Successes I Have Made

by Maria Garcia Vega

My name is Maria Garcia Vega and I was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in 1955. I first came to the United States in 1980. I have lived in Elgin, Texas all this time. It is a small town near Austin. I am married and have three children. I have worked in a factory called Austin Foam for fifteen years. In the passed ten years I have worked in the cafeterias of Austin schools. I like my work.

Now this is about my past. The place where I was born was really a small ranch. I loved it there. I had the job of taking food to my father when he was working in the fields. It took me an hour to get to where he was working and I was just a little girl.

I had brothers and sisters but they had already been married when I was born. I was the youngest and had to stay with my father and mother. Actually, they both worked and I did the cooking when I was twelve years old.

There were no schools on the farm that I lived. To go to school I would have to take a bus to the city and of course my family did not have enough money to send me to school. So I never had a chance to go to school in Mexico. It was not till I came to the Austin area that I began to get some formal schooling and learn a little bit.

One of the things that I am most proud of is that since I have gotten to the U.S. I have been able to buy my house and I have my family. To be able to buy a house both my husband and I worked a lot. We paid about ten thousand dollars for it because it was an auction. We had saved and saved all the money to buy the house. We were told that this auction was going to happen so we prepare ourselves. We sometimes didn’t eat so we could have enough for my daughters and to save for a house. We saved all that we could. This one thing I am very proud of doing.

Another thing I have had success with is the work that I am doing with the school district at the cafeterias and helping the children in school. The first school that I started to work at was Burnet Middle School. I began by making easy things like the tea for the teachers and the salads. From that school I was moved to Kealing Middle School. The principal at this school helped me to become a full-time employee.

I wanted to move to a school that was closer to my home. Barbara Jordon Elementary School was the school I went to and where I am now. It is closed for me. I work in the cafeteria and make the breakfast for all the children. The children seem to like the sausages in donut bread wraps best. I don’t have to work too much to get these ready. I just put them on the pans and get them cooked and ready.

Some of the people that have helped me learn are like a friend and co-worker named Tommy. She helped me learn a lot about the working in the cafeteria. Now, it is different. At the school where I work they give me a hard time because I can’t speak English well and they make fun of me because I do not have a car. I still like to work hard. I always get to work early. I like to help the others because I finish my work faster. To this day I have not missed a single day of work. Sometime I don’t feel well but I still go to work. This week I have not been feeling well at all. I make myself go to work because at home I feel restless. I get bored with the weekends that I am home because I am not working. I like to work and will keep doing for myself and my family.

My oldest daughter is going to graduate this year from high school. The twins will graduate the following year. Now, that is something that I am very, very, proud about. I always tell them, “ study, study “ so that they can have what I didn’t have in my life- an education.

At la Fuente School I have learned how to read and write my name. I know words for the different kinds of foods that I work with and other things so that I can do my work. I even try to do the computer work the teacher tells us to learn. Some of the things we will have to do is to work on lesson with email. It is homework.

I had a problem coming to the classes for a while but was able to come back some months ago. I can keep learning more English. Learning more English will make my work that much better for the kids and I feel that I will be able to help others. You would not believe it, one of the other ladies that works in the cafeteria says that I shouldn’t bother coming to learn more English. I tell her, sabes que , you know what… it is never too late to learn.

Maria Garcia Vega

As told to Tomas Rodriguez – ESL teacher La Fuente

La FUENE Learning Center
2115 E. 2nd St.
Austin, TX 78702