Luchando por el Sueño Americano
Mi abuelita (grandmother in Spanish) Josefina Innocencio Mora Renteria, was running to catch the train on a warm and dark night, frightened of being caught by la migra (the Mexican Immigration). Mi abuelita running with open sores on her feet from traveling fourteen hundred miles on foot, was trying to keep up to the speed of the train; while almost falling to failure, she reached for her husband’s hand as her only thoughts were, “Un Nuevo comienzo, una Vida mejor, y viviendo el sueño Americano (A new beginning, A better life, and living the American Dream). Mi abuelita, born in the year 1917, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, lived in poverty. There was nothing around, dust everywhere from dirt roads, huts…show more content… She said, “yo sabia que no podera buscar trabajo si yo vivia en Mexico” (I knew she could not find a job if I had lived in Mexico). She had heard from her sister in law, that there were better opportunities to work in California, only a week’s worth of travel. Her sister in law and husband had crossed the border many times working in fields picking cotton and fruits. Talking to her husband, mi abuelita made the decision to leave to California to save money, and come back to Mexico para mantener sus hijos (to provide for her kids). Borrowing money for their travels from her sister in law, mi abuelita was devastated, leaving her kids behind. Her youngest was nine at the time, but the sacrifices they all had to make was going to make their future better. Seeing mi abuelita crying when sharing this most difficult time in her life had surprised me, for she had never shown emotion before. Everyone had always thought of her as being strong and seeing her cry made me realize it’s not her weakness, but it was strength, because she had overcome one of the biggest obstacles in her life. Mi abuelita set out with her husband and paid someone one hundred dollars out of the two hundred she borrowed to cut the fences on the border of Mexico to California. They walked fourteen hundred miles to get to Niland, California. When she arrived to Niland late at night, she hopped on the train to Stockton, California with her husband where they met up with a field owner. The owners let her stay for free as long as she worked for them. She got paid fifty dollars a week, working 7 days a week, and twelve hour days. She stood in California for a year and wrote her kids back and forth, sending them one hundred and fifty dollars every three weeks They used some of the funds to eat, and then saved the rest. Being able to earn money not only achieved confidence, but she was able to provide food and shelter for her
