Tortillas In El Salvador

Tamales: History, Regional Differences, and Family Cultural Interpretations Introduction: Tradition has been said to mirror a way of life. Observation has concluded that participants in tradition “actively construct as well as reflect culture and community” (Sacks 275). For most people in the 21st century, tradition only reveals itself during special times or certain seasons. For others it is simply a way of life. The foodways of Mexicans and Native Americans are of particular interest in this study because of the food that grew from necessity and is maintained as sacred or reserved for only special occasions. The tamale is one such food. Significantly changed and altered throughout history it has remained a

My grandmother was born in Guatemala into a struggling family of seven. In Guatemala, kids are often forced to leave school and start working to help provide for their family´s food and shelter. Similarly, my grandmother was not able to complete her education. Instead, she had to take care of her siblings, providing for their basic needs. As she grew up, she had three kids, including my father, and needed to find a way to give them a better life.

Many of us Mexican immigrants believe in a better life, Where there is hope, Where there is a chance to start a new life. But many of us will never be able to experience that “American dream”. Luckily, I am one of few who escaped from the life of depression and desperation. I remember my mom telling me every day, “Ivan you have to work hard to get what you want in life. Usted tiene que trabajar duro para conseguir lo que quiere en la vida mijo”. When I would listen to the misfortune of the people from my city, it would motivate me even more into reaching my goal. I was tired of living a life where there was people with broken hearts everywhere I go. Tired of the disappointment. I couldn’t take it anymore. At the point, I had to leave.

Enrique: Poverty and Oppression Enrique’s Journey focuses and sheds more light and understanding on the aspects and challenges of extreme poverty, family abandonment, systematic issues of an immigration system and what one has to go through in the face of adversity. The book centers on Enrique who starts out as a young boy living in extreme poverty in Honduras with his family. Enrique is an older adolescent, Hispanic, poverty economic status, unemployed most times, and is in a relationship with one child. This case study will further look at Enrique’s personal experiences from a young child up to young adulthood and how that has shaped his development has a person from coming from such difficult environmental circumstances. This will also look at the different environmental perspectives in the micro, mezzo and macro level when pertaining to effects on human behavior.

People in Central America especially, long to have their basic necessities met. Visiting Guatemala and Mexico at the age of ten was a hard site to see. Kids walking on the street barefoot not because they wanted to, but they had no money to buy shoes. Making their dirty feet ache at night. Wearing the same clothes full of filth because they could not afford to buy clothes and soap. Parents struggling to provide for their family. They would often sent their child to school without lunch, making it hard for the student to concentrate at school. Any little money counts and they would make it last. Yet they were so welcoming and loving to guest. They had nothing to offer but the little they had they would offer. Family’s full of frustration and no hope turn to the journey of going to “el Norte”. Hoping to have a better life and help their family improve their social status.

Imagine living in a country where you know you could die at any moment but don’t know how much longer till it happens. That was how much of the population of El Salvador used to feel when the government could not control the big coffee corporations. These out of control

Sonia Nazario composes the story of a boy named Enrique. His life changes when his mother leaves him and his sister in Honduras as she travels to America to make a better life for herself and send money back to them. Enrique does not understand why his mother left him;

Esperanza Rising Essay Have you ever struggled so much, that you just want to give up? Well, a lot of Immigrants had this problem, and constantly they had to say, “ Don’t be afraid to start over.” and the Immigrants did. Esperanza Ortega from Pam Munzos Ryan’s Esperanza Rising, has to say this too. Esperanza had to leave her rich, Mexican, home (because of a fire), and and had to move to California as an Immigrant. While Esperanza began life with no worries, as she got older, she had to deal with strikers, and her deadly Mama’s sickness.

“ I pledge allegiance to flag of the United States of America …” Esperanza, held her head high up with honor, and as she laid her right hand across her chest she could feel her heart racing with hope. The vied red and white stripes painted rays of joy inside

Throughout reading the book “Undocumented: A Dominican Boy Odyssey” one situation that caught my eye exceptionally would be page 34, where he was explaining the situation where his mother didn’t want any other family members to acknowledge the struggle that she had to go through. Reason why she didn’t want her children to mention the situation they’re in would be that she doesn’t want to receive any sort of pity, questions or help. Yando’s mother is a strong independent woman who is not only capable of providing for her family without anyone else’s help but she knows it too. This struck me because my mother is as strong as the Yando’s mother. She does her best to provide for us even if times were tough. As I was younger, I didn’t understand

From a very young age, I contended with countless setbacks, but the vitality placed on our income at home was the leading factor to my family’s problems. I remember when my parents chose to buy me a new pair of running shoes over paying the electricity bill or when they

A young child with lifeless wide eyes, teeters on broomstick legs, which are little more than skin stretched over bones, her ribs protruding as her emaciated arms hold a mud pie that she sits chewing on desperately trying to stave off the pangs of hunger. In most of the world

The author Sonia Nazario goes on this journey to get the feel of what immigrants do in the real world. She wrote this story that way us readers understand the struggles immigrants go through daily. United States citizens do not realize there is a growing number of immigrants daily. Enrique’s mother Lourdes left him at such a young age with a lot of responsibilities, that children should not have to worry about. Lourdes wanted nothing but the best for her children, therefore she traveled all the way to the United States, that way she could make a lot of money to support her children. As a mother she did not want her kids to have the life she did. Throughout Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, the author includes emotional and logical appeals, accurately supported by statistics and personal accounts that give perspectives on the same issue of immigration and Enrique living without his

You don’t know what you have unto is gone. Arroz con habichuela (rice and beans) is a meal of value and simplicity that you don’t may eating every day. This is a meal that I would often cook home to perfectly cooked by my, mother. Yet I came home, one

The history of El Salvador begins with the time period in which indigenous peoples resided in the country. According to Roy Poland, in Culture and Customs of El Salvador, El Salvador was conquered by the Spanish in 1524; the spanish found the country was divided into three states (13). The spaniards hegemonic influence finally converted El Salvador into a Spanish colony after twenty six years of indigenous resistance(Poland 14). Such conquest brought violence, diseases, and poverty to the indigenous people. The invasion of El Salvador by the Spanish also resulted in mestizaje, racial mixing. The colonial period lasted until 1821(Poland 14). El Salvador finally became independent from Spain in 1821 and joined the United Provinces of Central America in 1823; however, in 1840 El Salvador gained full independence (Eileen Garron Batres 6), One of the most important crops in El Salvador during the 1800’s and 1900’s was coffee; during the 1900’s El Salvador was the third largest coffee producer internationally (Susan B. Hecht).