My journey from Ecuador

Material Information

Title:
My journey from Ecuador
Series Title:
Immigrant Voices: New to Middlesex County
Alternate Title:
Interview with Patricia Cunningham
Creator:
Cunningham, Monika ( Interviewer )
Cunningham, Patricia ( Interviewee )
Espinoza-Wulach, Cristóbal ( advisor )
Place of Publication:
Edison, NJ
Publisher:
Middlesex College
Publication Date:
Copyright Date:
2021
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Ecuadorian Americans -- New Jersey -- Middlesex County
Immigrants -- United States ( lcsh )
Middlesex County (N.J.) -- history
Genre:
oral histories ( lcsh )
Temporal Coverage:
Fall 2021 ( - 2021 )
Spatial Coverage:
New Jersey -- Middlesex County

Notes

Summary:
The interview covers Patricia Cunningham's experience from moving to the United States after living in Ecuador for 21 years. We discuss the hardships she faced of coming to a new country and trying to fit in, but also the happiness and feelings of relief she felt when she finally achieved what she wanted. ( ,,,,,, )
Scope and Content:
This is a transcript of an oral history interview that took place as part of the class projects for Middlesex College's History 221H class in the Fall of 2021.
Biographical:
(Biographical) My name is Patricia and I am originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador. I moved to the United States when I was 21 years old to live with my older sister, Maggie after my mother died. I still have 4 other siblings that were left behind because all of them had started their families and did not have the ability to leave. When I got here the cultural difference was very difficult to become accustomed to. I arrived in the United States in June of 1987 and my older sister put me into an ESL class immediately (September of that year) and I actually started learning English at middlesex community college for two years. It was very easy and I learned a lot, but it was still difficult to learn English because I needed to practice in an out of classroom setting. Although I never completed a degree, I did finish my ESL. I had to look over my sister’s kids for five years. In 1991, my sister moved to Florida with her kids and I stayed on my own, along with my sister, in New Jersey. I got a small job at a fastfood, but I did not feel accomplished and I hated it because I went from being educated in Ecuador now I had to start all over. A year after that, I met my husband, Christopher, who helped me improve my English and a couple years later we got married and started a family. I had two daughters, Monika and Jordan. I applied for my U.S citizenship a few years after, so I can visit my family without any trouble. I have been living happily in the United States ever since.

Record Information

Source Institution:
Middlesex College
Holding Location:
Middlesex College
Rights Management:
This item is licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivative License. This license allows others to download this work and share them with others as long as they mention the author and link back to the author, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.