My name is Génesis Vergara. I am 27 years old. I am Latina. I am Hispanic. I am Venezuelan. I am American. The first years of my life, I lived in Maracay, Venezuela. When I was 18 years old, I moved to Ecuador for 5 years, so I considered Ecuador my home. Now, I live here so I consider here home. Home is where my family is. I like the tranquility of this city. I like that there are many trees, gardens, and grass everywhere. I like learning about many different cultures. There are so many people from so many places here. That’s what I like – the diversity. Currently, I don’t work here. I’m just a mom to my two year old, Emma. My husband, Miguel, works at Avery-Weigh Tronix. I would like to have my own business…maybe for sewing! I would like to repair clothes. Or maybe I could have a bakery. I like to watch TV series in my free time. My favorite show is Fuller House. I also enjoy Jane the Virgin. I love to play with my daughter Emma. I like to sing and cook.
My childhood was very beautiful. Because of my dad’s job, we moved a lot. He was a pastor at 7 Day Adventist Church. That’s the church in Venezuela and here too. I was in a very big family. My dad had 15 siblings. My mom had 6 siblings. There were muchos aunts and cousins, so it was beautiful. It was a united family. We had a family tradition. Every year, on January 1, we would travel to the field to watch fireworks. We stayed there for a week in front of a river in tents. It was a very important memory of my childhood.
I had two younger brothers. Then, I was used to earning my own money. During this time, my family didn’t work for the church so they had their own businesses. My mom made artesanía de arcilla roja. My family had like a pottery factory. The factory took mud from the earth and turned it into the red clay to use for pottery. All of my family on my mom’s side worked in this factory. Then, after we processed the earth/clay, we would sell the pottery. They paint everything. Everything is done by hand. This is some of her work on Facebook. That was her business. There is a specific part of Venezuela with the right type of clay to make this pottery. It can’t be found here in the United States or in Ecuador. It is also in Colombia, but it is very expensive there. The clay/mud is from the mountains. When people collect the water, they sift it, put it in a blender, put it in a pool, and separate water from the clay/mud. Then it is dried. It is a process that takes about three days. Then, it takes a form that is flexible to mold into a ball. The size of the ball determines how big the pieces of artwork will be. The ball is put onto the spinning wheel to make the art! My grandma believes in the healing powers of the clay. She would mold a band-aid out of the clay if we were hurt like on our shoulder or forehead. My job was to add the sparkles and glitter to the artwork/pottery. My dad worked in upholstery and made furniture, so my job there was to sew the outer fabric onto the furniture before it was sold. Then, it seemed like work, but now I look back and I think it was fun. I learned many skills.
My family had an entrepreneurial spirit to experiment to improve our situation. The situation in Venezuela didn’t allow us to improve because it was getting out of control. We took the chance to separate from our family to do things like buy food.
Corn meal is a basic Venezuelan meal. There were lines at the supermarket, stores, everywhere to simply get 2 bags of corn meal. During this time, the value of the money was decreasing. It was an economic moment when inflation was high. Something that cost $1 would cost $2 for the same thing. This was happening everywhere in the economy with pasta, milk, rice, eggs, etc. Money wasn’t earned. That is when Miguel and I moved to Ecuador. At first, the economy there wasn’t much better. We didn’t know anybody there. No family. No friends. Nobody. It was more difficult because we only went there with $500. We stayed there for 2 months. It was difficult to get a job. The first year was a challenge, but then we found better opportunities and jobs. We didn’t want to leave our family, but it was difficult. On one hand, there are many people doing many bad things. For example, there were obese people next to people who were starving because they didn’t have enough food.
The official currency is the Bolivar, but the US dollar is commonly used. In Venezuela, one person could make like $80 a month. The bus costs $0.50 for a trip. After a month, it costs about $20 just to take the bus. Thirty eggs costs about $6. One kg of cheese costs $6. It adds up really fast and is so expensive!! For only one person to live well, it would take about $150 a month. That is not realistic because there are siblings and kids. There is no medicine. It takes years to get an operation. It is super costly at like $15,000. There is insurance, but it is very expensive. It is not required to have insurance in Venezuela because there is public health. Public health is free but there are so many people so their appointments are backed up so far. Private healthcare is too expensive. A pediatric consultation costs $30, $40, $60, depending on the doctor. The basic necessities like food and healthcare are too expensive. It just doesn’t work. I don’t know why this is happening – probably the government, people, culture, etc.
The education in Venezuela was good. Honestly, it always moving up. The elementary was really good. After 4th grade, I skipped to 6th grade because I was ahead of 5th grade. High school was also good. It was one of the best times. I studied with the same people. Some of my classmates are still my friends and I’m still in contact with them after 15 years. My parents were used to working for us. I attended Instituto Universitario Carlos Soublette to study Public Relations. Right now, I’m not working in Public Relations, but I could have that opportunity in another place – to be the image of a business.
We lived in Quito, Ecuador for five years in 2016. In 2017, my dad came to Fairmont with my two younger brothers for the 7 Day Adventist Church. I went six years without seeing my dad. After we lived in Ecuador, we moved back to Venezuela for one year. Last October, the US government provided a humanitarian program for Venezuelans to apply to come here. This is because of the political, social, and economic situation in Venezuela right now. There are a lot of Venezuelans who are in Texas illegally, so they created this parole program where people can come here legally. So we applied and then Miguel, Emma, and I came here. We arrived here in November of 2022 three days before the first snow of the year.
Similarities: I-90 and the streets here are very similar to Venezuela. In Maracay, Venezuela, the streets and the landscape are very flat, which is similar to here. The food like hamburgers, hot dogs, and barbecues are similar.
Differences: The weather is a big difference. It is much hotter and warmer in Venezuela. Here in the US, the different seasons. The cold and heat is constantly changing.
I am Adventist (7 Day Adventist Church). There is one church in Fairmont. In St. James, there is another one that is mostly Latinos. Honestly, my faith defines who I am. I find myself in the last year, in my faith. Saying you have faith is not the same as knowing you have faith. Practically, for me, it’s everything. I believe in God. My faith is important during difficult times. I understand that God has a plan for us. When difficult things come, everything. This phrase/song was a comfort to my heart during hard things this past year.
First God. Then family. My family plays an important role in my life. We think that both men and women have the same opportunity. We don’t have the same capacities, but that’s what makes us a team. The attitudes of one are reversed in the other. When those are united, we get to be something strong and powerful. That’s how we would advance.
I’m very fluent in Spanish, and I’m learning English. I am going to the Adult EL classes through CER! I like the classes. It helps me to learn more phrases. The people have a lot of patience to teach. They are very friendly. We want our daughter, Emma, to learn Spanish as her first language. She was born in Ecuador. We show her music, photos, and food because we want her to know about her home country Ecuador. A tradition we want to make for our family is that the entire family gets together at least once a year.
Christmas is important to me! The other holidays seem smaller. We put up a Christmas tree and lights. New Years is another big holiday. Birthdays, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Children’s Day are also important to us.
My favorite food is sushi! If I get a chance to try new foods, I always want to! A typical meal in Venezuela would be pabellon (rice, meat, black beans, plantains). Arepas. There are so many types of arepas. Reina Pepiada (one arepa with cheese, avocado, chicken), La catira arepa (yellow cheese), Arepa Domino (black beans and white cheese), Arepa Gringa (it’s like a hamburger arepa with tomato, lettuce, cheese). There are so many! There are also empanadas, la cachapas, drinks like (chicha), sopa de costilla with a lot of meat. The people love meat.
We have never experienced racism or discrimination at all. When we moved through countries, the representation of Venezuela in conversations, news, and social media was negative overall. They would say Venezuelans steal, Venezuelans are assassins, Venezuelans are protesting because the US government isn’t helping the situation enough. There are good and bad people everywhere. There are good Venezuelans and bad Venezuelans. That is the reality.
Honestly, I’m not sure what can be done to improve that. The opportunity to get to know and meet someone that is different from you is so beautiful. It is beautiful to see someone who is excited to know you and what makes you different. Taking the opportunity to help others is really important.
When I can’t understand English, I try to learn and listen when people are speaking. I try to read the emotions and feel the language. If all fails, I turn to Google and I say to people ‘I speak a little English’. When people slow down and use easier words to understand, that is really beautiful. It shows that the other person truly wants to communicate with me.
The biggest challenge right now is learning English. If I have determination, it will be really useful in my future. The greatest challenge of my life is being a mother. It’s very frustrating. Every day my daughter is growing and learning new things. She is constantly doing new things. She is my biggest challenge right now. Each person in my family inspires me in a unique way. Each one of them affects me in a distinct way. They remind me that I can improve. My proudest accomplishment is having the family that I have now, despite many situations we didn’t know we would overcome.
My passion right now is discovering who I am. My values are respect, loyalty, love, compromise, and responsibility.
My dream is to help and change the lives of others. My hope for this community is that we can leave a mark on the lives of others and help people.