The Sunshine Bridge

EE: Welcome to The Sunshine Bridge, a show which shares the different perspectives and stories of those who live and work in Louisiana and highlights those who better their community. I’m Elizabeth Eads.

Sometimes all it takes is a smile, a few kind words, or maybe a light-hearted conversation to make your day better. If you know Marisol Ramos of Baton Rouge, you know all too well how uplifting and important such actions can be.

She’s resided in Louisiana for 27 years, arriving here after fleeing Cuba during the 1994 Cuban Immigration Crisis. Following political unrest within her country, the subsequent escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, a mass exodus out of Cuba was taking place. Marisol and her family were among the 32,000 refugees that found themselves at Guantanamo Bay awaiting the chance to leave Cuba for a life in the United States.

She shared with me some of her experience in her migration and how she and her family have built their life here in the States.
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MR: My husband and my two daughters and twenty more people in the boat. For four days we stayed in the sea. And then we came to Grand Cayman. Cayman?

EE: Uh-huh. Grand Cayman Islands.

MR: We stayed there in the refuge for three and a half months, and then we had to come into Guantanamo Bay because President Clinton in 1994, he said the Cuban people was there in Cayman need to go to Guantanamo Bay to come into the United States.

EE: Uh-huh.

MR: And then we fly to…they put the flight and everything for the every Cuban people want to go to Guantanamo Bay, and then we stayed there in Guantanamo Bay for four and a half months.

EE: What was it like while you were there for four and a half months? At the refuge?

MR: Good. It was okay. It was better, a lot better than Grand Cayman because Grand Cayman was not really…it was okay….

EE: It’s really small there.

MR: Yeah. More uncomfortable. And Guantanamo Bay was already an American place. You know? The marines was so nice with everybody. So nice. Sweet.

EE: So, like, I’ve been to Grand Cayman once, and it was really expensive. Did you find it that way compared to Cuba at that time or like, how was it as far as paying for things? Was it more expensive?

MR: No, no, no. We don’t need to pay for nothing in Grand Cayman either.

EE: Okay. Because of refuge.

MR: Was refuge. Yes.

EE: Okay.

MR: They give you the food for everybody, but sometimes it was not really fresh food. And Guantanamo Bay, it was better, yeah, a lot better.

EE: Okay. How many people were there in Guantanamo Bay?

MR: Yeah, 32,000 Cuban people when we get there.

EE: And everybody there was waiting to….

MR: Uh-huh. To come in here to this country.

EE: Okay. Okay. Wow. You had to wait four and a half months. What did you do during that time? How did you reach the point where they said, “Okay. Now you can go.”?

MR: Yeah. We was in the tent.

EE: The tent?

MR: Yes. Like, fifteen people in one tent.

EE: Okay.

MR: Sleeping in the cartres. ¿Cómo se dice…?

EE: ¿Qué tipo de…?

MR: Lo que usan los militares. The military people….

EE: Oh, like a cot?

MR: Yes.

EE: A cot.

MR: In the daytime, they have a church. There are some classes for learning English, and we stayed there….

EE: Four and a half months.

MR: For four and a half months. They give you the food. The military food, you know?

EE: The MRE’s?

MR: The marine’s food where they put it….

EE: It’s in like a packet or whatever?

MR: Yes.

EE: Uh-huh. Yeah, those are MRE’s. Yeah.

MR: I like it! I used to like it! (laughs)

EE: (laughs) Yeah.

MR: I like that food(laughs).

EE: Yeah(laughs).

MR: And fruit. We have fruit. We have… you know, it’s an American place. They have a lot of different good food to eat(laughs).

EE: Right. Right. Right. So, how was it that it was decided that it was your turn to come to the United States? Because you had to wait. There were 32,000 people.
MR: Oh yes. Yeah. Every day they interviewed a lot of families. Maybe 100 families. Every day. And they do the blood tests and everything. And that day they say, “Okay. In two weeks, you’re ready to go.” Every day it’s a different flight to Miami. Because it was 32,000 people there.

EE: Right.

MR: And finally they say…June 4, 1995, we fly to Miami.

EE: To Miami. And you were telling me that they gave priority to certain people.

MR: Oh yes. For older people, like 70-, 65-year-olds, 70 or 80. And if they’re diseased, if they have a disease or something, they…and babies. Little….

EE: You had two babies with you when you were there.

MR: My older daughter, she was seven, seven years old, and the baby, Yuri, was when we escaped from Cuba, she was six months. In that time when we came, because in Grand Cayman we stayed 3 and a half months, and then we came to Guantanamo Bay, Yuri was already a year old when we fly to Miami.

EE: Right. Okay. And so you got on the plane, and you came to Miami. What did you think of Miami and the U.S. when you got here?

MR: We’re so happy. We said, “Oh! We’re happy with the freedom!” (laughs)

EE: Yeah(laughs).

MR: And we like it here.

EE: Uh-huh. But you didn’t stay in Miami.

MR: Only one week. Only one week, and then we came to the Immigration. They bring a bus, and picked me up and my husband and my children to go to the Immigration Office, and they say they thinking about bringing us to Oregon(laughs).

EE: To Oregon? Yeah. Wow.

MR: Oregon. And my husband say, “Oh no! But that is in the North!” And he don’t want to go there because he knows with the snow and the cold weather, we’re not used to live in the cold weather. And he says, “It’s better in the South where I can work better every day.” Because he has to…the family, the children.

EE: Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah.

MR: And that’s why we came to Louisiana, Baton Rouge.

EE: Okay. And so then you got to Louisiana. I guess, maybe what were your first impressions of Louisiana when you got here?

MR: I like it here.

EE: Because it’s really different from Miami.

MR: Yeah, but you know, because we only stay one week in Miami in the visiting house. Only one week. But we like. And my husband say they say if we want to stay in Miami, and my husband say, “No.” Because he came to this country, and he would like to learn more English. He liked….

EE: So he wanted the experience. He said, “I want to try this out.”

MR: Yeah. Yeah. Because he said he came to the United States. And he want to learn English. If we stayed in Miami, it’s difficult because there everybody speaks Spanish.

EE: Right. Right.

MR: And that why we decide to come to the South.

EE: And so you came to Louisiana, and what was your first job here?

MR: Doing baby-sitting for the lady…they have the business of flooring. My husband started working with his company.

EE: Right. And so what did he do when he was in Cuba? What did you both do when you were in Cuba?

MR: I was doing nails, and my husband was a fotografo.

EE: Okay, but whenever he got here, he wasn’t doing photography anymore.

MR: No. Because the English for him, it was so difficult…. He decided to look for another….

EE: What type of photography was it that he doing?

MR: Like weddings, birthday parties….

EE: So, the first job that you had was babysitting, but you’re doing nails now. So, can you tell me a little bit about how it happened that you would up doing nails again.

MR: Oh yeah. I went to the school of cosmetology in 1997 because I thinking- I want to do nails again here(laughs).

EE: Uh-huh.

MR: And then for the school one year. And then I’m having my license, and I started working in the salon for nine years.

EE: Okay. And why didn’t you do nails when you first got here?

MR: Because I know I need to go to the school for my license. I don’t want to start with no license. I don’t want to start it with no license. Because I want to go to the salon, working in the salon first.

EE: Right.

MR: I don’t want to work with no license.

EE: So after being here for a couple of years, you did go to get your license.

MR: Yes.

EE: And how was the school? Because like, you already knew how to do nails, so….

MR: Oh yeah. It was not difficult. The more difficult was to understand the teacher in English(laughs).

EE: Uh-huh.

MR: But I have a friend there in the school. She was a student like me, with me. And she understand English, and that really helped me a lot.

EE: That’s really good. Okay, and so then you got your license. And then you started working in the salons.

MR: Yes.

EE: And I don’t remember when it was that I met you, but I want to say that it was maybe somewhere in 2000, somewhere in there? I don’t remember.

MR: Maybe. Some time ago.

EE: Yeah. It’s been awhile, so yeah. And you know, I’ve seen you do nails at different salons, and now you do it at home.

MR: Yeah.

EE: And you have your own clients here. How has that transition been?

MR: It’s good. I like it here in my house because like that I have time to do my things in my house, to cook in-between clients. And because when I was working in the salon, I stay all day in the salon, and I no have time to do nothing in my house(laughs). But I like it here because I’m feeling good in my house and do my clients.

EE: And it always feels really relaxed here.

MR: Yes.

EE: And even, well, I don’t know how it was for you, but for anyone that came in to get their nails done, even when we were at a salon with you, it always felt really, really calm, or at least really happy.

MR: Yeah.

EE: Just a really fun and nice experience. Um…how do you create that experience? Because it’s always so nice and so fun.

MR: Ay, thank you. I don’t know. I feel good here. And I’m like that. I’m happy all the time. I try (laughs)be nice with my clients. Because I’m like that.

EE: Uh-huh. Yeah. And your husband seems to have done really well with his flooring business.

MR: Yes. Thank God.

EE: So it looks like you guys have kind of achieved the American dream, really.

MR: Yes. That is true.

EE: I guess what was it like in Cuba before you left? What was it like then?

MR: (sighs)There, we was okay. But and I was so happy because i have my family there, and it’s not easy to leave Cuba with your family there, but I'm glad I came with my husband and my two daughters, but it was unhappy living there because the Communists…Communists?

EE: Communism.

MR: Uh-huh. That’s not…it’s not really good. I don’t really good. I don’t know how to say.

EE: Uh-huh. No, that’s fine. Um…but here, here you’ve had a lot of time where that’s not the case or anything. Um…I guess…maybe just what do you like about the United States?

MR: Because here we have the freedom. We can work. We can work whatever we want to work. And I can help my family in Cuba too. I can send money to my family in Cuba because they need it. And here, it’s a good place. I like it. I like it here, and I don’t know. There are a lot of things, like I said. Here there is a lot of freedom, that is important than Cuba. In Cuba, we no have freedom when we speak. And we have it here. And the life is different. Everything here we can buy. If we work, we can have the thing. In Cuba, you work and work and work, and you cannot have nothing because…I don’t know. Everything is so difficult in Cuba.

EE: Here at this point in Louisiana or in the United States, like just, it’s kind of like you kind of have built up a little bit of the American dream here.

MR: Yes. That is true.

EE: Like, I really feel like that really is the case for your family. So at this point, you are doing nails still. And you do them kind of on your terms. You know? And people come, and we have such a nice experience like I was telling you. What are your plans now? Because I understand you have grandchildren and all of that stuff.

MR: Uh-huh. Yeah. I’m so glad I can do my clients here in my house because I’m doing babysitting too sometimes. If I need to cancel a client, I say, “Okay. I’m sorry. But I need to do babysitting for my grandchildren.” Sometimes when my daughter needs some vacation or doctor’s appointment. Now I’m not doing too much babysitting because now they going to the school.

EE: Oh. Uh-huh.

MR: But I’ve been busy with my grandchildren sometimes. Yeah, but now only one goes to daycare. The little one. But I’m enjoying. I’m enjoying my grandchildren too. I like to do babysitting sometimes.

EE: And do you go back to Cuba sometimes to visit?

MR: Yes. Yeah. I’m trying to go to Cuba to see my mom. For two and a half years, I’m not being there because for the COVID, but I’m thinking about in two or three months, I want to be there to my mom. Just for two weeks. I want to go.

EE: Right. And when you go to Cuba, how is it? Like, how do you see it?

MR: When I’m going to Cuba, it’s okay. I’m good to go. Because now I’m an American citizen from here, and I no have a problem to go. And I’m going there and visit all my family and stay with my mom for two weeks.

EE: And a lot of Cubans go back and forth at this point.

MR: Yes, if they’re legal here, they can go and coming again.

EE: Uh-huh. And so you’re just able to have a good visit and then come back. Do you miss it?

MR: Huh?

EE: Do you miss Cuba?

MR: Yeah, I miss my family. But, you know, after 27 years in this country, we already…¿Cómo se…How do you say? We already used to be here. And I talk to my family now on the phone, and sometimes we can see each other for the phone.

EE: Uh-huh. On Zoom and stuff like that. Yeah. That sounds nice.

MR: Yeah. That is good, yeah.

EE: Okay, well thank you so much for talking with me.

MR: You’re welcome, Elizabeth. I’m sorry for my English(laughs).

EE: Your English is fine. No, thank you so much. I think your story is wonderful.

MR: Thank you.

EE: Thank you.

Thanks for listening today. I’m so grateful to Marisol for giving me this interview, especially in English, because I wanted to share her story with you, and I know that a lot of people don’t speak Spanish. I’ve created another episode which is basically the same interview, but for that one, we did it in Spanish, the language in which Marisol feels most comfortable expressing herself. I wanted to accommodate for that, and I also want to share it that way for those who do speak Spanish. There are transcripts of the show available in the program description, and I’ve included a translation of the Spanish interview if it interests you to listen or take a look.

This is The Sunshine Bridge, a show dedicated to sharing community and the people who make it better. Show music is by Arnav Srivistav. I’d like to dedicate this show to my old co-host, Juan Franquiz, from La Torre de Babel, a Spanish/English show we did together many years ago. I also want to give another crucial thanks to my mom, Maria Rosa, for giving my translations a double check…and correcting them. Moms are important. If you have comments or questions, please send the show an email at thesunshinebridge@gmail.com. Much love, everyone.