:31.930] – Isabella
The first question I have was what were your parents hopes or expectations for your new life here?
[00:00:39.690] – Omali
When I came, I actually just came to visit my cousin. She was raised here, and I came to see her for her wedding, and I wasn’t expecting to stay during that time. I stayed for my visa which was for six months. So had I came in October 1998. I was supposed to come back in November 1998, and I met Richie McClanahan, your father, and we started dating and I stayed. So I didn’t have any expectations to stay because I really wanted to come back to Venezuela and finish my career. My parents were like, when are you going to come back? My visa was good for six months. So I stayed for that time, and I went back to Venezuela.
[00:01:39.310] -Isabella
All right, so you did not necessarily choose this country. Obviously, you just decided to come here, right?
[00:01:47.090] – Omali
Yeah, I just came to visit, and I wasn’t expecting to stay.
[00:01:51.490] – Isabella
All right, and did you leave anybody behind?
[00:01:55.810] -Omali
I did. I left my mom and dad and my brother, my younger brother, and my friends, my friends from college, even though a lot of them left the country for political reasons. But there was a lot of family involved.
[00:02:17.230] – Isabella
Right. And you just came by yourself?
[00:02:20.170] – Omali
I came by myself, yeah. I came like I said, I stayed for the six months because I just want to see my cousin, went to the wedding, have fun, and then come back to my life.
[00:02:33.600] – Isabella
And what was the most difficult part about leaving Venezuela?
[00:02:38.210] – Omali
Everything, really. Even though I love the United States, I love it here. The language was hard to learn the food, the weather, and the family. I was by myself here, just with my cousin. So that was really hard to leave behind.
[00:03:02.810] – Isabella
You would say that’s the most difficult part of coming here. Or do you have any other difficulties that you’ve faced coming here?
[00:03:13.790] – Omali
Well, in the immigration part, you had to have legal papers to stay and work, and I didn’t have anything except for my tourist visa. So your father asked me to marry him, and again, when I was really young, and I didn’t have expectation to stay, but, I said benefitsokay, let’s get married. So we got married, and I did my paperwork to get my residency, and that’s how the process started. I mean, it’s the only way to stay legal and be able to have benefits, to be able to work to be able to drive, etc.
[00:03:55.930] – Isabella
When you first arrived, what was it like?
[00:04:01.230] – Omali
Very excited. I mean, I was very excited to see my cousin and to learn about the culture. It was just everything was different. How people were, what they ate. Of course, I ate everything that was around me. Let me see. I think the language was a big barrier for me in the beginning. Even though I took classes, english for five years in college and school, languages, it was really hard to learn because it’s just hard to learn a lot of language, especially when you are older.
[00:04:44.780] – Isabella
You said that you didn’t have any expectations, you weren’t thinking of staying here. So were you scared once you kind of figured out that you were staying, or were you just kind of like going with the flow?
[00:04:56.110] -Omali
I was kind of going with the flow. I always wanted.To live in another country. So I thought, well, why not? Let’s try and see what’s happening here.
[00:05:05.110] – Omali
And it wasn’t my first time in the United States. I came as a child to Disney and to visit family because I had a lot of family from my father’s side. So it was kind of like a journey of learning and it was fun. And it’s beginning was a lot of fun. Yeah.
[00:05:27.850] – Isabella
For like on a smaller scale thing, what most surprised you about the United States?
[00:05:37.210] – Omali
I think the weather. The weather was a challenge for me, and it was something new, like all the seasons. We don’t have seasons. Venezuela, 70 degrees all year around. So see the spring, it was beautiful. Then summer was super hot, and it was like, wow, I can’t believe its so hot. And then fall was amazing for me. Also how laid back people were about things. Even though I think the people in the United States worked a lot more than the people in Venezuela. Meaning it’s not like they’re living there. It’s just a working, working, pace here and in Venezuela its a little bit more relaxed. Also, the first time that I went to a party, I was like, oh, I want to wear my heels. I wear this awesome outfit, and people were in blue jeans and slippers. And I was like, oh my gosh, what is this? Yeah, I felt completely out of place. So I learned it was part of the culture and just of course it was a little hard too.
[00:06:59.910] – Omali
It was a surprise for me.
[00:07:02.150] – Isabella
I would say culture and status or money too.
[00:07:08.890] – Omali
Yes, I think people take for granted what they have here, and sometimes they make things more difficult and they don’t figure out how to get out of situations. And when you are in a third world country that you don’t have something like for example, there was a time when Venezuela didn’t have chicken. Well, no big deal. You don’t eat chicken, you eat meat. or you eat fish or you fix something else, you always have to figure out how to survive. Basically, the survival is just completely different to United States because you really don’t have the need for it.
[00:07:57.610] – Isabella
So moving on a little bit, what do you miss most about where you came from?
[00:08:03.290] – Omali
The weather.
[00:08:04.650] – Isabella
The weather?
[00:08:05.670] – Omali
The weather. Yeah, I think the weather, obviously the food. Even though I can find a lot of things from Venezuela here in the United States, it doesn’t taste the same.
[00:08:18.020] – Isabella
The experience of getting it is also not the same.
[00:08:20.740] – Omali
Yeah, it’s really hard. And the language, I mean, I love to speak Spanish, and the jokes are completely different.
[00:08:50.410] – Isabella
Do you think your relationship with your parents changed?
[00:08:53.690] – Omali
Oh, yeah, completely. Even though they came a bunch of times to visit. And I can’t go there anymore because I don’t have a passport. Because we had a dual citizenship.
[00:09:05.050] – Isabella
Yeah. Can you explain a little bit about dual citizenship?
[00:09:08.280] – Omali
Of course. I had a citizenship here in the United States because I did my naturalization papers for me to get my passport. It’s an area where they say, Where are you from? And it says it’s Venezuela. So if I go to Venezuela, I have to show my passport from Venezuela but I don’t have mine becuase it’s expired and so for political reasons we don’t have embassy like the United States, so we have to apply for the passport and go to Canada, Mexico, or Dominican republic to get my passport so I can’t go back. Because you have to have as a dual it’s just for Venezuela, you have to have a passport to get in.
[00:09:57.850] – Isabella
So when do you think you can get that?
[00:10:03.730] – Omali
I don’t know. It’s a challenge. It’s really hard to make the appointment. They take forever. For Venezuela, it’s not an embassy, but the place where you do your passport, you have to make an appointment. They give you an appointment.
[00:10:34.730] – Isabella
And do you think they make it more difficult?
[00:10:41.450] – Omali
I think in Venezuela, like I said, there are so many issues and they’re behind in technology. And I think they do make it difficult for the people to get their passports. And it’s very expensive. It’s a way to make money somehow.
[00:11:01.570] – Isabella
Who was the most helpful with getting you settled here? Would you say dad and his family?
[00:11:14.150] – Omali
Yeah, your dad and my cousin. My cousin was the one that helped most. I learned how to drive here. I didn’t know how to drive. I lived in the city, so I didn’t have the need for a car or to learn because you take a bus, the Metro, Walk, whatever. So they helped teach me how to drive and how to do the paperwork for the license and things like that. I don’t think I would have been able to do it by myself.
[00:11:49.540] – Isabella
Yeah. And where did you find strength in more difficult times being here? And how do you think immigration has changed you?
[00:12:01.990] – Omali
It was really hard the first six months. I usually looked to my mom to cheer me up and she always said, it will be fine, just keep trying.
For the green card they took awhile and you’re always wondering if they really want to believe you. Did you get married with this guy because you really want to have a family or because you’re doing it for business? Because a lot of people do it as a business. You pay somebody and you get married and you stay and do your paperwork.
Immigration is hard because the last time I went to Venezuela, I didn’t feel like I was from there anymore. But I went on here and I don’t feel like I’m from here either. So it’s just you feel like you are in limbo because I have lived half of my life in here. Yeah, so that part is hard when you leave your roots.
[00:13:08.670] – Isabella
Can you think of any times when you have felt unwelcome as an immigrant?
[00:13:16.430] – Omali
A bunch of times. people don’t know where I’m from because I’m white with my brown hair. But when they figured out that I wasn’t from here, some people rejected me or they were rude or they tried not to understand me because I had an accent. And that was hard in the beginning. I got really mad, and then I said, I understand a lot of people at the same time. They aren’t being exposed to different cultures or accents and things like that, it’s not really people’s fault either at the same time. But it was very unwelcoming.
[00:14:06.670] – Isabella
If someone you knew I know you know plenty of people that have already planned on coming to this country. But let’s say, for example, let’s say your parents wanted to move here. What would you tell them to expect? Or if any of your relatives from Venezuela who have never been here before, what would you tell them to expect in coming here?
[00:14:30.150] – Omali
Well, if they’re planning to stay again, it’s a very difficult way to stay without the legal paperwork, and you can’t get it. People don’t understand that the only way to get it is a company asks you to work for them, and they give you a work visa. Or if you marry somebody that is for the United States, that’s all. It’s not like you’re coming here. Oh, let me see what happened now. Is that the only way to be legal and work and be able to work in her life? So when people come as a tourist and they stay, you can’t work. I mean, you have to be working illegally in places that they don’t want to ask for, just a security number. So we had to have a lot of patients that really want to stay and work hard, because that’s for sure, it’s something that you have to do. Work hard to be able to survive.
[00:15:30.250] – Isabella
Survive here?
[00:15:31.500] – Omali
Yes, very hard.
[00:15:34.970] – Isabella
And when you were applying for your citizenship, how was that process?
[00:15:41.390] -Omali
That process wasn’t that bad at all. I mean, I did it all by myself. I didn’t use a lawyer. I just went to the website. The United States Immigration. And then you print the paperwork. That was, like, ten years ago. Right now it’s probably everything on the computer.
[00:16:01.810] – Isabella
You do think that was easier, though, because of dad?
[00:16:05.190] – Omali
Yeah, because all that I had to do was already a residence. So they asked you for paperwork, taxes, etc, and you send all the paperwork, and they give you an appointment for you to go. And you had to pass this test that is about history, basically. Questions in English. I was really scared. I was like, oh, my gosh, I’m never going to pass this. But I did. I was more scared than anything else, actually. It was a really smooth process.
[00:16:40.460] – Isabella
Really? Okay.
[00:16:41.420] -Omali
Yeah. And it was fast. I had my interview, and a month later, they sent me a letter with the day that I did my naturalization. And then again, it’s like a diploma. You look like you’re an American citizen. So, yeah, that was pretty easy. Of course, you had to pay. We had to pay in that time. I think it was like I’m sure there’s more now, but I think it was like $800 for the whole thing?
[00:17:19.150] – Isabella
So, I mean, for somebody who doesn’t have $800, it would obviously be harder.
[00:17:26.430] – Omali
You have to wait, I guess, and save the money. And trying to do it again, I did it by myself without a lawyer because I don’t have any legal problems or I didn’t come illegally, things like that. But when you do it, like, for example, stay illegally for so many years, so they have to get a lawyer to go through the process that you don’t want to be able to get it.
[00:17:54.070] – Isabella
And for the green card, did you have an interview for that? For the marriage green card?
[00:17:59.210] – Omali
Yes. We applied for the green card for the residency, and I have an appointment, and I took all these pictures, and I think I was pregnant with you. It was obvious. It wasn’t a business. Yeah, and I was super pregnant with you.
[00:18:25.790] – Isabella
Any of the questions that they asked you?
[00:18:28.530] – Omali
Yes. Let me see. It was funny. Yeah, because we were practicing what side of the bedroom we sleep? No, you have to say that whenever. Pay attention. And I never even asked you that. No, they asked us because it was together, for how long they were together, how I came,etc. little things like that. And we took all these pictures and never asked you for anything else. Like I said, I think it was very obvious that I was pregnant and married for a reason.
[00:19:10.760] – Isabella
Do you think that your experience was better than you expected? Like the process was easier than you thought it would be?
[00:19:19.410] – Omali
Yes. You always stress out because you never know. They can say no, and you have to come back and you have to stay in Venezuela for six months, give your visa. It’s a long process. But again, I didn’t have any legal problems, so for me, it was easy to do it when you have something legal related like you came on a stay longer or you had, I don’t know, DUI, things like that, that people have no problem with the police or things of the same will be hard. But I know I think it was easier than I expected, for sure.
[00:20:00.770] – Isabella
do you have any stories about someone that you know was deported or has been deported?
[00:20:09.720] – Omali
Oh, yeah.
[00:20:11.410] – Isabella
Do you know how their experience went at all?
[00:20:13.960] – Omali
Well, yeah, as you know, I worked for the community for almost 20 years, so I had a lot of stories from people that I met in the hospital. I worked for the hospital, and I used to work for the school system. And one time I think the harder case was a kid that came from Honduras with his aunt and the aunt was sent back to Honduras and the kid was left with his father. He was coming to stay with his dad. His name is Dennis. I always remember Dennis.
[00:21:04.790] – Omali
Anyway, so at that time I was working in the school system and I was introducing him to everything like the school with the time, how they eat, and what they eat. It’s completely different compared with where he was coming from.
[00:21:22.890] Isabella
He only spoke Spanish?
[00:21:24.230] – Omali
He only spoke Spanish and his reading levels in Spanish were really low because he just went to school when he felt like it. He was working with his mom, so he missed school. I think he’s still around here. And then I think his dad was deported because he had in trouble with the police and I think he had a couple of things they deported him for. So I don’t know where he’s living with. That case for me was really hard because he came because his dad was there. So now I think he stayed with his stepmom.
[00:22:04.210] – Isabella
Yeah. And do you have a good relationship with his stepmom? Or in that case if that happens and there’s nobody else for him to go to, where do they send him to?
[00:22:12.970] – Omali
as I said, I lost contact with him but he probably has to be with some his mom is still in Honduras so I don’t know. He went back to Honduras because nobody was legal like a parent or legal family member with his custody because I don’t think that the stepmom could do anything about it. If that’s the case he had to come back to and do this. Yes. I don’t know what happened to him. And I see cases where people come and they are deported because again, sometimes, it’s because they have some type of legal problems. And they go to jail for a while, they send them back and they always try to come back. I mean it’s a business in the border, it’s a big business and it’s very dangerous and some people can make it and some people can’t. And then you have this humongous bill to pay to them. There are the people that take you back from the border and we’re talking about from six thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars to pass the people to the United States. It’s hard. But again I always explain to people, Americans or people from other nationalities, that you never want to leave your country.
[00:23:48.000] – Omali
But I imagine how bad it is in Mexico for them to leave everything behind, their house, family, and kids to come here and work because for sure it’s a better life that they can offer to their families.
[00:24:03.550] – Isabella
So do you wish that more people I was going to ask what do you wish more people knew about immigrants and migrants?
[00:24:15.970] – Omali
It is really hard. I mean, even when I went to Europe, you know that I have friends in Europe and they live in Spain and France and all kinds of different countries. And you always miss your roots no matter what. And when we go to another country, it’s because obviously, we left. But that’s not always the case. Some people really want to live in other countries, so they give it a try. But when you leave everything and you come to another country illegally, it’s because you’re obviously having a hard time in your own country and you leave everything behind. And then the American dream in this case is not very American and not a dream. It’s really hard sometimes as people know it’s more like a nightmare because you’re expecting different things and you’re expecting everything is going to be, like the pictures , everybody having fun and no, it’s not. You have to work hard. You always have to be in the shadows because you don’t have paperwork. You have to work doing anything that you never imagined doing.
[00:25:32.490] -Omali
I mean, like in the beginning when I came to make money because I ran out of money when I was a tourist, I was painting walls, I cleaned bathrooms to make money. So I can imagine how much you have to do to pay the bills to send money to your country and survive here with your own family. I mean, that is really hard and we will always miss that. Again, it would be a different story. Venezuela is a little bit better, but the political things are really bad. And other countries are leaving because they don’t have an option- war, economics, etc. You know, it’s a disaster, it’s war but people really don’t want to leave. But they have to survive somehow, and you have to do what you have to do for your family and yourself. So it’s not easy, definitely not easy.
[00:26:52.370] – Isabella
I mean, you had it easier, but there are so many worse.
[00:26:57.510] – Omali
Worse scenarios for sure. Yeah, I really have it really easy compared with all the stories that I have heard from people that they left or were deported and the kids are here because the kids are American citizens because they were born here. And sometimes they send the parents deported for any reason, and the kids have to stay here. Or sometimes they send the father, the poor father, right. And the kids are here with a mom and they can’t leave the country because they don’t have the signature and the passport for the kids to come back. To get a passport, I think they have to be 16-18. So they’re stuck in United States for all that time without seeing their parents, their father, or their mom.
[00:27:43.670] – Isabella
Such a big time of their lives to not at that point.
[00:27:48.890] – Omali
Yeah, it is very and people a lot of Americans think that immigrants get benefits. They don’t get benefits if you don’t have a Social Security number. You can’t get Medicaid, you can’t have food stamps. If you don’t have a Social Security number, you can’t and people don’t know that part in the medical field and the schooling, etc. There is not a lot of information for the citizens.
[00:28:34.150] – Isabella
Do you think overall it has made you a stronger person moving here and having to deal with certain things and everything?
[00:28:52.650] – Omali
Oh yeah, definitely. I always say that things happen for a reason. I think I am more open-minded and more humble with people. It’s been a long learning and growing process. What I love about the United States, one of the things I really like is that this a country of immigrants, for example, I go to DC. You have all kinds of restaurants around you Arabic, Spanish, Latin American, and European. And when I went to Spain I was expecting the same and actually I didn’t find as much diversity.
[00:29:55.850] – Omali
Not that much diversity at all. I was thinking it would be. And again, this is a country for immigrants. You have Irish grandparents now you had a mom from Venezuela. It’s a very diverse culture and people don’t even realize that because really everybody here has a background from another country, usually Europe, France, Holland or Netherlands. Now we are all mixed from Europeans like I said. So yeah, going to Spain was very “wow”. I didn’t see one restaurant from another country. I think I saw one Japanese house the whole time that I was there. Very patriotic. Very patriotic people there.
[00:31:15.160] – Isabella
I see. Okay.
[00:31:16.840] – Omali
Yeah, that was pretty interesting. Even in England. In England, there was a little bit more, maybe a little bit more diverse. But Spain definitely was really interesting.
[00:31:36.590] – Isabella
Okay, well, I think I don’t have too much time left on this zoom call. It says I have two minutes and 50 seconds. But is there anything you would like to add that we didn’t already talk about or anything you want to put out there? About anything? Any stories? Anything?
[00:31:58.470] – Omali
It’s crazy how time flies, but I will always miss Venezuela. It’s always going to be hard to think that I can probably never come back and see where I left, and it’s actually not there. But as an immigrant, we have the immigrant syndrome, because you don’t feel like you are completely from here. Even though I adapt myself to the culture, to the language, to the food, to the weather, but at the same time, whatever I left behind is not there anymore. So that’s my immigrant syndrome.
[00:33:08.170] – Isabella
Thank you.
[00:33:09.530] – Omali
You’re welcome. I love you. I hope that this helps anybody to understand more about immigration and migrants and people are from other countries leaving the United States.
[00:33:22.740] – Isabella
Well, thank you.
[00:33:25.620] – Omali
You’re welcome.
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