By Laura ONeill
Spring 2007 Kaplan Award Winner
The first time I met Rocio Contreras I was waiting to begin my first shift at a new job, a café downtown that is owned by a large corporation. I got there 20 minutes early and as I sat in the early morning light, I felt too anxious to be tired. A few minutes after eight a young woman with a tan complexion and black, unruly curls tied tightly back, hurried in. She was shoving her purse into one of the cabinets behind the counter when she spotted me. Her face drew her mouth into a wide smile, and in a thick accent she asked if I was Laura. Immediately after I began talking with her I felt comfortable. She was my new supervisor and I was already thankful for this stroke of good luck. She had an air of quiet charm and sincerity that I recognized even that first day. As we carefully placed pastries onto plates, Rocio took a warm cinnamon twist and animatedly told me how good they were, offering me a half as she chewed a bite herself.
Rocio is from Suchitoto, El Salvador. She was born 30 years ago into a civil war that lasted until 1992. Her childhood memories consist of playing with dolls juxtaposed with the sound of gunfire from the rebels that surrounded her town. She and her brothers or friends would run into their home to hide under their beds if the shots sounded near. They became so used to this Rocio said it felt like a game and when the war finally ended the sound of gunfire was almost missed.
The Salvadoran Civil War was a part of the Cold War. It was responsible for killing 75,000 civilians by the time it reached its conclusion in 1992. In 1980 violence escalated between the right-wing government of El Salvador and a coalition of leftist and communist forces called the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL). The United States backed the Salvadoran government and the Soviets supported the guerilla insurgency.
The assassination of the Archbishop of San Salvador, Óscar Romero, in 1980 sparked the beginning of the war. Romero, a high-profile critic of the military dictatorship, had publicly urged the U.S. government not to provide military support to the Salvadoran government. Agents of the government killed him while he was officiating mass on March 24. A massacre occurred at his funeral, and 42 people were killed. It was at this time that the groups that would form the FMNL officially came together.
The FMNL trained men and women, adults and children in camps they had established in the outlying jungles and mountains. Government Military bombed the countryside killing thousands. Elections were attempted several times over the course of ten years, but none were successful. The war waned and resurged until 1991 when a truce was declared. In 1992 the FMNL became a legitimate political party, a new constitution was enacted and a civil police force was created. Although the war was over, violence within the city continued to exist for years, especially in the form of street gangs. Rocio commented on the gangs that were in Suchitoto and are there today, 15 years after the war has ended.
Urged by a friend working for the Peace Corps, Rocio applied for a visa to live in the United States. This seemed like a far reach to the working class young woman. She knew that visas were difficult to come by and had heard true stories that even the rich applied and were rejected. Despite this, she went to the Embassy and as she puts it, “got lucky.” Although she speaks of her visa acceptance as lucky, it is typical of her personal way of making light of things that are not. Beyond applying for a working visa for the United States through the embassy as Rocio did, there are also lottery systems in place that accept applicants at random. These systems crowd immigrants onto boats in questionable states for days. One of Rocio’s brothers, Rony who now works at Il Fornaio, came to the United States in this manner. He tells the story of how he was chosen with a friend, who later attempted to steal his wallet while he was asleep. These conditions are characteristic of what people immigrating in this way go through to reach the United States.
When Rocio arrived in Seattle the friends she knew living in the city assisted her in obtaining a job at Il Fornaio. Her knowledge of the English language was only what she had learned in school and through English-speaking friends she had made in Suchitoto. However, her ability to speak the language and the desire to learn it fluently made it easy for her to function at Il Fornaio. She describes her first manager as “weird.” Rocio was bussing then and says he was more than reluctant to move her to a different position. “He didn’t want to give me the chance to do something else.” Her voice lingers slightly on the word chance and for a moment there is a hurt in her eyes. She notes this quickly and moves the conversation to where she is now, in a supervising position.
Her current boss, Lynda Schumacher, views Rocio in stark contrast to her former manager. She has worked with Rocio since she started and was aware of the injustice being played out in her first year working at the restaurant. Schumacher says she saw the frustration Rocio had over not being given a chance to do something more. Although advancing Rocio to a higher position was brought up several times with the manager then, she said there always seemed to be a new excuse. It was only after this boss left that Rocio was able to move up within the company and ultimately land the position of authority she now has.
Schumacher will talk at length about Rocio’s uniquely positive outlook in the face of adversity. “She’s a very genuine person. She’s just great to be around; she’s got something about her…that energy.” She speaks of her “persona of warmth” and ironically how being from a different country makes many people drawn to her. I see this in the number of regular customers that know Rocio by name and will come with gifts for her or her year old twins. People waiting in line to purchase their morning coffees will often forego the opportunity to pay at another register so they are able to spend a few a minutes talking with Rocio. They politely smile and wave their hands, urging the person behind them to go ahead. Schumacher also points out her want to help and more fully understand others who have immigrated because of knowing Rocio.
Rocio is one of many that have immigrated to the United States in an effort to create something more than is offered in their home countries for themselves and their families. There is opportunity here that is not available in poor countries such as El Salvador that have been riddled with civil war. This chance to do more is not taken lightly with most of this background. Even after the war has ended cities are left in a state that is less than desirable. The poverty that pervades these towns leaves little option for those who dwell in it. Those like Rocio who receive an education are not rewarded in the same way university graduates in the United States are. Although Rocio held a teaching job in El Salvador, it paid very little and she makes much more doing what she does now in Seattle. The desire for people in these positions to come to the United States is more than understandable.
Yet legislation to deport illegal immigrants or those whose working visas have expired continues to occur. In 2003, President Bush proposed a guest worker plan to allow immigrants to enter the country to fill the jobs that would otherwise go unfilled. In 2004, this plan was put on the shelf as the war in Iraq took the spotlight. When this guest worker plan made its way to Congress in 2005 it was rejected and Republicans pushed instead for the heavy handed deportation of all illegal immigrants. Today the government is still negotiating what to do in regard to immigration law. It is a topic that is at the lips of all presidential candidates and each has his or her personal idea on what should be done. Meanwhile immigrant families are being severed as members are sent back to their countries.
Rocio now has permanent legal status in the United States. Her story is not far from the background many immigrants, legal or not, come from. Yet it is uniquely hers and what she has gained from her experience is evident in her manner. She is quick to tease those who she knows can take it. She is first to take the time to ask how you are doing in the midst of a busy work day and quiet about her own problems. It is easy to appreciate Rocio for these small things and nothing else.