My best friend Eli is from Cuba. She came to NJ when she was 4 yrs old, in ’72 or so. She has told me she remembers very little. When I visit with her, I love to talk with her mami who tells me what it was like back then, how difficult it was to leave family; one story that sticks out in particular is one where she tells me how she and her husband were separated for a long while so that he could work in the fields and she at a local school. They weren’t asked – they were told. Eli’s mom & dad, well they just about pour forth with both happy and sad stories of Cuba. I love to listen.

My Eli sometimes shrugs this past aside, she’s not one for dwelling on past injustices. But every now and then, we talk about how things are in other countries because of where our students are from (we’re both bilingual teachers) and there is where I see the Cubanita come out, understanding, and remembering perhaps “como son las cosas”…
Cassy´s last [fabulousness] ..Book Giveaway! Sisters- Strangers- and Starting Over

My paternal grandmother is an Austrian Jew, and she was part of something similar called the “Kindertransport”. At the start of World War II, many Jewish parents became worried for their children and so they sent them off to live with unknown Christian foster families in England so that the children would avoid the concentration camps. I can’t imagine how scary such a situation would be for both parent and child.
Tracy´s last [fabulousness] ..Mexican Tortas de Jamón