Migrating From El Salvador
I see her almost everyday because now she's like family, this being my brothers girlfriend a short 5'2 girl from ElSalvador. One afternoon she came over for dinner with the family and I asked question about her ancestry and what her parents went through to get here and spent the day talking about her family voyage to get here.
This is Jenni Flores family story written in her perspective.
My Dads Side:
My grandma was a farmer living in China in the mid 1900’s and made a living selling the basic crops with her family that as far back as I know. After my grandma took all she had and moved to El Salvador and settled in the capital a made her life as a common person that was in 1955. She had already had my dad with my grandpa which she never really spoke about and just wanted to forget not any of my family had information about him other than her. My dad Robert Flores grew up with my grandma who made a living selling clothing she sowed and other jobs she would take around the small town. My dad was a troublemaker as my grandma always said, growing up he always was a rebel. So after he finished his basic schooling Martha my grandma encourage him to join the military to build some character. Usually said it was because the lack of authority he had in the house. He ended up agreeing and became an Army Ranger in El Salvador. After a few years of staying the Army Rangers my dad wasn’t convinved he wanted to stay in the country he could not tolerate and heard about the U.S. so he decided to drop everything give his mom half of the money he had and with the other half he made his way to the U.S. After crossing the border through the dessert illegally he found himself in the same area as my mom. A poor community In Wilmington.
When did your father realize he wanted to leave was their anything in the army or with the country in general that just made him choose to leave?
- The country just started with a civil war and my dad didn't want to deal with an early death especially with him being the only one to take car of his mom so instead of staying he left for a better life so he can send money back to his mom and live a peaceful life.
Why did your Grandma leave China? We did learn from our class about the social class issues that where happening their was that a reason she decided to leave?
- No she didn't like to speak about her life in china, it's something we can't really figure out. We do know a main reason for it was to leave everything behind and start something new.
My Mother’s Side:
My Grandparents and their parents on my mom side of the family lived in El Salvador in an area called Soyapango as common people. Generations of living day to day just getting by really was something my mom could not stand and she had 9 siblings, her being the oldest she wanted to work for them. Late in the year of 1980 she and her two sisters applied for a work visa for the U.S. After a couple years of waiting it got approved and they had a job waiting for her from a family friend that had migrated a decade ago. All plans went well and they began their journey to the US though Mexico and took a bus most of the way up. When she got to the US she settled in a poor area of LA called Wilmington. She worked at the family friend’s small retail store that he and a couple others had brought up. After my mom was offered other opportunities and started making a bit of more money.
Did your mom have any trouble crossing the boarder into Guatemala or the south side of Mexico's Boarders?
-She payed some people to take her safe across those boarders along with her sisters. They had never left El Salvador before the farthest they had been where the surrounding cities or towns. She remembers the exhausting days traveling up Mexico to the boarders and how often she would think about her family back home. But she was already motivated and had the tools necessary to progress with that Visa.
They Meet:
One sunny day in 1990 my mom and her sisters decided to take a night off and my mother’s sister had a guy she was talking to and invited them out to dance. They looked at each other and as soon as they found out their families where living not even 30min apart in El Salvador they basically hit it off. Within 3 month my parents were married and a couple years later my older sister Mariela Flores was born. They knew the family was going to start to grow and instead of living in a bad neighborhood they opted to find something nicer in a cheaper place. In 1994 they moved to a recent friend’s house in Phoenix who had recently fixed up his papers and bought a house. It was an amazing opportunity for them to start a new life. That same year I was born and both my parents where all settled in with the new City. My little sister Gabriela came into this world a little later to.
What where the biggest challenges for your family living in LA and then switching over to a different state with just one friend as a resource?
My mother had her legal documents to work so she didnt have any issues looking for a quick job the challenge was for my dad. It took him a while to get settled down since he didn't have the paperwork to be in this country legally. At one point he was caught by authorities and close to getting kicked out of the country. But a miracle showed up for him and he told me the story that he was just a common person but he had actually spoken to Senator John McCain multiple times and they knew each other. Somehow Mr. McCain was able to pull some strings and make sure he would not be deported.
Today:
Today I look back at the long Journey my parents had to take and I can proudly say I am the first College Graduate of my family. Graduating from ASU with Honors. Now I’m currently in my field of medical assistant and I’m working as an Office assistant for a well know plastic Surgeon in the Phoenix Area. Life is great and I owe it all to them.