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| Last Update: August, 1998
A House Made by "So Many Hands"
The Hernandez Family
by Laura Duncan, Volunteer
Life for the Hernandez family has never been easy. They've endured many difficult
times and faced many challenges in their struggle to lift themselves out of poverty.
There have been many times when they were discouraged and wanted to give up.
But with faith, love, hard work, a sense of humor, and a belief that a better life for
their children is possible, Roberto and Magda Hernandez are slowly watching their
plans come together and their dreams come true. It's "thanks to God and Habitat,"
Roberto tells me as we sit on the front porch of their nearly completed South Park
home. After seven years of working with Habitat, they'll be moving out of their two
bedroom rental house and into a home of their own. "Other people's love,"
Roberto explains, "has made our dream come true."
Roberto and Magda started their life together in northern Mexico where she was
an elementary school teacher and he had a government job as a telegraph
operator. Economic problems in Mexico made life difficult; their combined
incomes were around $60 a month, not enough to make ends meet for their young
family. Several times Roberto was able to take a two to three month leave of
absence from his office job and his family to do the backbreaking work of a
migrant farm worker in the United States. Virtually all his wages were sent to
Magda and their two children, Magda Berenice and Roberto, Jr., who stayed in
Mexico. When the opportunity came for Roberto to legalize his status here, he quit
his job in Mexico and stayed. Magda's first application for a visa to join him was
rejected, but after a lot of wrangling and a stressful trip north, the family was finally
reunited.
Without the exchange rate to stretch Roberto's salary, the $5.75 an hour he was
making was not enough for a family of four in the United States. They had to live in
a tiny apartment in a dangerous neighborhood where Magda was once threatened
by a man with a huge butcher knife in his hand that she saw out their window.
Their daughter had to be walked back and forth to the elementary school where
she was the only Spanish speaking child with no language support. Magda had no
work permit, and after ten years as an elementary school teacher, she had nothing
to do. She couldn't speak English and felt lost and confused in a new culture. She
felt isolated, frustrated, angry, and afraid for her children. Within six months, they
were back in Mexico living with relatives.
Roberto was not ready to give up on his dream and after another six months
returned to the U.S., managing to find a house in Renton in a safer neighborhood
and a different school district. He did construction work during the day and
worked as a proof operator for US Bank at night, which meant that there was
more money coming in, even if he was exhausted most of the time. Roberto, Jr.
was able to go to Headstart and school was easier for Magda Berenice there. The
language and culture here were still problems, but life started to seem a little more
normal. Before long, their daughter Jacqueline was born.
When Jacqueline was three, Magda began studying English through the Renton
School District's Even Start Program and eventually began working for the district
as a teacher's aide and translator. Around the same time, Roberto, who had
worked as a roofer, fish processor, handyman, and window installer among other
jobs, decided to go back to school to work toward a stable career his family
could depend on. He studied technical and light refrigeration at Renton Vocational
& Technical Institute, beginning the program at the bottom of his class and
graduating number one. He now works in his field at Acco, expecting to make a
good salary as a journeyman in five years.
Now the Hernandez family faces a different set of challenges with both parents
working and the children growing up. "When you're poor," Roberto tells me, "you
have to be organized." Roberto finds it difficult to always have to tell his children
that he doesn't have the money to do or buy the things they'd like, but he tells them
to be patient and their economic situation will improve. It's important to find a
balance between materialism and spirituality, he believes, and the most important
thing is that the children are rich in education, love, and support. Roberto grew up
in a farm village in extreme poverty: he wore his first pair of shoes at the age of
fourteen and some days had nothing to eat. But his father always made it clear that
the most important thing was to be together and be thankful for the things they did
have. They were a happy family.
The Hernandez children now are aged 16, 12 and 6 and their parents are very
proud of the way they've turned out. They have an agreement between them to
"show the American people that they can be good citizens and create
productivity." America has given them the opportunity to be better human beings,
Roberto tells me, and they'll "grow up together and make a good nation." Magda
delivers a daily lecture to her children, she laughingly says, "always the same song"
about not taking the easy way through life, but following what's inside them. She
asks the children if they ever get tired of it. "Well…sometimes," they tell her.
"That's O.K.," she tells them, "I get tired of hearing it myself." Five years ago
Magda founded a Mexican folk dancing and culture group to help the children stay
in touch with their cultural heritage. Now everyone in the family dances, even
Roberto, and Magda is their instructor.
When the family heard about Habitat, they couldn't believe that such an
organization could exist. Magda filled out the application forms never believing
they'd lead to anything. But now they talk about moving day with excitement and
anticipation, and even a little fear. Magda is determined to keep the house
immaculate. Roberto talks of planting fruit trees. Magda Berenice plans to spend
the whole first day there in her bedroom, luxuriating in having her own room for the
first time in her life. They're all looking forward to being a part of the South Park
community, especially seeing how all of the children there will interact. It will be
exciting to live in a house made by "so many hands," a happy time. "Habitat makes
so many people happy because it's based in love," Roberto says, "Thanks for
making our dream come true." "God bless all of the people who work with
Habitat," Magda adds, "Thanks, thanks, and thanks."
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