Immigrant tells how her experience crossing the border as a minor helps her better understand her work at the VSF Center for Refugee Children
Mayra Medina-Núñez was 14 years old when she decided to cross the border between Tijuana, Mexico, and California with her brother, a year older.
The objective was to reunite with his mother, who three years earlier had left Oaxaca with her younger brother, fleeing extreme poverty and seeking a better future for her family.
In Hispanic Heritage Month, Mayra – the now associate executive director of the Center for Refugee Children of the San Fernando Valley – recalls how circumstances forced her family to separate and face experiences that marked their lives forever but recognizes that the Courage to get ahead is thanks to its roots and its culture.
“Being indigenous and Latina is synonymous with resistance. It is a group of people who have suffered oppression, discrimination, not only in the United States, but also in our countries of origin, because of skin color. So we are synonymous with struggle, “says the Oaxacan.
Mayra, who came to the United States 24 years ago, is very aware of the reasons that forced them to leave their country.
“My mother struggled with the work situation because we come from a very humble place. She did not have access to education, I think she attended the third or fourth grade of primary school and there were no business opportunities… So she was dedicated to washing someone else, ”says the 37-year-old Mexican today.
“It really was a constant struggle, it was very difficult, I was always borrowing for the passage.”
Desperation to support her children led her mother to undertake the trip north with her youngest son with the idea of returning in a few months with savings to start a business.
However, on this side of the border things were not easy either. Three years later, desperate to be reunited with her children, she decided to send them home.
“Honestly, in our innocence we did not measure the danger, all we wanted was to see our mother, we wanted to be with her. Three years had already passed, that separation was something very difficult emotionally, ”recalls Mayra, who recalls that they walked for three days and three nights before crossing the border with strangers in a very small car.
Another challenge along the way
Mayra and her brother were unable to attend school the first year they were in Los Angeles, because the person they gave their documents to before crossing the border disappeared and they had to wait many months before they could get their school reports again.
During that time the two young men were in charge of getting their mother out of work from a house where she worked as a domestic and the whole family dedicated themselves to selling tamales to get ahead.
Mayra finished high school and although her dream of continuing her studies was cut short by her immigration status, she never gave up the idea of working in an office — as her mother yearned for her.
“Due to my legal situation, it was not within my reach to study at the university. At that time, students without documents were treated as international students and had to pay triple fees, so I decided to wait for me, ”explains the Oaxacan.
“Until a law passed, [la AB 540], which allowed students who finished high school in California for at least three years to qualify for the resident rate. It was then that I was able to go back to school ”.
This young woman did not miss any opportunity and in 2012 she managed to graduate with a degree in community services from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and confesses that she received one of the best gifts she could imagine.
“I was able to pay for the whole degree with the money from my work and with the support of people who helped me. I graduated on July 15, 2012, the day then-President Obama announced the DACA request… That was the best gift I ever received, ”he says.
Remember that on her graduation day it was a great satisfaction for her to see her mother so proud.
“I have always been very grateful to my mother. We are here for her and when I graduated, it was very emotional. I always tell her: ‘Mommy, thanks to your efforts I have been able to have this degree.’
ILI The immigrant says that her mother was very proud to see her graduate from UCLA.
Experiences that form
For this Mexican, mother of three children, all that she had to live was an experience that prepared her to understand the suffering of the hundreds of children who support in the center, who have arrived alone in the United States fleeing violence and poverty. of their countries.
“I am a woman of faith, so I think that all this was a plan orchestrated by God to get to that position of being able to help people, to know first-hand how difficult it is to go through that situation, live the coupling, flee. poverty or any other situation that forces you to leave [de tu país]. My mother didn’t want to leave, we didn’t want to leave, we left for a reason ”.
Mayra, along with her husband, Pastor David Medina, work every day to help their community, immigrants and to return all the love and support that she and her family have received.
To support the Center for Refugee Children
Any donation is of great help at this time at the Center for Refugee Children of the San Fernando Valley, donations of food and essential items can be made Monday through Friday, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on the block 15435 Rayen St. North Hills, CA 91343.
For cash donations
- PayPal visit: HERE
- Bank of America # 3250 1197 0956 in the name of San Fernando Valley Refugee Children Center, Inc.
- GoFundME visit: HERE
