Montes de Oca 3

Victor Montes de Oca Professor Marshall GEO 1023 October 2011Field Report #1I decided to interview my moms uncle Pastor Rauda. He was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States in 1988 at age 38. He left his country because it was in a state of civil war. The government was acting against the wellbeing of its citizens. The Salvadorian government had decided to keep the poor in poverty while the rich got richer. Military units were given the okay to find and execute anybody who was involved with the anti-government movement. El Salvador was not a safe place to live in that time because the people had organized a local militia to rebel against what the government had tried to establish. My uncle said that hundreds of people were dying daily. That is why he decided to leave his family in hopes to help them move out of the area where they lived in because it was too close to where both sides were constantly fighting. El Salvador in the late nineties had little to offer to its citizens. There was rarely any work to keep families from starving. Private companies were moving out of the country because the government demanded very high taxes in order to fund its military campaign to wipe out the guerrilla soldiers. The only food there was in the country was kept away from its citizens because they believed that in the end it may contribute to the efforts of the guerillas. Since the Salvadorian government was too focused on fighting the militia, they could not protect its citizens from the pressure of militia who constantly harassed them for supplies and food. Guerillas squads would enter a village and raid it for its resources and its potential recruits. They would force any male who can point and shoot a gun to join their ranks whatever the age range from as young as 8 to as old as 30. Usually the weak and old were sent out first to distract the Government Army and then would retaliate with a full counter attack. El Salvador in the late 1980s was not the place to be. My uncle saw the United States as a safe haven from the death and chaos that swept his motherland. What the El Salvador could not offer, the U.S. did. As soon as my great uncle entered the states he was seized by immigration officials. The officials asked him what country he was from and answered truthfully that he was from El Salvador. My uncle was telling me that the reason he could safely stay in the U.S. was because he had a valid Salvadorian passport. The United States agreed to help the Salvadorian Government with money and resources such as military advising and equipment; also the U.S. opened its borders to any Salvadorian citizen who decided to leave country. My great uncle was given asylum and could comfortably live in the U.S. without the fear of persecution from immigration officials. As long as he kept up with him immigration appointments, he can live in peace without having scary thoughts that one day he might get the boot. His plan to help his family was simple: to have them emigrate from El Salvador to the United States legally and with official permission to do so. Ever since he first stepped on American soil he dedicated himself to his family. He never had any intention but to do that only. He was a good person and a law abiding citizen. He always went to his immigration appointments and gave them whatever they wanted because if he can gain their trust they would give him his residency and more privileges in this unknown country. As of today, he has successfully emigrated 8 of his kids and is working on getting permission to move his youngest son who is 18 years old to the States. The American culture is very different from what he was use to in El Salvador. The technology for one he said is most evident. We have big television screens, laptops, and powerful cellphones. Regardless of this technological movement, he is slow to upgrade. He still has an antique television set that changes channels when turning the dial and a Nokia flip phone which is very large and obsolete. And his house is furnished in a way that resembles many houses in El Salvador. When I went to visit in 2004, every house had the most basic of furniture, just enough to live comfortably and cozy. Not like the material culture in the U.S, houses filled with many trinkets and commodities. Also he keeps his Salvadorian Culture alive by constantly keeping contact with his fellow relatives back home. He explains that if you forget where you come from, you will easily fill that mental gap with whatever you are exposed to on a daily basis. For example, he said that like to preserve his Salvadorian Spanish and its unique words and phrases, so he practices it daily and sometimes I am confused on what he says sometimes because I am not use to that unique Salvadorian Spanish. Even though he tries to preserve his heritage, he also loves to embrace some American traditions as well. One of his favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. He has a very big family and loves it when they all come over to enjoy each other and the food. Another way he is tries to be an American is by learning the language which is key in any community. He is very old now but he is still kicking both mentally and physically, he is constantly reading the Bible and working on English Spanish workbooks. My great uncle does not regret ever coming to live in the United States. He is happy how this government conducts itself for the greater good of its citizen. If people really try to push and move forward they can really have a better life here than nowhere else. The economy is slowly crawling up but there are always jobs out there and money for everybody and that is what my uncle likes about this country. But Inequality is always present no matter where we go and America has some of them. Some people are judged way too quickly and then are mistreated for it. He believes that the people living in the United States are sometimes too greedy and independent therefore they forget that they are human and that they need to show love and compassion to others.