Leonarda

I had the pleasure to interview Leonarda, a Mexican woman who works at the Hispanic Center in South Side Bethlehem. Sharing the same nationality and language made the experience more fruitful and enjoyable for both of us. Leo confessed that she never thought about living in the United States, but after she married her husband decided to go to California as he realized that in Mexico they would never be able to earn enough money to afford a house. Leo was hesitant about the move, but her husband would not leave without her. Leo decided to come with him because she wanted to be with the person she loved. They crossed the border as undocumented workers, but after a couple of years they became US citizens as a result of the 1986 Amnesty. Having a green card, however, was not enough. In 1991 Leo and her family moved from California to the Lehigh Valley, where she realized that in order to get a job they had to learn English, so Leo went back to school to study English and accounting. She is happy in Pennsylvania, where she has two children, but she still misses her sisters who live in California and her father who remains in their hometown in Mexico.

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