Mi abuelita

Let me tell you about my abuelita. She’s 78 years old now. She lives in Nueba Yol (New York) most of the year, but she’s been here visiting since November and plans to leave in April. I’ve had a lot of time to talk with her and have learned a lot about her and about the DR from her. She’s a pretty cool lady so I want to share with you what I’ve learned about her.

Trujillo came into power when she was 3 months old. She was the second child, she had one older sister. Her mother was a teacher and played the guitar and piano. Her father was a police chief. She met Trujillo when she was 7 years old. He gave them food and clothing and she thought he was very nice. When she was 9 her mother died at the age of 34. She stopped going to school after her mother died. Her father remarried and had 6 children with his second wife who my abuelita says was a bad woman and didn’t treat her and her sister well. She got married at age 15 to a man she thought would let her go back to school but he didn’t treat her well and wouldn’t let her go back to school. She had 6 children with him before they divorced. She remembers when Trujillo was killed. She was 28 years old and she says she cried and cried because he had been nice to her when she met him and she hadn’t heard any of the bad things that he had done. She heard about all those things after his death, and was surprised but came to believe it. She remarried after her divorce and had six more children. Her oldest daughter died in her 50s. 8 of her children still live in the DR and 3 live in New York. At the age of 65 she moved to New York where she ran a daycare from her home for many years. She got her permanent resident status 3 years ago. Since she has her permanent resident status she can only come back and visit the DR for less than 6 months at a time, although she says she would rather be here than in the United States, but she doesn’t want to lose her permanent resident status.

Will be in touch again soon! Lots of love to all!