Raul’s Immigration Story – Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic to Orlando, Florida

Childhood

Raul enjoyed his childhood in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s capital. He loved playing ball in the street on a rainy day or going to the river when the sun was shining. He and his friends never worried about their safety when they went out in the city unsupervised. Santo Domingo wasn’t the dangerous place that Raul hears it is today. 

Dominoes

Raul loves dominoes – a national pastime in the Dominican Republic. He learned how to play from his dad and all the men in his family play the game. Raul had his board and “bones” (the pieces) custom-made [see the photos below].

“My dad always loved to play dominoes. They would go out at six in the afternoon and play to four or five in the morning. I remember one time he was playing dominoes. He was so into it that he didn’t want to get up, so he gave me his cigarette so that I would light it!” (audio below)

Raul says that dominoes is more about the conversations with friends that happen during a game than anything else. He doesn’t think many things in life are better than a good game of dominoes with friends.

The Place with the Nice Smell

In 1981 his father left for the United States and lived with Raul’s uncle in New York. Raul loved the smell that would come from his dad’s suitcase whenever he came back to the Dominican Republic to visit them. 

When [my dad] would go back to visit us, I remember every time he opened his suitcase; there was this wonderful smell. To this day, I don’t know what it was.” (audio below)

In November of 1987, Raul, age 14, and his mother and three sisters arrived in New York to join his father. He remembers how cold it was, and he didn’t have a jacket. 

“I walked out of the airport – the doors open, and I felt this cold hit me straight in my face. I thought I was in a refrigerator. That totally blew my mind.” (audio below)

When they arrived, his father informed them they wouldn’t be living in New York – it was too dangerous and corrupt. Raul’s father decided to move the family to Providence, Rhode Island. Raul loved his high school in Providence and still gets excited every time he returns to visit his parents and sister Dhamarys, who still live there. 

“When I go back to Providence, it is like I’m going to the Dominican. Both places are very special in my heart.”

Florida

Raul’s friends in Rhode Island always talked about Florida. One day he decided to take a trip and see what everybody was talking about. 

“ The first thing I see when I walk out of the airport is people in t-shirts! No snow at all! What!? Where am I? That moment I said ‘I got to move.’” (audio below)

Raul has been living in Orlando since 1999. He loves how quiet it is in his neighborhood. Raul explains how Orlando is safe, primarily because of Disney.

“Disney has got a lot of power, so they are going to control crime and the nonsense of cities. Having Disney around is a major influence on the economy. They are always going to make sure the people who come here are going to feel safe. They try to help out the police in any way they can cause it’s to their benefit.”

Christ

In 2007 Raul “came to Christ”. He had been raised Catholic and went to church “once in a blue moon”. He was single and went out to a club where he met his future wife. She was part of the church and invited him to join her. 

“God started working in my life. Ever since then, it has been the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.”

At church, he met a former New York City drug dealer who now goes into prisons to tell inmates how Jesus can change their lives. He tells them a story about being shot at, yet none of the bullets hit him – an experience he believes demonstrates how God is real. Raul liked his message and was invited to join. Raul had never gone into a jail, but he felt God telling him not to worry, and he joined Orange County Jail Ministry in 2011. (audio below)

I’m the one who is going to guide you, I just need you to go there, and I’m going to speak through you. That’s what God has done. He speaks through me.”

He says it’s a moving experience seeing these tough grown men crying.

The Bible says that once you are in Christ, you are a new creature. That’s what we try to share.”

Audio: Raul sharing a favorite passage from the Bible

The Yard

Raul started his current job with Orange County in 2002. He does maintenance – roads, sidewalks, grass, trees, etc.

“We serve the community. Whatever the community needs, we go and do it. Hole in the road? Pipes leaking? We try to make sure the community is safe. I can honestly say, I love my job.”

His crew is part of the emergency responders, and since Raul lives closest to the yard (the place where equipment is stored), he gets called first. Technically he works regular hours Monday to Friday, but in reality, he is never off. When Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, he was the one in the yard for the storm, ready for anything. Immediately after the hurricane passed, his top priority was opening the road to the hospital, and that’s what he did.

Daughters

Raul has two daughters in their early twenties from a previous relationship and a lot of regrets. He feels like he was too young and stupid to handle his responsibility correctly. 

“I tell them all the time, ‘I love you to death’. I was young and stupid, so I wasn’t there to see them grow. That kind of created a barrier between us for years.”

When he moved south to Orlando, they stayed up north. Not only was there emotional distance, but physical distance too – he couldn’t afford to fly to see them every week, so they talked on the phone. 

“It is hard when you are not part of their life; you can be responsible financially, but later on, you realize they needed you physically. I made a mistake. I should have never left and should have been close, so they knew what having a dad is like. It was really selfish and I tell them that.” (audio below)

Raul says they are trying to work things out. He is trying to call more and spend more quality time with them in person. Still, there is a lot of pain. Now that Raul is getting older, he says he is starting to see life differently, and how it’s the little things that are important. 

Purpose

Raul hasn’t visited the Dominican Republic in almost three decades, but says that “the Dominican will always be in [his] heart.”

“I love and miss my country, but in all honesty, I love this country too. As much as I miss the Dominican Republic, I don’t see myself living there again.”

In the United States, Raul is devastated by all the hate he sees on the news and prays that things get better.

“What are we becoming as a society, as a nation? It’s sad. What I want for the future is for God to use me in an amazing way. We are living in the days when we need God more than ever.”

Audio: Raul sharing memories of 9/11 and hopes for the future

Ultimately Raul says his two main goals are to enjoy life and to be a blessing to the people he encounters. 

“I’m grateful for every moment that God has allowed me to live.” 

#FINDINGAMERICAN

To receive updates on the book release and exhibition of “Finding American: Stories of Immigration from all 50 States” please subscribe here. This project is a labor of love and passion. If you would like to support its continuation, it would be greatly appreciated!

© Photos and text by Colin Boyd Shafer | Edited by Kate Kamo McHugh. Quotes are edited for clarity and brevity.

Laura’s Immigration Story – Tegucigalpa, Honduras to Wilmington, Delaware

Childhood

Laura grew up in La Ceiba on the northern coast of Honduras where she lived until the age of nine. From an early age, Laura had a love for dance and performance.

Above: Laura dressed as Wonder Woman for Halloween

Laura’s father is Colombian, and her mother Honduran. Her parents were both doctors, so her family was financially secure. She remembers walking up and down La Ceiba’s town square, going to the Pizza Hut and movie theatre.

Laura started learning English in the first grade at a bilingual school and, over time, she competed in English competitions at the national level. Once, she came in second place in the entire country.

“I was really sad because I lost to a boy. The word that got me out was “clothes” plural. I think I spelled “cloths.”

Above: Second-grade school picture at Saint Teresa’s Bilingual School

United States

Laura’s parents had wanted to move to the United States long before Laura or her sister were born. Her father had family living in the US, and he began the immigration paperwork in 1985, the year her older sister was born. 

Laura remembers her parents sitting her and her sister down to tell them they were going to be moving to the United States. Laura was nine, and her sister was 12.

“I didn’t know why, but I felt it was the end of my life.”

Above: Vanessa, a childhood friend, who Laura lost touch with, gave her this box shortly before she left Honduras. “It’s one of the few things I brought with me.”

Looking back on it, Laura understands the opportunities presented by their move to the US. Her parents could see that their country was moving in the wrong direction politically.

“It was dangerous in Honduras, and because my parents were doctors, they were part of the minority that was financially well off. Several times they tried to break into our house. My dad had to keep a gun. We had to get a guard to sit outside and watch the house at night. Our maid was held up at gunpoint.” (audio below)

Florida

In June 1997, they flew to Orlando, where her uncle and grandparents were living. They had to do all the paperwork, fingerprinting, and photos to get green cards. 

“I was really scared. I was a nine-year-old kid in this room full of people that don’t look anything like your people – all very serious-looking men who looked like cops. They all were in uniform wearing a belt with stuff on it, official and scary, and already you feel like you are imposing. When we finally got out of that which took hours and hours, we got our cards that said ALIEN on them. I remember that card.” (audio below)

Laura’s uncle picked them up from the Orlando airport.

 “We were in the backseat with my cousin. She said ‘put your seat belts on!’ My sister and I looked at each other then replied, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘because it is the law’! It was one of those culture shocks. In Honduras, people didn’t wear seatbelts. Now when I get in the car, it feels so strange if I don’t have my belt on.” (audio below)

Laura and her family lived at her grandparents’ two-bedroom apartment right behind Universal Studios. Her grandfather and aunt worked at Disney, a place every Floridian gets tired of in the end.” Disney ended up playing a prominent role in their introduction to the USA.

Above: Laura and her sister at Disney, one week after they arrived in the United States. You can see we were all about the American spirit with our clothes and our hats.”

Hell

Laura’s first year in Orlando was “hell.” She was in fourth grade, and although she could speak English, she didn’t feel like she belonged.

“I didn’t have the slang – all the things the cool kids were saying. I didn’t fit in with any crowd and only had two friends – a Chinese girl and a Pakistani boy. We were the outcasts in the class. I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t enjoy it; I couldn’t wait for the day to be over. It was hard.”

Above: The family at Grandma’s in Orlando on Laura’s Dad’s Birthday. “He always gets a chocolate cake for his birthday.”

At the end of that first year, her father got a job in Miami, and they moved there in 1998. In Miami, Laura fit in, as three-quarters of her classmates were Hispanic. She stayed in Florida for more than a decade.

Delaware

Laura came to Delaware in 2011, to get her Ph.D. in Sociology. The University of Delaware offered her a scholarship, so she decided to go to a state where she had neither heard of nor visited. Laura explains how northern Delaware, where she lives, is more metropolitan and populated. In contrast, the south, an area she doesn’t know well, is more rural and empty.

Laura describes Wilmington as a complicated city, with a strange history that has led to a lot of social issues. Segregation, gerrymandering, poor urban planning, gang violence, drug trafficking, and murder – nicknamed “Murder Town USA.”

“There are parts of Wilmington that are incredibly wealthy with million-dollar homes, then you drive four blocks, and you have broken windows. It is bizarre.”

Laura also sees Wilmington as a special place with artistic people full of passion and with big hearts, all working towards the betterment of the community.

“People who grew up here will defend this place until the day they die. Recently I was having a conversation with somebody, and they were talking down Wilmington, and I found myself defending Wilmington. I never thought I would call myself a Wilmingtonian, but I must like this place. I think there is a lot of struggle here, but also a lot of knowledge and wisdom.” (audio below)

Latin American Community Center

Laura works at the Latin American Community Center as the Manager of Prevention and Advocacy. At the Center, she has worked with families in the community on issues like HIV, drug and alcohol addiction and recovery, as well as financial literacy.

“We do a little bit of everything. It is a non-profit, so we all wear a lot of different hats and pitch in when needed.”

Laura is especially concerned about the Latino community in the United States, specifically in regards to the policies of the current federal administration. 

Illegal

In her youth, Laura remembers hearing about people coming to the United States “illegally.” It bothered her because her family came “legally.” She knew it cost her parents a lot of money and time, waiting for more than a decade to get their visas.

“As a kid, I remember thinking, wait your turn in line and pay your dues. That is definitely something that has changed. Because I never realized as a kid just how privileged I was. Ya, my parents did it the ‘right way’ but they had the means to do so; they had access to the financial and legal means to do so. They had access to lawyers and knew how to read forms properly. My parents were able to go through the process. They were also not necessarily without other options. They did it the ‘right way’ but they had more opportunities to do it that way.” (audio below)

Laura now knows that her upbringing was not like most Hondurans and many other people who immigrate to the USA. Today, she is an advocate for those who are undocumented.

Vote

Before the 2016 election, Laura was in charge of training people at the Latin American Community Centre about how to register voters.

“One message we always relay to our community is the importance of voting. If you have citizenship and the ability to vote, it is that much more important you do for those that don’t have that ability or opportunity. The policies enacted by our politicians impact them, but they aren’t able to affect those policies. It is our job to speak for those that basically can’t. We tried to remind people that they were not just voting for themselves; they were voting for two or three other people who couldn’t vote.”

Future

Laura emphasizes the need to recognize the full spectrum of immigrant experiences, specifically within the Latino community.

“We are not all the same, and we have varied experiences. There are a lot of stories of immense struggle and strife, but there are stories of privilege like mine.” (audio below)

Whatever Laura does in the future, it will continue to focus on improving the situations of minority and oppressed groups.

“I think when we recognize one form of discrimination or oppression, it sheds light on all the other types as well because there are parallels.”

Laura believes that increased exposure to different types of people and diverse ideas leads to more tolerance and acceptance.

“By default, most people are good.” (audio below)

#FINDINGAMERICAN

To receive updates on the book release and exhibition of “Finding American: Stories of Immigration from all 50 States” please subscribe here. This project is a labor of love and passion. If you would like to support its continuation, it would be greatly appreciated!

© Photos and text by Colin Boyd Shafer | Edited by Janice May & Kate Kamo McHugh. Quotes are edited for clarity and brevity.