Personal Narrative: My Mom, Gaby Hernandez

My mom, Gaby Hernandez, was born in April 1972, in a little calm and close-knit village named El Uncidero in Zacatecas, Mexico. She came for first time to the United States in July 1978 by paying a coyote (person who leads others across the border). After leaving about two years later, she came back permanently to the United States in January 1991. Once she had came back to the United States for the second time, she was more mature and was seeking for a better future for herself.

The village was a small and filled with respectful and warming people. It was the type of village that people would respect you, if you had respected them back. Everyone knew everything that happened and word would spread quickly. With a household of seven, my mom
They were always kept on a strict schedule and always had to obey their parents. Their schedule consisted of chores, for example, cleaning the floor, washing dishes, feeding the animals, and school, they were able to go and play in the streets, but they were always on a time limit. My mother’s childhood was nothing compared to the ones that children have today. As she would say, “Back in my day, I had chores to do instead of being on a phone and my mom never let me sleepover or go to any type of dances in the village.”

Her father had decided to go to the United States a couple of months before my mom, her mom, and her three brothers, Erasmo, Jesus, and Filemon, came to America, so he would already have a home for them to come to. He also had to make enough money to pay a coyote to get all five of them over the border, which was very expensive. It was around July 1978, when my mother was about 5 years old, that her dad had finally paid for his children and wife to make their way through to Chicago. Multiple people from around the area also paid the coyote to get them to the United States. Whoever was planning on going over to America, had to meet the coyote in the meet up spot, which was an old hotel