|
 Maryuri
SOL Precinct Walker,
San Jose, California
"I want to change the way people she immigrants."
In Ecuador, Maryuri was very close with her family. "My sister," she boasts, "is the smartest women in the entire country." She then proudly lists her many accomplishments. Her my mom did not even graduate from elementary school, but wisely, she understood the greatest gift is sharing.
Mayuri had her own accomplishments she could talk about. She had been the Vice-President of a non-profit that helped women help themselves. It provided job training and seed money for aspiring entrepreneurs. And the non-profit offered support for women stricken by HIV or who were victims of domestic violence.
But her country's unstable economy made life difficult. In 2003, when her sister accepted a high ranking diplomatic post in Washington D.C., Maryuri followed as a "nanny." She left behind the mom she so admired, and her well respected professional career.
She would earn more here in the United States in a week than she did in Ecuador in an entire month. And here, prices did not skyrocket, leaving hard-earned wages worthless. Here, she hoped, through hard work she could come to live a better life.
Nearly two years later, her sister was reassigned back to Ecuador. To her sisters surprise, Maryuri choose to stay. "When I cried, my sister yelled 'but this is not your country'. She was wrong." Her sister could not understand, but Maryuri told her "God has a plan for me here."
Despite her sense of destiny, life proved hard. She did not speak English. "I felt stupid, depressed." And she felt alone. She was no longer with the family she so loved. "Life is different here, people live alone." Many times she wanted to go back, but she did not.
She took a job as a cashier. She was lucky enough to have health insurance. She would need it. Over the next several years, she would battle cancer again and again.
And she would soon meet David, the love of her life, through friends in California. At first she did not tell David about the cancer. "I feared I would lose him, that I would be alone again." When she finally told him, he said it did not matter. "Then I knew the suffering was worth it, this was my destiny here."
Her life's struggles led her to become a part first of the community group ACORN and then join SOL to get out the Latino vote. "I want to change the way people see immigrants." She is confident that by working together, Latinos can remove the obstacles that stand in the way of "living the American Dream in this Golden State".
|
|
|
