By: Cynthia Lechuga
“Con Plata Baila El Mono”
My name is Katty González; I am from Lima, Peru. My life in Peru was very well off, economically. I can say that everything I needed and wanted I had. I had my two oldest children in my first marriage. My first husband was a very wealthy man and since he knew he had all this money, he didn’t care about anything else. This man thought that since he had the money, I had to be like his slave and I had to obey him. Even with all he offered and all the money he had, I didn’t want it and I decided to exchange all of this for my dignity. I couldn’t stay there and let him humiliate me and stomp on me like he was doing. This was another reason for coming to work here in the U.S. I needed to gather a good amount of money to fight for full custody of my two oldest children. He had the money so he also had power. I couldn’t stand all the pain anymore so I was finally able to open my eyes and realize that everything he said was not true. It was a very harsh way of waking up from this but I was able to do it. If it weren’t for this I don’t know where I would be today or if I would even be here. I would have never been able to afford to take my children from him and he took advantage of this.
As for my family, today they get along great. I love them very much and they love me very much, but I had a very difficult life from the beginning. I don’t blame my parents for the life that they gave me. I have two older brothers; unfortunately we were split up and we never got to live together because of the problems between my parents. Both of my parents are very successful and so were my brothers. My mother was a literature professor at a university in Peru and my father is a successful lawyer. One of my brothers is an engineer and the other is a doctor. Now we leave the problems in the past and we are very close; when one has a problem the rest are there to support them.
I was very well educated in Peru. I went to an institute of design and graduated there. I initiated a children clothing design company but, unfortunately, I was unable to continue with this company because of my ex-husband. He would not allow me to work so he took my company down. He didn’t want me to continue so he sold all of my utilities. After this I studied at a university of interpretation, called UNIFE. This is a religious, all-woman university; lamentably I was unable to finish this education. I will never give up because, as we say, I can’t die without having finished my career or something similar to it. I want to continue my education and study cultures. I love learning about traditions, cultures and languages. In Peru there is not only one tradition, but there are thousands of them. I believe it’s the same way for every country. This is why I find it so interesting to learn about different countries their religions, traditions, cultures and so on.
Peru is not a well developed country or government. Those who have money have it all and those who don’t have nothing. So those who have money also have power. We have a saying, “con la plata baila el mono,” which means, with money the doll dances. Unfortunately, people who don’t have a lot of money sometimes don’t even have a roof over their heads, water or food. I believe the government is at great fault for this. Like some South American countries, in Peru the politicians have big egos. One always tries to get revenge and the one that gets revenge wins. They don’t care about the consequences that turn out, because they win from those consequences and they fill their pockets. I can’t tell you that there has been one politician to set a good example. They have all been caught in scandals and don’t pay attention to the more important things like the starving people. It’s like they put a smiley face over their problems to cover them up.
I had no vision of coming here to the United States. My family and I sat and decided that I needed to come here; within two weeks of this decision I was in the United States. I was in a very drastic psychological situation when I decided I needed to leave my country to come and work. I got a loan for my ticket here. Since I had no idea of how the system works and I had no family to come and stay with, I found where I would stay through the internet. Before this I had never traveled outside of South America, which is completely different from the United States. Luckily, I was able to find a Peruvian family, which in a certain way helped me, because they gave me a place to stay in the mean time.
I came to the United States to work. I came here legally with a tourist visa. The main purpose for me coming to this country was to work. When I first came here I had no idea of the system here in the United States. When I decided to come I had no time to figure out what paper work I needed, if I needed or did not need anything. I had no familiarity with a green card or social security numbers or anything, I had never heard of these before. What I was able to do was get a driver’s license and an identification card. With a valid passport and a visa you are allowed to obtain these two, they had all my information. With my identification card I was able to start working.
It was very difficult for me to stay here because when I arrived I felt petrified. I had so many new found emotions. I didn’t know if I should stay and fight for what I came for, or just run back. I had nobody here, not even a friend that I could find comfort in. Juliana was a Peruvian woman who gave me her address when I was in Peru so that I could tell immigration that this is where I would be staying. I had never met her before, we had only chatted briefly through a chat room. We met in this chat room through an institute of languages in Peru. This is a high class institute because it is a very expensive way of learning any language you want.
When I arrived at the airport nobody went to pick me up; it was twelve o’clock in the morning. I was completely lost and I felt like it was a dream and couldn’t wake up. I said to myself, “God where am I and where am I supposed to go?” I had no idea where to go or where Juliana’s house was located. All I had was her address. I asked around and they said I could take BART, Bus or a Taxi. I didn’t know what BART was or how it worked because in Peru at that time there were no trains. Since I didn’t know what else to do I took a taxi to Concord, which was where I was going to live. They charged me two hundred and fifty dollars for the ride there from the San Francisco airport. Finally, I arrived to Juliana’s house, I stayed there for a few days and I was so nervous and stressed out that I came down with chronic bronchitis. I was unable to get up and I had nobody to care for me. Here everyone is so busy and nobody takes responsibility for anyone else.
One day Juliana told me that she was going to take me to the department of motor vehicles to get my identification card; I was so happy. That day we went to a buffet called JJ North’s to celebrate. When I walked in I told a man standing there, “look I got my ID and its’ brand new.” I told him this in Spanish, but I thought that in the United States nobody spoke Spanish, so I didn’t expect him to understand me. He said “good for you.” He stared at me and asked, “Do you want to work here then?” Before this I had never worked in my life. I answered back; “sure, of course, this is what I came for.” He gave us both an application to return the next day. I was so sick that I couldn’t take it the next day. But I took it a week later. Once I turned it in he interviewed me in English. When I came I had basic English skills so I was hired on the spot. He asked me to come in the next day and that I would start working as a waitress. They gave me five working days and I was very happy with that.
After two weeks of working there I was able to move out of Juliana’s house and rent my own room. By this time I was able to live and provide for myself. The first thing I bought has a bike to get around in. After three months I was able to get my own car. Then I was offered another job at another restaurant. I also started attending English classes. My entire day was filled with school and work. I never had a day off; I was working and going to school seven days a week. This was great at the time because I didn’t want to have any free time. If I had free time I was thinking about my family in Peru and missing them. There was a time when I had three jobs, just to keep me busy. When I left JJ North’s I began working in a grocery store. Either way I was always busy, but when I did have a little time in the day I would go buy things for my family.
Today I have my own family day care. My husband and I bought our home with the intention of having our own family day care. I got licensed to take care of eight children and now I work from home. I find this very comforting because I take care of my daughter. Since I don’t have anybody here I know how hard it would be to leave my daughter with a stranger and go to work.
I didn’t come with the mentality to stay in this country. My plan was to stay here and work for two years, save money, then go back home. I was not interested in having the necessary documents to stay here once they explained them to me. Today I have been here for six years and eight months. I am happily married now with a three year old daughter. My oldest son has also immigrated here and hopefully soon my other daughter will also be coming to live with me. Now I don’t really find a reason to go back to my country only to visit family. Now I want to live here and provide a better life for my children. My oldest son has autism and in Peru special education and therapy was very expensive. When I came here I met my husband which is the father of my youngest daughter. My husband is completely supportive, without him I don’t think I could still be here. He is the one that picked me up when I was down and was there when I most needed him. He has taught me how to respect and defend myself when it’s needed. This was very important for me because I came from a place where I thought I was worthless and I felt like a useless person. I came from my country with this mentality so in my first jobs I would get harassed by co-workers. They would even take things from me, like tips from my tables, and I never said anything. I was always taken advantage of because of this, but my husband showed me that it shouldn’t be that way.
In my opinion the laws on immigration here are not unfair. In my experience I know that once I came here and my visa expired I was an illegal. I also understand that I broke those rules and if I was caught I had to deal with the consequence for my actions. For example, if I got pulled over by a cop, I know that I would have no valid explanation for being here and they would have a reason for not letting me stay. This is not my country and by staying here I broke those rules. I can’t say poor immigrants because I can say from my own experience that we as immigrants take that risk and we must take responsibility for our actions. For example, if you have a house and I come in and try to stay in part of your land and didn’t ask you first, I can’t force you to give me that land because it’s not mine. Also I know that I would be breaking a rule and I can’t do that because it’s your land and your rules. If I did this then it would be a lack of respect and I wouldn’t be taking you into consideration. I can’t go out on the street and plead for proper documentation because this is not my country if I need to do that I need to do it in my country. I don’t say this because I am now legal and a resident but because it’s what I truly feel. My husband applied for my residency and I was able to obtain it in three months.
I still keep in close contact with my family. I have gone a few times since I became a resident and I call my family often as well. I definitely have helped them economically and they know that I support them in whatever they need. They don’t like to worry me and tell me their problems but I’m always there for them. My children always received gifts. I always sent their father money to provide for them and keep them happy. They received clothes, toys, school materials and much more.