WE ARE: A Nation of Immigrants - New Haven 2018
The Participants

Paulina 

Guatemala

Portrait Locations: 
New Haven Green A1 
New Haven Green A20
Pirelli Building P1

Current occupation:  Nursery worker

Arrival in the US:  2014

Commentary: It took me three weeks to get to the United States from Guatemala.  My nine year old son and I traveled by bus and the “Train of the Beast” to get here.  It was called the Train of the Beast because you have to ride on the top of the train, not inside, and sometimes people fall off because it is traveling at such a high speed. I am very thankful that we arrived safely.

I left Guatemala because I could not sustain myself there and because of there is a lot of conflict  – gun fights, houses set on fire – as a result of conflict between my town and another town from which we wanted independence.  It is very different here.  It is much more expensive than I realized but now I have a job, I live a good life with my son.  I can go on with my life.  I am not afraid.