A young women leaves happiness and friends behind to live with her husband in Philadelphia

Interviewee: Maria Mercedes Roldan
Interviewer: Angel Rosario Rivera Jr.
Relationship: grandmother
Date: April 10, 2000
 

What is your full name?

My name is Maria Mercedes Roldan

What is your nationality?

I am Puerto Rican

What is your date of birth?

I was born on August 12, 1942

Where were you born?

I was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico

When did you (move to the U.S./move from somewhere else in the U.S.) to Philadelphia?

I left Puerto Rico to come to Philadelphia in the year of 1957

Why did you leave your country/State/former place of residence?

The reason I left Puerto Rico was that I had recently gotten married, and my husband was moving to Philadelphia, and I came with him to start a new life.

What did you like/dislike about your home/country?

What I liked about Puerto Rico was that all my relatives were living there, I grew up there, the warm tropical weather, the scenery, and the schooling. What I didn't like about Puerto Rico was that times was really hard to make a living. The jobs were hard to get, and if you have gotten a job it would only be temporary. I also didn't like the way I had to live in the same house with my husband's family. And I hated the tropical storms, they were very destructive and they always left a lot of people homeless, because the houses were very cheap (in material wise).

Why did you choose Philadelphia/U.S?

I didn't choose Philadelphia, my husband chose Philadelphia because he already had family residing in Philadelphia.

How did you travel here?/What type of transportation did you use/take to travel here? How would you change that?

I came here by a airplane. Yes I would have came by boat

How did you find a place to live in Philadelphia?

We had a place to live in Philadelphia because my husband's relative had already found a place for us to reside.

With whom did you travel? [Who did you travel with?]

I traveled with my husband.

Give 1 thing you remember most about your home town and why?

I would always remember my relatives the most, because they were a part of me, I grew up with them, and the way they did things in Puerto Rico.

How did your life change when you moved and what were the differences between the two places?

My life changed: now I was on my own, with only my husband.
The differences between Puerto Rico and Philadelphia was that in Puerto Rico I had all my relatives, I knew how to get around and the places were familiar to me. In Philadelphia I only had my husband and his aunt. I didn't know how to travel, I didn't know nobody living in Philadelphia, and I couldn't speak English. The weather was totally different to me, I wasn't use to the cold or the snow.

What did you expect about the US/Philadelphia?

I had expected more job opportunities and steady work, and to find a place to reside without being overcrowded.

What did you come here to accomplish and what else do you feel you still need to do?

My husband and I accomplished of raising a family of seven kids, also to give them a good education. We bought a house and my husband learned the English language, while I just understood a little.

What are the differences between when you came here and now?

When I came, it was just me and my husband, I didn't know nobody except my husband's aunt, and I didn't know how to travel, I didn't own anything, and I couldn't speak or understand the English language until the year of 1992.
Now I have a family of seven, I have a lot of lovely grandchildren, I learned how to travel, and now I understand a little bit of English but I still can not speak it. I was also able to help bring more of our relatives from both sides of our family to Philadelphia from Puerto Rico. And I also owned a house.

What did you sacrifice/leave behind when you left?

When I left Puerto Rico, I sacrificed my family, my ways of living. The place where I was born and raised, and my education.

What problems did you encounter coming to the US/Philadelphia?

The main problem for me was not knowing anyone, and not knowing the English language or knowing how to travel around Philadelphia.

How much money did you have and where did you get it when you came to Philadelphia/US?

My husband and I came to Philadelphia with very little money that we saved from working in Puerto Rico. When we came to Philadelphia my husband's family had a job ready for him at the Berkeley Hotel as a chef.

How did you adapt to your new environment?

It was very hard for me to adapt at first, but when the births of the children started, they kept me busy raising them while my husband worked. I had to take the children to appointments, shopping, school, and other places that made me adapt to Philadelphia a lot quicker.

Why do you think it was worth all your changes?

I think it was worth all my changes because the ways of living were better in Philadelphia, than it was in Puerto Rico. There were more job opportunities and better housing in Philadelphia.

What education did you have before/after you arrived?

In Puerto Rico I went to school until the sixth grade, and when we got to Philadelphia I couldn't finish my schooling because I was busy raising my children.

Do you [ever] regret moving? Why or why not?

Yes and No.
Yes, because Puerto Rico was where I was born and raised, my family was there, and the tropical island was so beautiful for me.
No, because it was difficult to raise a family, or to find a place to live, and most of all there were not too many job opportunities, and if you had a job it was not steady.

What reason would/could make you go back to where you came from?

I always said that if I had enough money I would go back to my homeland of Puerto Rico, also if I had a steady job, and a place of my own.

Describe your first job here. If you didn't have one, how did you get money?

I never worked in Philadelphia. My husband provided for everything.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I always said that anyone who is leaving their homeland should always try to finish their education, and learn the second language first, if needed.

Angel R. Rivera Jr. 4/10/2000 This interview is in memory of my grandmother
who passed away in August of 1992.
This interview is also dedicated to my mother
Nereida Rivera, who provided most of the information
in this interview.