American-Latino Immigrants Proudly Assisting the Community

 

This week we have a visitor in our class.  Her name is Elsa Aguilar.  She is from Honduras and is the mother of one of our classmates.  Elsa is visiting her daughter for two weeks, and she has quite a story to tell, a story about the struggle to make a good life in a third world country, a story about a mother's sacrifices for her children and how those sacrifices won her life long love and devotion.

Elsa was born in the Department of Copan in the rugged mountains of Central America.  Visitors to Honduras are probably familiar with Copan Ruins, the most marketed archeological site in the country where tourists go to see the once splendid Mayan city.  When she was still a child, she moved with her mother to a little town called Santa Rita in the Department of Yoro.  There they acquired a little piece of land and built a house that consisted of a concrete slab, cinderblock walls and a tin roof.

Santa Rita is located on the edge of the Sula Valley, one of the most productive areas in the country.  Fifty years ago the major product was bananas, and Standard Fruit Company and United Fruit Company (today known as Dole and Chiquita, respectively) were among the most prominent businesses in the area.  Elsa's mother went to work for the Tela Railroad Company, a subsidiary of Chiquita.  Elsa started working at about age 3 selling tortillas in the streets.  When she old enough she worked for Tela Railroad Company.

Elsa had her first child probably at around the age of 20.  The little boy was the apple of his grandmother's eye.  Elsa's mom just loved that little fella.  It wasn't until ten years later when Elsa had her second child followed shortly by her third and fourth.  They build a little attachment to the house.  The room had a dirt floor and walls made of sticks and mud.  Elsa, her husband Juan and their children lived in this room.

Elsa was determined to do everything she could so that her children would live better lives than she did.  She sacrificed.  She went months days without food and months without shoes so that her children could go to school.  On holidays Elsa would make bread or some other food item that her children could sell, but other than that her children did not work but attended school, did homework and studied.

They were poor.  They were about as poor as a family could be, but Elsa sometimes was able to use her ingenuity to overcome some obstacles.  One time she saw her children looking in the window of a wealthy neighbor's home.  The neighbor had a television, and the children were mesmerized by it.  Elsa was able to get an old television and hook it up to a car battery for power.  As the battery wore down, the picture would get smaller and smaller until it was time to take the batter to the gas station to get it recharged.

Other times she couldn't overcome the poverty.  Once when one of her daughters was sick with dengue, she child ran a very high fever and late at night wanted a taste of the sweet orange juice native of Central America.  Elsa didn't have any money and didn't have any means at the time to get money.  The heartbroken mother could only give her child water.

As the first son got older he worked as he attended colegio.  After he graduated he got a job in San Pedro Sula and supported the family.  The first luxury they got was running water.  A pvc pipe ran above ground to a little cistern next to the house.  The family would fill up the cistern in the morning (the only time there was running water) and use it throughout the day for washing clothes, cooking and bathing.  This saved a lot of trips to the river.  Then came electricity.

All the children graduated high school, and they all went on to further their education.  The oldest worked two jobs as a bank executive by day and college professor by night.  One of the children went to the United States (legally by the way) and sent money home to support the family.  She was able to pay for university tuition for the younger brother and two years of beauty school for the younger sister.  The siblings support Elsa to this day making sacrifices themselves so Elsa can live comfortably and receive the medical care she needs after years of stress and hard work.

Today the house has been remodeled and includes lights and electrical outlets in every room, a master bathroom, a kitchen, cable tv, telephone and even an air conditioner in one of the bedrooms.  The cinder blocks have been covered with stucco.  It's a cute little house located on top of a hill surrounded by trees tucked away in a quiet little community.  Elsa would like to paint it pink.

Elsa and her family is just one example of Hispanic culture (and what used to be North American culture) being acted out.  The young lovingly caring for the elderly in appreciation for years of love and sacrifice.