«It was very painful because we only had $150. We ate one hamburger a day,» said the young Cuban, Antonio Macías, who emigrated with his mother in 2015.
Going to live in another country is always complicated due to the culture change and even a language barrier. However, there are those who have no other option to continue supporting themselves, so, as difficult as it may be, they make the decision to leave their countries of origin and start a new life chasing other horizons.
Pixabay
Antonio Macías, 25, thought that this was a good option to start a new life with his mother, Milda Cañizares. The two set off on their odyssey from Cuba to Venezuela and then to Ecuador, according to Univision. However, after their experiences in 2015, they decided to head for another destination further north: the United States.
However, this wouldn’t be so easy. Not only is it complicated to travel so many kilometres from Ecuador to the United States, they also had to obtain permits and cross the Mexican border, which has always been a critical point for immigrants entering through there.
Univision
According to Milda, she told her son, «if we die, we die together, and if we are saved, we are saved together. Together through whatever. I’m not going to stay here while you’re somewhere else. We have to stick together.”
After managing to enter the United States through Houston with the necessary papers, they arranged to meet a relative who would help them. However, this person abandoned them in front of an organization called Catholic Charities.
So, they had to face their reality and wander around the city without knowing the language, without any money and without knowing anyone. «It was very painful because we only had $150. We ate one hamburger a day. I would eat half of mine and tell her I was too full so she’d eat one and a half,» said Antonio.
Antonio Macías
Yet, fate had something else in store for them. They met someone who put a roof over their heads, allowing Antonio to begin to work. After a while, he achieved a dream: he entered university to study aerospace science, something he had longed for since he was a child.
Antonio got through his studies and continued learning the language until he got the great news: NASA offered him a job, something that five years ago would have never even crossed his mind.
Univision
Thanks to his research and articles published in renowned scientific journals in the United States, his name began to attract attention among experts in that country. «Now I’m studying the evolution of surfaces on planets and moons in the universe that have no atmosphere, that have no air, just like the earth,» Antonio said.
Despite what they have been through, Antonio and Milda have remained strong and united. «We adults are stronger, but they’re not. He was a teenager, but I have definitely always been strong and told myself ‘no’. We got through it,« she said.