Advocacy Through Storytelling
“To buy food, you had to wait and wake up at maybe 4-5am, and go to a supermarket that might have food that will arrive, and wait for 6 hours maybe to buy a packet of sugar, or only a packet of flour, or maybe oil, or maybe soup. It was not a life.”
“You become a refugee to survive and live. I left to live.”
Pavel was the most recent guest speaker for Washington & Jefferson’s “Refugee Voices” conversation series. Pavel was spirited, witty, and insightful, and shared with us an intimate story about his experience of living in Venezuela and his journey to find safety and a new life in Argentina.
Singer, actor, model, and entrepreneur, Eugenia Forteza is a beautiful and charming young Argentinian-French woman living in New York City. Although she is a super busy and an extremely accomplished artist, Eugenia Forteza took time out of her day to share with me her story of immigration to the United States from Argentina, and spoke about the powerful multicultural aspect of opera in her life. Described as a “total diva on stage,” by Mario Arevalo, I was delighted and humbled that Eugenia shared her warm personality and enthusiasm for music with me.
A forward on Walter Angus Li’s story by his son, Steven Li.
“As a child of an immigrant, learning about my parent’s life when they were young is a fascinating topic. From the cultural differences to the varying lifestyle they grew up in, you get to learn that life can be harder than you think, or it can be easier than you think. Being able to travel and see where my parents grew up is an eye-opening experience that many people do not get the chance to have. Understanding that they had a different childhood and being able to see the struggles that they had growing up makes me appreciate all the hard work that they have accomplished in their life.“
Juan Couso was truly the most genuine person I met at W&J campus, graduating this past May 2020. Before I even knew Juan, he was instantly kind and caring towards me. We trained to be first year student mentors together, and I soon realized that Juan possessed a rare gift of making anyone feel loved and appreciated instantaneously. Throughout the school year, he would always ask me how I was doing, offer me a hug if I was having a rough day, and say “you’ve got this.” Juan has overcome racial stereotypes, the difficulties of cultural assimilation, and is still figuring out the broad spectrum of his migrant identity. However, his inspirational story of migrating to the United States is one of resilience, adaptability, and triumph. In Juan’s own words, “I want to tell people about my experiences. I’m an immigrant too. I was able to graduate from college and high school. If I can do it, you can do it.”
Continue reading “From Colombia to Spain to the United States – Juan Couso”