Vicky, a woman in her mid-20s, described a simple but fulfilling childhood. She was raised by her aunt, and her mother would send the family a monthly allowance from a job she gained as a housekeeper in the United States, though even with the extra money they still lived in poverty.
In 1989, Vicky's life unexpectedly changed. Her mother returned to Guatemala to legally bring her family to Los Angeles. At this time, Vicky was not allowed to say goodbye to anyone except her father, whom she would not see again for the next three years.
When she arrived in the United States, Vicky faced numerous difficulties assimilating. She did not know how to read or write and could not understand a word of English. "My teacher would expect me to know how to read when, really, I couldn't even write my own name, so she would just tell me to turn the paper over and color," she said. It took three years for Vicky to master the language.
When she was 15, Vicky moved to Boston and supported her younger brother on her own. In 2000, Vicky married her high school sweetheart, Chris; the couple has two bilingual children. "I've met a lot of Hispanics who simply forget their Spanish identity and deny their heritage. I don't want that to happen to my kids," Vicky said.
She has been working for BC Dining Services since 2001, recently receiving her GED and studying at the Woods College of Advancing Studies two nights a week to become a registered nurse.
"I love working around the students, but I hate it when students throw their [student] IDs on the table. It makes me feel worthless. We see these students every day and we should be able to build a friendship with them," she said.
Manny, an operations manager at BC, had similar difficulties in America at first. His village in Fogo, Cape Verde, consisting of five houses that had no electricity until 2000, has an economy that centers on local farms; droughts and famine are common. "My parents told me of a drought that hit them in the 1940s where they actually saw dead bodies on the street of people who simply died of hunger," he said.
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