Stories of the Present

When I came to United States for the first time it was very hard for me to cross the border. I spent two weeks in Tijuana trying to cross the border. The INS caught me and put me in jail for one month. My family thought I had died. They were very sad. When I left, I promised I had to cross the border and that's why I'm here. I never got back until I got-my resident card and I want to get my citizenship soon. When I was in Mexico before I came to United States, I enjoyed the holidays in my Rancho. The fair was fantastic and the food was very good. I recommend the beaches the sand and the beautiful ocean water isn't that cold and you can ride motorboats. The restaurants sell good seafood especially fresh fish and shrimps. Now my life is very good. I have a job and I'm studying to get a better job to support my family and help my children with their homework. My goal in the future is to be a welder and make good money and to buy my own house.

I am 25 years old, I was born and grew up in Mexico. I came to the United States 5 years ago. Before I came to the U.S. I used to live in Mexico City. I was studying at a preparatory school and I was working in a shopping center as a cashier. In the morning I had to work and in the afternoon I went to school. At that time I was planning to go to the university and be succesful like others guys ofmy age, but destiny had been prepared another way for me. I was living with my mother and one of my sisters whomI knew 8 years ago (she was 22 years old and she had been raised by another family). After that exciting day when my mother and I met my sister we lived so happily for the next 3 years but happines is not forever and a black day would come. It was during the first days of March of 1991 when my mother got sick and she had to be hospitalized, after a few days, my mother died and my life turned and took another way. It was so hard for my sister and me to live in the house because we were always remembering when my mother lived with us and we were always crying so we decided to come to the U.S. with one of my brothers that lived in San Diego. After 3 months we decided to come to Santa Ana to live with one of my aunts. Then here in Santa Ana I got married 3 years ago and now I have a son who is two years old and I plan to start some bussines here in the U.S. or go back to Mexico and go to the university with my wife. I can say my mother would be so proud of my life now.

My name is Tina Duong. I came from Vietnam. I had a big house in Vietnam, and my family lived together. My father, mother, brother and sister, we had a business. After 1975 my family immigrated my country to Malaysia by a small boat. When we were on the sea, we were very worried about the robber on the sea, but we were very lucky. After 48 hours, we arrived in Malaysia. We stayed in Kulalumpur for two days than they sent us to Bulaubidong Camp. In Bulaubidong we lived there while waiting for my brother to sponsor. We lived in the camp. We couldn't leave the camp to find fire wood, vegetables, or any food for the children because it was forbidden to go outside the camp. My husband went fishing for a small fish and we didn't have enough rice to cook. When the children were sick, we don't have medicine for them. After two years the person who sponsored us was my husband's brother. We left the camp to go to Philippines. We had to study English there for six months and then we went to the United States. When we first arrived, we had trouble because we didn't speak English very well. We weren't accustomed to the customs and way to life in the U.S. I couldn't use the oven, turn on the faucet, and shower, nor vacuum the flour because I wasn't encountered these things in my homeland. Eventually, I overcame the tough times and got to learn how things work with hard work and determination. My family and I succeeded in life. We now have a very happy family, a nice house and a successful business. My children are studying hard in school and are bound to be successful in the future.

My name is Trinh. I am from Vietnam. I was born in a small village in the north. In 1954 a big war happened there because France and communist fought a long time. After the Geneva meeting, my family decided to escape my village and went to the south Vietnam by a small boat. We had been living in the south for about thirty years. I am married and have 4 children. My husband was a teacher and also a soldier because at that time my country need teacher to change to soldier. There was a big war again and many people died by the bomb. We couldn't count them, and the communist killed many people, and many houses burned. After 1975, my family decided to leave my country by boat one by one. We went to a Malaysia refugee camp in 1984. We had been living in the camp about 15 months. We have been on a waiting list to come to the US. We left the refugee camp and went to the US by plane. Now I am living in Santa Ana. I have been living in the US since 1985. When we first time we came here, we didn't have anything. We had to start our life over again. We read the newspaper to find a job, and we did a lot of different jobs and we worked overtime every day. After one year my children went to college and they had to study and work. After four years they graduated from Cal State Fullerton. They are working at big company with good salary and good benefits. Now we are very happy to live in the USA because we are living together. We have freedom in our life. We bought a house and cars. We are satisfied with our children. I have been studying English as a second language. I hope in the future my English is better. I am happy because I just passed by citizenship oral interview last week. I will become an American Citizen soon.

I am Dagoberto Olvera, I was born in Mexico City, one of the biggest cities on the world. The place I used to live is called "Villa de Guadalupe". It's a place where there is a beautiful church and the history says that the of Guadalupe's Miracle happened. Well, the place is very nice. I went to elementary school in a place close to this church and then continue secondary education in another school also near my neighborhood. When I was a kid I used to live with my mother and my grandparents, I grew up without knowing my father, but I was happy because my grandparents always bought me everything I wanted, at that time I was the only child at home. Later my Mom got married, and I had two brothers. I learned how to share my toys with them, and I got a stepfather who taught me many good things because he is a good and hard working man. My Mom is lucky. Before I finished the high school, I started to work for a big tools company as a salesman helper (where I learned many new things). After one year I had, the opportunity to become a salesman. That job gave me many opportunities to continue studying because I had a flexible schedule. I finished high-school, and I drop out of school for two years because I liked to make money and I forget the school. Fortunately I changed my mind and went back to school to finish the university. I studied Business Administration and I majored in Hotels Administration. After four years I completed the university and got my degree. One year before I got my degree I got married. When I was finished school I got a job with Coca-Cola Company as a sales supervisor. It was a good job but so tiring because I worked at least 12 hours a day, Monday to Saturday and sometimes when Coca-Cola would have events my zone made me work even on Sundays. At that time, I was tired and bored with my work. When my brother in law, who was taking vacations in Mexico, asked me "Why don't you go to California to work?, wouldn't you like it?." That question gave me many things to think about and after a long talk with my wife we decided I would go to California to work, but only for one year. Before I arrived in California, I prepared my passport and I thanked my boss when I quit my job. Three weeks later I was ready to come to California and I was also afraid because it was my first time outside of my country and I didn't know what would happen. At the beginning it was very nice because everything was new for me, I got a job my second week here, and I started to make plans for what I would do with the money which I started to get. But later things changed. I think life in United States is boring because most of the people who come here, have different customs or maybe because it's hard to accept that we need to be part of this society to have a better time, or maybe because we keep the idea that very soon we will go back to our countries and we don't need to learn to much about the customs in U.S.A. I don't know exactly what happened, but I didn't like to staying here. When I completed the first year, I didn't get everything I wanted, so I decided to stay a little more. I missed my family a lot, my wife and two kids, but I thought that everything I was doing would be for them. The economical situation in Mexico started to change and I needed to keep working here. I got two jobs and I saved some money but I didn't feel happy because didn't like my job, I don't still like it, but I have to work, and it's hard to get an opportunity without speaking English. After seven years here I realize that I can't keep working in two jobs for the rest of my life, so I have decided to make the change that I needed. I quit one of my jobs and I went back to school to learn English and take any other classes that would help me to get a better position in my actual job and of course a better salary. I want to invest my time learning something new or something that would make me feel happy and make financially secure. Actually I studied Macintosh Computer programs, because I like graphics and want to learn how draw or make publicity ads using the computer. This is one of the things I would like to do in the future. Later I will try to take my transcript of my Business Administration Diplomat and get my degree from some other University or College here in America. At this moment is only a dream but, who knows. If I stay in America, I'll try to be one of the best residents. Maybe, some day, I will be the citizen who came here to work and found an opportunity to grow up economical and intellectually but, I know I have to work hard if I want to get such a reward some day.

I was born in Vietnam. I grew up in the countryside, but I studied in the Capital of South V.N at a famous school. My father he worked hard, he wanted all of us to graduate from high school. My first sister died when she was 3 years old. All of my sibling and I studied at a big and famous school. After my older brother graduated from high school, he become a soldier. He was a nurse and he worked in the middle part of the country but he saved money to send to my parents every month to support us, so we could all finish high school. He got married, and he had 4 children: 2 boys and 2 girls. When my country became communist, my older brother stayed home and helped his son and his daughter study a second language at home because he spoke French and English very well! When his son was 19 years old, he wanted to get out of his country by boat as refugees. This son, my nephew arrived in Indonesia and lived there for 7 years , after that he returned to my country V.N by plane...because we could not sponsor him to come in The United States. While he was living in Indonesia, his father died of liver cancer. Before I went to The U.S. I knew my brother had cancer, and I was very sad because I knew I would not see him again. Now I have a good job, make a lot of money but I don't have my old brother to support him. Now! I'm supporting his children to go to College because I loved my old brother very very much! I'll never forget him in my mind.

My name is Linda Thong. I was born in Vietnam, and I have one sister, two brothers and my mom. My father passed away when I was ten years old . He died in the Vietnam War, and my mother took care of four children . It was very hard for her. We lived on a farm. I hadn't finished high school yet because I had to help my mom take care of my brothers. I got married when I was 17 years old. I am very lucky to have a good husband because he helps our family a lot. I had two daughters before I arrived in the USA. I have been in America since 1985. First I came to Thailand by boat. My boat so small, but they were 55 people in the boat. We went for 9 days and 8 nights. After 5 days, we didn't have anything to eat or drink, and some people fainted. We opened their mouths and gave them urine and after that they woke up. Two people died, and after two more days we met a boat. I saw seven men on the boat. They waved their hands and my boat came beside it and they picked us up then put us in their boat. They cooked a lot of food for us. After we had already eaten every body feel full and happy. We thought we had freedom, but bad luck came to us. They spoke Thai Language. We didn't understand what they were saying. They took our hammers, saws and knives. They took every body's gold jewelry and everything precious to us. My boat had three women and one girl. They kidnapped the girl. I was very lucky because I cut my hair like a man. I wore my husband's clothes and on my face I put a lot of oil. I looked so ugly. After that they threw us back on our boat. I remember a man took my daughter and threw her in the sea. I said please help her. My brother in-law immediately jumped down into the sea and caught her and my husband gave him a stick. He held it and he got on the boat. Our boat didn't run on gasoline, but we used sails to continue for more days and more nights. We met another Thai boat. We were very scared, but this boat had eight men on it, and they were humane. They gave us a lot of food. They had a long rope, they attached it to my boat and brought us to Thailand. After five months, then we went to New Orleans. We left New Orleans after one month and came to California. When first I arrived in California, I worried too much because I didn't speak English, just said hello and good morning. One month later I gave birth to my third children. We had no money and clothes for my baby. I remembered three months we slept on the floor because we didn't have a bed, and the Government gave us money but not enough. I came here with my husband, two daughters and three brothers. One is my brother and two brothers in-law. We lived together in the apartment with two bedrooms, one bath. It was very hard for us. My husband and three brothers found jobs at the swap-meet on the weekends. Weekday we went to school and studied English. My husband found another job and the owner paid for him five hundred dollars a month. After two years we saved 5,000 dollars to open a small business. We sold toys step by step, we made good money. Now I am 39 year old and I have five children; two girls and three boys. Two are in University at UCI. One is second year, one is first year. They are both taking Biology. One boy is in high school, and another one is in the six grade. My last boy is in Kindergarten. My children very nice study hard and listen to parents. We bought a house, cars and good business. My husband and I work very hard for my children. We want our children have education in the future and to be good people. I always thank God very very much for my family have freedom.

I came from south Mexico. My state is Oaxaca, where I studied and grew until after high school. In my childhood I took care of cows, goats, sheep and horses. When I was 12 years old, I was riding a wild horse, and it throw me down. I got my two arms broken, so my parents got so upset and they argued. Then they sent me to take of cows and not to ride horses. Now I am going to tell about when I left my state at 15 years of age. I had never traveled far away from my home and this first time I did it I got lost in the big city of Tuxtla Gutierrez Chiapas. I felt sad and worried because I thought I would never find my family again. After two days of being lost, I found the School that I was looking for where I applied and attended for 4 years to be a teacher. When I graduated from the school, the Public Secretary or teacher director sent me to Michigan State. After all application process was finished, the zone inspector assigned me my first school. The name was "Benito Juarez". This was where I cried and passed my first experience as a teacher. The first obstacle was how I got to the community where my school was. I had to walked 10 hours in the mountains on an animal path. My community didn't have electric service, water and any other public service. I lived in the school, washed my own clothes, and I made my own food. My first students I keep in my heart for ever. I stayed in this comunity for four years. Every morning when I walked to take a shower in a little stream I usually took a donkey to bring water back for me to use all day. To finish this story, what can I say? Only that all this time was wonderful for me, I learned something new every day and I imparted my knowledge obtained at school. When I departed, I left part of my life with them, but at the same time I got with me all those wonderful memories.

I born in Mexico city in 1969. When I was child used to be a good boy and a good student, my parents were proud of me. My father is a teacher who has taught mathematics for 25 years. He spent all his time studying and fixing his car. My mother is a retired secretary. We are two brothers and one sister, they live in Mexico and are married, I am the only one who is still single. I was studying before come this country, and working for a paper company for two year. Then I thought "I want to go to USA" the life in my country is difficult because there aren't enough opportunities for getting better lives. I planned to come here for couples years , save money and go back, but every day I have been living with my friend for many years, he and I , we are as brothers. I keep going to school until I reach my goal, if it is possible never stop studying. When I was a student my major was mathematics and physics. At first when I emigrate to United States, I had many struggles. One of them was I did not know anybody here, did not have enough money for rent, a place to live, and pay for food, I did not understand and speak English. I began to live on the streets and looked for food in different places where people give free food and clothes for everybody who want to. After two weeks I got a job and my life changed, I started to earn money and rented a place to live. Then I saw that it is important to learn English, and two months later I started school.

My name is Long Vang. I was born in Laos. My father worked in the farm and my mother was a cook. I had two brothers and two sisters. We lived in the beautiful place and were very happy, but after my father pass away, we moved to the new place. My country had A war. After 1975, the Communist came and took over my country. My brother and sister left me over there because at that time I was young and I couldn't go with my brothers and sisters to Thailand. I thought my brothers and sisters will be back in a few months, but they didn't come back. At seventeen years old, I had to live by myself until 1978 when the Communist were very powerful and I couldn't live In town. Then I moved with the people who lived in the mountains to fight for freedom. I was a guerrilla soldiers to fight from 1979 to 1983. I had lost many friends who lived in the forest and we didn't have enough food to eat. We fought one day and ate the next day. It was very difficult for me to live because I didn't have any thing around me. I knew I have only my gun to show me the way I must do. I didn't know how to save my life. Also I thought if I fought the Enemy again maybe my life is going to finish that's when I decide to leave the country. A day at a time after I left my country and went to Thailand. It was not easy for me to cross the border of Laos and Thailand because the Mekong River was between two countries. After I came to the border, it hard to get to into the water. I had to think about myself. I knew I had to cut the small tree to make a small boat for me to cross the Mekong River. After I crossed the Mekong River, I saw many people died. I couldn't help them. It was scary then I pass the Mekong River to Thailand. The Thai soldiers took me to the camp and I lived in the camp almost two years. I never thought to come to America. I always thought about going back to my country. One day my country will be free again. I waited month after month, year after year, but the communist still lived there. I thought I have to go back to my country and live there forever, but my brother wrote me a letter and he told me to come to America and start a new life in America than I decided to come to America and forget about my country, but I couldn't. I still miss my home town where I was born.