-Special to TMN<\/p>\n
Rhonda Lippert-Bortz<\/p>\n
When \u201cSonja\u201d arrived in Hays, she did not speak enough English to order a hamburger. Today, when asked if her children help her with English, she laughs. \u201cYes, they help me,\u201d she replies, speaking clearly in English. \u201cSometimes when I am going to the store or something, and I cannot talk, I ask them for help. And they don\u2019t want to help me because they say, \u2018You <\/em>need to try.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Trying is not new to Sonja. She is a 33-year-old single mother of three children, ages 11, 8 and 1. She came to the United States from Chihuahua, Mexico, seeking a better life for her children. And here in Hays, she found a community that shares her traditional values\u2014close-knit families and strong work ethics.<\/p>\n Sonja is not so different from other single mothers in Hays. She works hard, pays her bills, cares for her home and children. She wants them to study hard and become professionals. In Mexico, only the wealthy can afford an education past sixth grade.<\/p>\n In Mexico, Sonja was an office professional, with secretarial, accounting and administrative skills. But she did not earn enough to sustain her family. Minimum wage in Chihuahua is equal to about $5.18 per day<\/em>. In Hays, Sonja works hard to provide for her family but notes that immigrants without legal status are often taken advantage of because they have no recourse.<\/p>\n Sonja also works to perfect her English language skills. She sees this as the first step toward a better job. The next step may be more education for herself. She would like to become a social worker to give back to the community.<\/p>\n Of the community, she says, \u201cI like it here in Hays. It\u2019s a calm town, and it\u2019s safe for my kids.\u201d Hays residents take feeling safe for granted, but Sonja knows how it feels to be frightened for her children.<\/p>\n When they lived in Mexico, Sonja says, \u201cOne day we went to the store. My kids and their father go into the store, and I stayed in the car. At that moment, somebody was shooting. What do you do? My kids are in the store and I\u2019m worried because I can\u2019t go to run inside.\u201d<\/p>\n In Chihuahua, gun battles occur in broad daylight on streets or in other public venues. In 2013, the murder rate in the state of Chihuahua was 74 per 100,000 inhabitants, and kidnapping increased 32 percent. By comparison, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation reports the murder rate in Kansas was 4 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013.<\/p>\n Another key difference between Kansas and Chihuahua is the availability of food here. Food can be scarce in Mexico, where resources are not readily or consistently available. Sonja says that here, \u201cWe have healthful foods and . . . we have enough food.\u201d<\/p>\n Sonja has a bright smile that matches her positive attitude, but coming to Hays has not been without frustration and disappointment. When her baby was born, she was alone and unemployed. There was no one to help her with the bills or food or medical care. She was referred to the WIC program because she was unable to buy formula for her baby.<\/p>\n But without pay stubs to prove income, WIC was a dead end. When Sonja asked where she could find help, the response was, \u201c\u2018I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t help you.\u2019\u201d Sonja says, \u201cIt was bad for me and I think for other moms. It\u2019s supposed to be to help the baby.\u201d Finally, Catholic Charities helped Sonja with formula.<\/p>\n In addition to her struggle to keep her newborn healthy, her early days in Hays were sometimes difficult as she learned to speak English. Before she could speak English very well, people would sometimes hang up when she tried to speak to them on the phone because she could not find the words to express herself.<\/p>\n Language acquisition is a process that takes time. Corrie Zimmerman, a social work practicum student with the Center for Life Experiences, says, \u201cA lot of times they [immigrants] understand more English than they can actually speak. So . . . she can answer you \u2018yes\u2019 or \u2018no\u2019 if you talk with her.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of the challenges, Sonja is happy about her decision to come to Hays. She has found support and fellowship in her church and educational opportunities for her children. She has found a safe environment in a community with traditional, family-centered values. She has found a great place to raise a family.<\/p>\n How does she see her life in 5 years? \u201cI would like to see my kids be very well, growing and healthy, being good persons.\u201d And for herself? \u201cI would like to get a good job . . . and a new car.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" -Special to TMN Rhonda Lippert-Bortz When \u201cSonja\u201d arrived in Hays, she did not speak enough English to order a hamburger. Today, when asked if her… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3397,3398,11],"tags":[7852,3245,7850,7851,106,394,4429],"class_list":["post-21992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area-news","category-campus-news","category-news","tag-catholic-charities","tag-center-for-life-experiences","tag-chihuahua","tag-corrie-zimmerman","tag-fort-hays-state-university","tag-hays","tag-mexico"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21993,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992\/revisions\/21993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}