Stories of the American Dream

Luis Romero — My First Shoes

"I started working as a child to help my mom. I bought my first shoes with money I made carrying shopping bags.

"When I came to the US from Honduras in 1990, my mother was sick in the hospital. Not being able to attend my mother and grandmother’s funerals was very difficult for me. If I left the United States, I was at risk of having to stay in Honduras and abandoning my family here in the United States."

My children are wonderful! One is an air traffic controller, a pilot, and my daughter is studying law. Every day I wake up next to my wife and look at everything I have accomplished, then I say; "I am better off now.""

Beatriz Mendoza – Verses in the water

"Beatriz Cortizos loves her Colombian land as much as writing. When she was young, the heart of this poet and narrator, invited her to live in Argentina, because it was the land of Borges and Soda Stereo, but her reasoning led her to the United States.

She worked in all kinds of jobs until she managed to enter the communication world. Today, she writes verses and has her own pool cleaning company, along with her partner and husband. For Beatriz, her son Martin, has been the best gift that life has given her while living in the United States."

Juan and Carla — Welcomes and Farewells

"Juan – "I arrived in 1992, exactly on Holy Thursday, I remember it because the next day I had to work, and it was Good Friday…. In Honduras, we never had to work on that day. I had never worked on that day before, but with the need to earn some cash, I opted for working on Good Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."

Clara – "Twenty years ago… Everything changed. We were always thinking about going back to Honduras, but our son was born, and everything changed for us""

Malena Rosero — From Ecuador to the World…

"My father always used to say that the world is great and wide, and we should get out there and get to know it, and this broadens your mind and develops your emotions, this is completely true.

I decided to leave my country because I was given a professional opportunity that I could not refuse, and honestly, I think I was looking for this opportunity.

In this country, if you demonstrate who you are and you put in the effort and dedication, DOORS WILL OPEN"

Gustavo Villeda — To another place with my music

"I saw that I really had opportunities as a musician and that I could live in the US by getting a talent visa. We sold everything, dismantled the home, and walked through the empty house and all our memories in 8 suitcases. We were very happy there.

I’m very happy here, the Caribbean Sea, the beaches, I love the sea, the beach, fishing and it’s so close here. Just imagine, there’s this tremendously beautiful cosmopolitan city, at the edge of the sea, what else can I ask for to this life?"

Luis Astorga — My Motorcycle

"I left Mexico looking for a better life. Leaving my family, my culture, all my friends was the most difficult thing. Smugglers got me across the border. It was not easy at all. I had to go through a lot of hardships, humiliations, real danger.

My first job was making roofs. I realized that the US was not an easy place, I would have to work hard. Now, I still do drywall and interior construction work framing, but now I have my own company.

I was 18 when I came to the US. Six years later I bought my first house. That was an incredible joy for me."

Ana Leon — When I left Cuba

"Leaving Cuba was so sad. In those days, when a person left Cuba, his family used to say, “I buried a family member,” because when you decided to leave, you knew you couldn’t come back, and you didn’t know when you would have any news of your family again.

The hardest job I got in the United States, was raising my children alone. I traveled from Venezuela to the United States because, I separated from my children’s father… I came to a new country, to start over again, learn a new language, and raise my children alone as a mother and father.

You have a lot of positive things in this country, but you must do your part."