For the Best
Hi, my name is Porfirio Avena. I was born on September 25, 1939 in
Chihuahua Mexico.
Growing up, I
went to school for a few hours and then came home and worked out in the
fields doing agriculture or whatever else my parents sent me out to do.
I have four brothers and one sister. It wasn’t easy because we were
poor but my parents wanted me to get an education so I couldn’t work
that much when I was young. I went to school until the six grade which
is like eighth grade now. Where I was from, six grade was the step
below high school. After I was done with school, I worked with my
father and brothers doing agriculture. We would make pretty good money
doing it, but most of the money we made when we would sell our crops
went right back into the land for next years crops.
One year we had about eighteen acres of cotton. It was the best looking
crops that we had ever had since I could remember. My family and I were
just waiting for it to completely develop so we could sell and cash in.
A few weeks before it was time, a big hail storm came and wiped out
everything we had. All of our cotton was ruined and we were left with
no income. That was the day I decided that it was time to make a change
and find work elsewhere. I had invested everything I had into that land
and came out with nothing. Since we had no insurance in Mexico and the
government didn’t provide us with any help to protect us in case
something like this happened, we were just out of luck basically. Two
of my brothers tried to convince me in staying so we could all work
together again in hope that this time it would come out all better but
it was time for me to go. My destination, the United States.
I was twenty two years old when I decided to come to the United States.
I would go back and forth to the border on a bus until I got my
residency. It took me about six months to finally get it. I had my two
other brothers, which are older than me, already living in Texas, so
they were the ones that helped me get my paperwork completed. When I
finally got my residency, I went on a bus from my house to the border
where my brothers picked me up and I went to go live with them for a
while. My house was only about two hundred miles from Juarez so it
wasn’t too bad going back and forth. Living with my brothers was good
because I felt at home with them. I was a little scared at first
because I didn’t know how the United States was going to be and how I
was going to communicate with everyone, but it was good that I went to
Texas and got use to everything because there were a lot of Mexicans
that live in Texas and so everyone spoke Spanish and that’s how I would
get by. I started working at a meat shop in the back getting the meat
ready to sell. It was hard work and we didn’t get paid all that much.
Not much time later, a friend from my hometown called me and invited me
to go with him to Nevada and work in agriculture out there. Since I
hated my job in the meat shop, I quickly said yes to my friends offer
and we went to Nevada where we worked in a big farm. It was a good job
because the farm provided us with a place to live and paid us on
salary. The people that worked by the hour had a very inconsistent
income because it rained a lot and we didn’t work all the time. It was
good that I was on salary and got paid regardless if it raining or not.
That was basically my life, just work and sleep. I would send money
back to my parents whenever I could which was usually once a month.
They didn’t say much when I moved to the United States, since my two
older brothers moved before me. I guess they were just use to it. They
knew it was for the best. This whole time that I was living in the
United States, I had my girlfriend in Mexico. We would communicate back
and forth through letters. I later went back to Mexico about a year and
a half later and got married. It didn’t take us very long to get her a
residency to come to the United States. Back then it was a lot easier
than it is now. We moved out to Nevada to the farm where I was working
at and lived there for another eight years until we decided to move to
Arizona.
Its like if I was
following my brothers because they were in Phoenix now and we lived
with one of them for almost a year until we were able to buy our own
place. I started working as a labor then I became a union operator.
Leaving my country was very difficult because you have everyone that
you know there and you are going to somewhere that you don’t know
anyone. What I miss the most about my homeland is all the people
because it’s a little town so everyone knew each other and the parties
that we had every holiday and basically every weekend.
I feel that I was fortunate enough to know a little history about the
United States before I came because it helped me get adjusted to the
new surroundings. I think it is very difficult for those that come not
knowing anything and try to make it here in the United States. It took
me about twenty years to finally get me citizenship but that was
because I just kept putting it of and never did it. Still for that it
was a lot easier back then.
I don’t regret coming to the United States at all. Yes I do miss my
homeland but I am glad that I was able to come and make a life here.
Even though I am retired now, I still don’t think that I would ever go
back and live in Mexico. I go there about once a year with my wife for
her to visit her family but that's about it. I don't have that much
family left down there. I have all of my kids and grandkids here and I
would rather be here with them.
Analysis:
The person I
interviewed is my grandpa. I feel that what he is trying to tell us
from this is that there is no future in Mexico for a poor man.
Everything there is just as expensive as it is here in the United
States and the salaries there are a lot less. I also thought he was
trying to get out that the Mexican government isn’t the best either. He
mentioned that when his crops all were destroyed, he was just left out
to dry and didn’t get nothing for them. He mentioned that here in the
United States, the government takes care of the agricultures and they
know exactly how much they are going to sell and at what price before
they even get started. They also have insurance for their crops just in
case something was to happen to them. In Mexico, you are lucky to sell
all your crops and if something happens to them, oh well. I also
interpreted from this interview that it was a lot easier back then to
become a resident to the United States and a citizenship. He didn’t
struggle at all to get either and I know a lot of people now days that
have a very hard time getting either. He said that getting his wife
across was no problem either. He talked about having a little education
about the history of the United States and knowing some important facts
also helped him out when he got here because he knew what was going on.
He laughed some when he said that many people come to the United States
and they don’t even know the president or what the flag symbolizes. He
said that those are the people that shouldn’t be here, not the ones
that are here for a better life. If you are going to come to another
country, you have to adapt to it, not try to make the whole country
adapt to you. I think that my grandpa was very fortunate to come to the
United States and find work right away and not have to be like those
people outside of stores begging for work. There is a saying, “If you
take big risks, you will get big rewards”, and that is exactly what he
did many times in his life and luckily it paid off.
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