We are Your Neighbors (eBook)

Stories from The Storehouse

Nancy Kurkowski (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
116 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-4309-2 (ISBN)

Infos

This is a collection of short stories about the lives of some of the people who are seeking assistance at one of the largest food pantries in North Texas. What happened to put them in the position of seeking help? What would your life be like if you had been born in their shoes? What are the obstacles that some people face, but many others never even see? 'We are Your Neighbors' challenges our assumptions about who is standing in line at our nation's food pantries and attempts to open our hearts to the fact that we are all more alike than we realize, and God is calling us to love our Neighbor

Textauszug

“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.”

John Wesley

Cristina

I have this picture in my head of my therapist, Jackie, walking down the hall at St. Andrew Methodist Church where The Storehouse is located. After our counseling sessions, she would go and find boxes of diapers for me. I used to watch her walk down that hallway and think, this is such a beautiful place; a beautiful building with beautiful people. Now, almost three years later, I work in that same building—at The Storehouse. God has amazing plans for us if we only wait for His timing and trust Him! It is such a blessing to be here now and be able to help others who are coming to The Storehouse. Sometimes, when I am walking down that same hallway, I can’t help but get goosebumps because God has been so obviously present in my life. It’s still a beautiful place . . . but now I get to be part of it. I get to be the one offering help.

My name is not Cristina. In fact, most of the names in this story have been changed because my family needs protection from someone. I absolutely trust that God’s Spirit will cover us. He always has protected us. But I think it’s wise to remain anonymous.

I am forty-one years old, and I have had many “Helpers” in my life. That’s what I call them, my Helpers, because none of us can live life without them; none of us can thrive without our Helpers. Our Helper above all others is, of course, God. He has loved me, guided me, and protected me beyond measure. Everything about my story has God’s hand on it and He will always be the center of my life! But there have been other Helpers that He has sent to me along the way also.

I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, in the western part of a large country at the northern tip of South America. It is very hot in Maracaibo. The normal temperature for much of the year is 105 degrees or more. But I was happy! My parents had a modest upbringing in the countryside of Venezuela at a time when farming and raising livestock were what most people depended on, to survive. But they had been able to move to the city as young adults and both had gone to college. Like many people in Venezuela then, their lives were good. Good jobs were available. We traveled, and life looked very much like it does for many people in the U.S. today. My father was an accountant, and my mother was a professor of geography.

By the 1950s, Venezuela, and Maracaibo in particular, had become a major petroleum producer. People were flocking to the cities for jobs. Exxon, Mobil, BP, Shell—they were all there. Of course, with them came many American workers. As a result, when I was growing up in the ’80s, we were exposed to a great deal of American culture. We fell in love with American baseball. In fact, while most other South American countries prioritize soccer, our favorite sport is still baseball. The whole country started speaking “Spanglish” because of the American influence. To this day, we, Venezuelans, call anything that we carry our things in (a backpack, for example) our “macundales” because it sounds like MATCO. That was the brand of toolbox that every oil worker seemed to carry in those days, so we just appropriated that word and many others.

My family was then, and remains now, very close. I am the oldest. I have one brother, Manuel, and one sister, Glenys. Living with your parents until you get married is common in many Hispanic cultures and we were no exception. Our home in Maracaibo was full of love and laughter. We depended on one another. We loved one another very much. Eventually, I got a degree in journalism and Manuel got a degree in economics. Glenys got into medical school. We were all involved in one another’s lives pretty much daily. And, for quite a while, we all still lived at home.

Eventually though, Manuel got married and moved out. Glenys got a scholarship for a special internship in gynecology in Queretaro, Mexico, so she left too. I was working as a journalist in the petroleum industry, but I was still comfortable living at home. I was the only one at home with my parents, and that was funny because I had always had a plan for my life. I had always had this plan that I would get married when I would be twenty-five years old and would have three kids. We would buy a house, get a dog, and live happily ever after. I liked my job, but all I had ever really wanted to do was to be a mom. Sadly, that didn’t seem to be happening. I worried that I was too focused on my career and would never meet somebody. But even then, I knew that God was in control of my life and that He had a purpose for me. So, I decided to study to become a radio writer/producer and to throw myself even more into my career. I started working out at the gym every day and I rededicated myself to listening to what God was saying to me. I used to go to church several times a week to pray and ask about what He wanted me to do. I told Him that if it wasn’t His plan, I would give up the obsession with having a child; and that I would be a good aunt to the little girl that Manuel had been blessed with. That would be enough.

Then, when I was thirty-six, I started dating a man who was forty and had two children from a previous marriage. Andres was from Columbia, and he was a good man. He traveled to Venezuela frequently and we soon got serious. A few months into our relationship, I went with him to Columbia to attend a family wedding. I remember when we were getting ready for the ceremony, he said to me, “I think you might be pregnant.” Needless to say, I was a little offended! But, laughing at him, I said that I didn’t think that was even possible. I felt like I was too old. Honestly, I didn’t think about it again for several weeks. Then one day, I was hosting an event for my company. I was in public relations with Petróleos de Venezuela at that time. When you are the face of a company, they expect you to be energetic, positive, and outgoing. But that day, I was extraordinarily tired. I had no energy. When the event was over my boss asked me what was up with me. He had noticed that I wasn’t myself. I told him that I didn’t know what was wrong, but I felt like I could hardly move. I was concerned enough and I decided to take a few days off and get a thorough checkup done by the doctor. Miraculously, I wasn’t sick—I was actually pregnant. It was Mariana! My beautiful, precious, long-awaited, Mariana! I was shocked and overjoyed. When you are giving God the right place in your heart and in your life, then He will do what He knows is best—in His own right time. This was something that I had been praying for, for years!

In the meantime, things were deteriorating rapidly in Venezuela. I was so happy being pregnant and things were going well with Andres. We planned to get married. Everything seemed to be perfect . . . except for what was happening in my country. I had been working for fifteen years by then. I had moved into my own house. I was successful. However, our country was falling apart. Life had dramatically changed, and I could see things getting rapidly worse around me. My beloved homeland had become almost unrecognizable. Venezuelans have always loved our country, our culture, our food, and our people! But it was not the same any longer. It was almost like I woke up one day and found that everything had broken down. Basic public services were unreliable. Often, the electricity would be out for twelve hours or more. One day, I needed new tires for my car but there were no tires to be found. Jobs were disappearing. Inflation was over 2,000 percent. Our money was almost worthless and the government just kept printing more. People were struggling to buy food. We had the highest homicide rate in the world. The corruption and failed policies of the government had ruined our Venezuela, and we were growing more and more desperate. I remember late one night when my new baby, Mariana, was sick. I needed to go to a pharmacy, but I didn’t dare to stop at any of the red lights because it was common for gangs to wait at the lights and pull people out of their cars to rob them. I just kept driving and ran every red light between my house and the pharmacy! Our lives had not always been this way!

Andres was a good father to Mariana, though. We went with him to Columbia for extended periods of time and when I did need to be in Venezuela for work, he would send money to help with her support. As prices skyrocketed, he helped me with the money we needed for diapers and formula. But, more often than not, there were no diapers, and there was no formula, to buy. Just a few years before, I had been making a good living, traveling to Cancun, and to South America’s popular Margarita Island, for frequent vacations. Now I could barely afford to support myself and Mariana, and I lived in fear for our safety. It’s hard for me to say bad things about my home, and my country, but the reality was that living a life was becoming almost impossible there.

In 2018, my brother, Manuel, moved to the U.S. and applied for asylum. He decided to leave Venezuela because of the terrible economic and political situation. Now, he was asking us to go and join him. I agonized over that decision. I did a “pros and cons” list, looked at my budget, and finally realized that there was no longer a way to make a good life in Venezuela. I wanted my daughter to be safe and have a good education and a prosperous future! So, Andres and I...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.4.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-4309-2 / 9798350943092