“I can’t help seeing in their eyes the pleading voice of my mom asking for help. I see the same wrinkles, the same wisdom and experience; all hardships; failures; all their successes… nothing gives me more satisfaction than giving a helping hand while doing my best at providing a decent living during their last days, or for some of them, years, here on Earth.”
When you enter Light and Love Home on 54th Street and and 8th Ave at around three or four o’clock, the first thing you notice is how alive it is. There are classrooms all around, some filled with children, other’s perhaps lacking. There are young men and women, all with I.D. cards on their person, running around throwing out trash, taking children outside, or helping them with their homework. The air is filled with tongues both familiar and foreign, English and Chinese. I can pick out a very distinctive voice, a clear, authoritative voice with barely noticeable undertones of exasperation. Continue reading For the Kids: Profile of an Immigrant Worker
Raven Lemon’s Interview as Told by Chelsea Batista
Kicking it in Kingston
I was born in Kingston. And I lived in Saint Catherine. I lived with my aunt, because my mom worked all the time and my dad already lived in the US. My aunts were very religious. I lived in a two bedroom house. It was very nice considering what bad parts of Jamaica were like. It was roomy and clean and I was the only child that lived there. My aunts had kids, but I’m literally the baby of everyone in the family. I have a cousin that’s one year older than me, but she lived with her dad. So, she was not around a lot unless she was visiting my aunt. And my other cousins’ children would come over on some weekends, but I basically lived alone with the adults. It was quiet sometimes, but it was nice.
He stands over the grill, chopping chicken, lamb, and broccoli with a metal paddle. After he stops chopping he presses down on the meat with an aluminum foil plate. As he presses, the juice from the meat spreads out slowly, bubbling away vigorously. He fills a large Styrofoam box with fresh lettuce and tomatoes on the left and a brown colored rice on the right. After filling the box, he removes the press and scoops the meat with two metal paddles and lays it upon the rice and vegetable.
Even Our Elders Help Their Elders
*All names besides the interviewee’s have been changed for privacy reasons*
*Interviewee’s quotes have been translated from Spanish to English*
Some would think that once a woman is passed the age of 65, she should be laying back in her house, retired and living off her pension. However, for those like Luisa Figueroa, that isn’t necessarily an option. All the same, Mrs. Figueroa says, “Even if I could quit my job, I wouldn’t. I’d die faster doing nothing than I would doing something. And I like keeping myself occupied.”
