It was the year 1998, I was about three years old, and my family had already spent eight relatively good years in the United States. My family had immigrated to the United States from Colombia in 1990. They came here because my father’s mother and his brothers had immigrated to the Us earlier and my father wanted to be closer them. My grandmother paid for and had US documents prepared to send my mother, father, and three sisters (Rosa, Sandra, and Sulay) to San Francisco. Upon arrival my family settled in the building that my grandma had rented out for them in the Mission District. About 8 years passed without any big issue, but this time of peace and happiness came to an end when my grandmother died in 1998.
My grandmother died and had left behind the building where my family lived and there was dispute because the building was also under the name of my Uncle Victor and he wanted to sell it it in order to split the money among the family. At the same time, the family began to split up. My Uncle Rafael had moved to Miami and connections with them were crumbling. My Uncle eventually sold the building and me and my family only had three days to pack up and move out. My parents did not know how to catch BART or public transportation. We had no where to go, but luckily for us the real estate person, Katie, who was a part of the selling of the building was a family member of my Uncle Victor’s wife, Nancy. Katie had spoken to her mother about the house she up for rent in Berkeley and agreed to let us live there for a duration of three to six months. This was such a blessing for us because if were not for this we would have ended homeless. We did not have much money and my parents did not have enough credit to qualify for a house in San Francisco. It was as if a miracle occurred and we were blessed with a second chance.
The house in Berkeley was very nice. It was a two story home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and attic, and it was close to BART. It may have been nice but it was far from ideal. All three of my sisters still attended school in San Francisco so they had to catch both BART and MUNI to get to school. The cost of transportation, food, and rent became extremely high and my father was forced to find a second job. He entered his job at three in the afternoon where he worked as front runner and server at a restaurant in San Francisco. When he finished at the restaurant he proceeded to the Trans American Building where he worked as a janitor from eleven in the night to six in the morning. He would get back home early, gruesomely tired and yet he still took two hours daily to go with my mom to search for houses. My sisters were also forced to get jobs in order to help out with the heavy payments. While this was occurring I was basically being eating up by termites. The house had a section that was infested with termites and I would constantly play in that area so I got bitten by the termites and I developed a bad rash. Of course since money was an issue there was not much to eat.We ended up living there for an entire year until when we had enough money to buy the house where we currently stay at here in Oakland.
Although we had finally found a house to settle in, there were some issues. First of all the house did not have a kitchen because it had been pulled out to be remodeled. We were so happy to finally to have been settled in but we needed food, so my mother invested in a steamed rice cooker so she could rice and boil water. My father often brought home food from the restaurant where he worked. For about a week or so we had to eat the food from my father's work or from the restaurants that were around the area. The kitchen was finally remodeled and we were able to eat normally. My sisters continued to take BART and MUNI to get to school in San Francisco. My father continued at different restaurants in San Francisco and mother stayed home. I proceeded to go to Hawthorne Elementary school and I went to Urban Promise Academy, and finally ASTI. Two of my sisters went San Francisco State University. One graduated with a Bachelor's Degree and the other went on to get a Master's Degree. The youngest of my sisters went to City College of San Francisco.
This story is very significant to my family history because this was a key event in my family’s history in the US. This story shows me and my family going through some very tough times, the death of a family member. We lost our home and were nearly homeless, my dad and sisters had to get multiple jobs. It was all pretty bad, but we managed to persevere and get our selves out of this situation. Instead of splitting apart, going into crisis, and giving up we came together as a family and became stronger. I think that this story should be preserved because it shows how that even in the worst of situations family is always going to be there and together we are very strong.
Personally I take this story as sign that there is no need to ever give up, there is always someone who is out there for you. Together we can accomplish many things, but separated and as individuals we are set up for failure.
This story also reveals the strength, courage, and toughness that my family had inside of them. I mean my dad got two jobs and my sisters each got a job while they continued to go to school in San Francisco. My mother may not have had a job, but she worked hard to keep the house in shape and made sure that things were not chaotic at home. I believe that this event made us the family that we are now. My sisters eyes were open to how bad life can be and they took this as motivation and reason to go to college and receive their degrees. My worked hard and he felt good because he felt that he gave for a happy and successful family to grow. Now that I am grown up and I have seen my sisters go through high school and college I feel motivated. In itself this story has actually in a way empowered me to succeed and go to college because I do not want to ever go through like this ever again, even if I could not really remember about it. I now look towards a bright future, a better future for me and my family.
I always knew that we had lived in Berkeley before we came to Oakland, but I never knew why we moved and now I know. I now understand why there has been lingering issues within the family. I mean it all ties up now, the issues that we still face are not anything new they are just stemmed off from this situation. If it were not for Katie finding us a home and the motivation of my family we would probably be out on the streets or some crappy house or apartment.. I would probably not be at ASTI and i would not have the same ambitious and kind of nerdy mentality that I have now. I do not know if my sisters would have gone to college. My parents could have divorced or the could have gone insane. Who Knows? Well one thing is for sure this story, well event, changed the lives of my family members. We were given a second chance and we took complete advantage of it. We set ourselves up for success and I hope I follow in the footsteps of my sisters and succeed in life.
I am sure that I am going to tell my children this story because I believe it is important to pass on family history and stories are an excellent way of passing down history from generation to generation with a little bit of tweaking every now and then, the story will stay interesting. I want my kids to know where my motivation and determination came from and want to give them everything that my parents worked hard to give me. This story would be a reality check and hopefully would motivate and empower them just like it did to me.
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