El Salvadoran in search of opportunity

• The Cruz family

Aaron Hagen/Daily globe Fatima Cruz, a native of El Salvador, poses with her sons, Ezequiel and Damian Thursday afternoon at the Nobles County Integration Collaborative.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — Growing up in the tropical climate of El Salvador, Fatima Cruz had only heard stories about snow.

It didn’t take her long to experience it firsthand.

“It’s very warm in El Salvador. We don’t have snow there. We don’t use these kinds of jackets there,” Cruz said while pointing to her heavy winter coat she was wearing Monday afternoon.

“My sister had already told me about the snow. I had seen it on TV, but I had never experienced it myself.”

A few days after she moved to Worthington in October of 2006, Cruz had her first taste of the icy treat.

“A few days later, it started snowing. That day, I liked to see the snow, but the snowflakes were really big,” Cruz said through a translator. “When I came from El Salvador, I didn’t feel that much cold. I used to walk with a very thin sweater before. But, now, it’s too cold.

“It’s like now I want the snow to come, but when it’s time for the winter to go, I want the winter to go fast.”

Cruz made the tough decision to leave her family — and her newborn daughter, Daniela — to look for better opportunities in America.

“(I left) because of the poverty in my country — the need,” Cruz said. “We have a need. Here in this country, we think this life is better.”

In her home country, the opportunities for work were limited. Even when jobs could be found, the pay was very low.

“It’s a very little country, and they have a lot of people,” Cruz said of her native land. “It’s very difficult to find a job. And when the people find a job, they pay very little for what they do. For example, if somebody is working there as a babysitter, they make $100 for the whole month to take care of a little kid.”

Cruz and her five sisters grew up in a small house.

“It was a very little home and it was not pretty,” she said. “The kitchen didn’t have a door.

“The bathrooms are totally different,” she added. “You don’t have a mirror or a sink to brush your teeth. There’s only a toilet and something to cover it so nobody sees. Nothing to do with the bathrooms here, it’s completely different.”

Now, Cruz lives in an apartment with her husband and two sons.

“It’s a little apartment, but compared to what I had, it is beautiful,” she said.

With her newborn diagnosed with microcephaly — which is a rare neurological condition in which an infant’s head is significantly smaller — her only option was to come to America.

“Because my sisters were already here and when my little girl was born in El Savaldor because she was sick, I needed money to take her to the doctor and hospital for the doctors to see her,” Cruz said.

“My sister said, ‘The only solution that I see to your problem is that you come and start working here.’ Because my daughter was not going to survive if we don’t give her the treatment she needed. With the people who were here, then I came here.” Cruz said.

She left El Salvador and came through Houston, traveling mostly by foot or by car. Cruz was traveling in a group, but didn’t know the people she was taking the journey with.

“It was very dangerous, I would never do that again,” she said.

She arrived in Worthington, but Cruz didn’t know any English. She is learning.

“I’m trying to learn English,” she said. “Some classes I feel like I have learned a little bit and some classes I feel they are very difficult for me.”

Since arriving here, Cruz met her husband and has two boys, Damian who is 3 years old, and Ezequiel who is 1.

With her family — and two sisters who also live in town — Cruz has her own slice of home in Worthington.

“I don’t feel too lonely because they are here,” she said. “We have the chance to celebrate together, like now for Christmas, we can celebrate together. If I need anything, they are right there to help me, and vice versa.”

One aspect of her culture she brought with her is the cuisine.

“I cook in my home only Salvadoran food,” Cruz said. “But if I go out to a restaurant, I love the American food. I don’t know how to cook it.”

Listed among her favorite American dishes are mashed potatoes and corn. She also enjoys Chinese cuisine from the local restaurants.

When she does cook at home, breakfast often consists of plantains, greens, cream and bread. The mid-day meal can include popusas — a tortilla filled with cheese, beans and beef or pork. The later meal can be chicken and rice.

And while she has adapted to the food and lifestyle, she has had the help from the Nobles County Integration Collaborative.

“I have found out a lot of stuff here coming to this school,” she said. “I feel that I have learned also here, not only English, but other things. I have met people from other cultures, too. I have friends from other cultures and they invite me to their house or I invite them to my house and we feel like friends.”

But she also misses her mom and daughter in El Salvador.

“Not to see them is the toughest,” she said. “I don’t know how my mother is or she has changed a lot.”

Her mother sends her photos of Daniela — who is now 6 years old — and they talk whenever possible. Cruz sends money back when she can.

“I want to help my mother and give my kids more than what I had because we didn’t have much,” she said.

Even through the hardships and the adjustments of the journey from El Salvador, Cruz knew it was a necessity to help her children, including her daughter.

“I can give my daughter whatever she needs,” she said. “I’m trying to help her as much as I could. I don’t think I could help her like I could if I am here.

“I can give a better life to my kids by being here.”

Tags: el salvadoran, our diverse community, news, opportunity