Jennifer Aldana
October 27th, 2009
Family Album: Nora Aldana
Nora Leticia Aldana
My mother was born and raised in Los Amates , Guatemala . She is the oldest of five siblings. My mother, her brothers and sister would always be trouble makers, but when my grandmother always wanted to discipline them, She could not punish them. My grandfather would always stop them before getting in trouble. My mother, uncles and aunts would always get what they wanted until 1976. There was an earthquake that caused their entire neighborhood to be destroyed. A few months passed when someone killed my grandfather, Elfego Estrada. That is when my mother started changing her attitude, because she lost part of herself. My mother started working, because she noticed that my grandmother was worried and depressed. My mother would go to people’s home and say that my grandmother would make some specific kind of food. The people would order food and my mother would take the order to my grandmother.
My mother always wanted to have a better life, so she can help her family. She would always tell my grandmother to let her come to the United States, but she would always say no. My mother would never ask anything to my grandmother and my mom never thought that she was going to go to some other city in Guatemala. She went and graduated from Instituto Nacional Senoritas De Oriente(INSO). The years she was in the INSO, she was living in a apartment that my grandmother paid for. My mother would always be studying,working, and staying home. She would never go to parties because she knew that my grandmother trusted her. In this all girls college, there was an event very important to Guatemala in September 15. The girl or boy that had the highest GPA in class would be able to carry the flag in the festival. This event was very important because it showed the Independence of Guatemala. My mom was the one that carried the flag, and she felt very privileged.When my mom got her Bachelors of Education at INSO, she made an agreement that she would leave Guatemala when she gets her opportunity.
It was a beautiful ride for her from Guatemala to Tijuana, but when she arrived near the boarder, it became yough and difficult. In the car, the back seat was ripped off. My mother was the skinniest one of all the people in the car, so she was the first one put inside the back seat. Then, everybody else went on top of her. When my mother arrived to the United States, she did not know anyone except her uncle. It took her a long time to get a job because nobody believed her age. When she finally found a job it was not that easy because they treated here like as if she was cheap labor. When this happened, she told my uncle and my uncle told her to quit. She quit, but the owner did not want to give her the money she earned.
A year later she met my father Javier Aldana. They were going out for a year, and then they decided to get married. A year later I was born, but there was a problem. The problem was that my father lost his job, and they did not have money to buy milk. My mother did not have enough money she decided to work when I was only forty days old. Three years passed when my mother had my brother, Junior. When she was pregnant she got diabetes, so there was a risk that one of them dies. The only way they would not die if my mother only ate healthy food. In the end, they both were okay. For a long time, my mother was the one that took the risk of having two children and my brother was the only grandson of my grandmother. Everything changed when my uncle had a boy and right now my aunt is pregnant with a baby boy.
My mother has always been working. You would never actually see her sitting down, and watching television. My mother for us is a mother, doctor,a taxi driver, best friend, counselor, and a business worker. If you are wondering how she looks, you are actually seeing her through me. We both look exactly alike, and people always think that we are sisters. My mother has always said that the reason she is here is because of her children. She wants us to have a better life, than she did. Many girls and boys who see my mother think that she is really mean and strict, but she is not. Well she is strict, but I know that she does it, because she wants us to have a better life and to be successful in life. She is not mean. She is one of those mothers that would always be there for you and support you in anything if she believes its the right thing to do.
