Life in Mexico is very difficult. As a matter of fact life in any other country is very difficult. We are very fortunate to live here in the US because even if we don’t have money or don’t have many luxuries, we always find a way to put food at our tables and clothe our children, and ourselves. For Obdulia, growing up in Puebla, Mexico as a child was very difficult because her family was very poor. Even though her life has gradually changed and is at a better personal state now, her childhood memories, and her hard work as a teenager, and the death of her father made her the person she is now. She says, “Le doy gracias a dios que todo lo que me ha pasado, he aprendido hacer una major persona.”“She is thankful that everything she is lived through, she’s learned from each experience.” Meaning,
Obdulia started to describe her home town. I was really impressed how vivid the description was because it made me think about how even though it’s a small town, there was is a lot of vegetation around her, she described her child hood as a freedom that you can’t really explain other than, “You would have to have a personal experience with it.” She conveyed the image of the dirt roads, and the two rivers, one that ran through her town and the other that ran around her town, then she went on how there were about 1800 habitants, and there were about three schools. And years later they would build more. She also mentioned that there were many churches which played a very important part in her life. As a child her parents would take her and her siblings to church and they would try to get them involved. She said she enjoyed going but didn’t understand why it was so important.
As she grew up along with her sisters and brothers they were given many chores, she explained how before they left to school the girls in her family, especially her, had to make tortillas on the “Clequel” which is a half circle made of rock and on top you a thin layer of a metal piece and you put it on top of the fire place you make by using wood. Another interesting tool they would use was “El Metate” which is used for grinning grains or anything that needs grinning would be set on this oval rock platter and you would grin with a smaller triangular rock. The boys would go out into the fields and collect different vegetables and fruits and they would also go out to hunt and collect there share of the wood. So essentially, they would cook before they left to school and it would take them two or three hours to get to there.
Since it was a small town, what they used for entertainment were toys made out of wood, for example Obdulia favorite was the “Trompo” which is a circular toys on its top and at the bottom it has a triangular shape and a string attached to it, and you would wrap the string around the wooden triangular part and then throw it when it landed on the ground it would spin. Obdulia says that during her childhood they didn’t have any television and there was only one black and white one in town and they would have to pay 5 Mexican cents in order for then to watch TV.
There was one person who Obdulia was really attached to as a child and that was her father. She enjoyed every minute she spent with him, he would teach her many things and give her advice. Since Obdulia was the second oldest sister out of 4 girls and 5 boys, she was really attached to her father. In his free time he would tell them stories or would take them out to walks and buy them ice cream. But one day every thing would change for Obdulia and her family. Her father was murdered and at this point Obdulia’s life went down hill. Since her father was the man of the house he was the only one who provided the family with food and money and when he passed away the oldest sons and sisters went out in search of jobs, just so that they can have at least one meal a day. At this point in Obdulia’s life she had already graduated from high school and she was working as a secretary and going to college at the same time. She sadly says that since they didn’t have enough money to buy clothes they had to make there out clothes and they would pass on the shoes. The death of her father really impacted her life.
But then some how, her and her family realized that if they moved to the US they probably might have a chance to change there lives. Obdulia’s life has been an “adventure” and she hopes to pass on her story to her grand children one day. I asked her how she wanted to be remembered and she said that she would rather be remembered as the person she is but when she passes away she wants to be learning something till her last minute. I’m really proud of my mom, she’s been through a lot, and I think that she has taught me enough, so that I can appreciate what I have in life today.