Juan

My interview with Juan Gonzalez
This interview was conducted on October 17, 2010 by Jim currin

I had the pleasure of interviewing Juan Gonzalez.   Juan came to the United States from Mexico at the age of 22: that was 25 years ago in 1985.
His main reason for coming to the U.S. was because of a major Earth Quake that rocked Mexico City and left him and his family homeless:   work was plentiful in the U.S. and relatives had moved here prior to the Earth Quake like so many others from his Old country.
I asked him the question of what did he bring with him and what he left behind, and I saw tears come to his eyes as he explained he had nothing left to have to worry about, but what he said was he brought the cloths they were wearing and he left behind a daughter and relatives that died in the Quake.
His most memorable experience was the process he had to go through to become a citizen in which I will go into further detail in my finale paper.   Also the tribulations he had to go through in order to get here in the first place.
When asked what was the most memorable situation he had to endure on his journey he had a wonderful story for me: “I was half way here and out of money not knowing what to do, I walked up to a kid that looked to be about my age and explained my situation: he took me into the station and wrote a check that the cashier cashed and he gave me the money, not only that he gave us a ride all the way to Michigan from Indiana.”
The hardships, and there were many according to Juan were mainly handled by conversing with his wife and a lot of prayer.
The American dream for Juan and his family came the day he and his wife became citizens and no longer had to look over their shoulder for an Immigration officer to come and steal their dream.   Juan went on to say that he started a concrete company with the help from a federal grant: and has since retired and sold his business to his nephew who immigrated here as well.