Back in 2015, my family and I had to leave El Salvador and come to New York due to the violence that was going on in El Salvador. I was 10 years old and at first it was very scary, we didn’t know the language, the place, and the culture. We also didn’t know when we were going to be able to visit our country to see our love ones again. However, we were also privileged because my grandma was already here, who had to leave El Salvador more than 20 years ago to be able to give a better life to my mom and her siblings, we already had someone who made our adaptation to this country easier. I remember the day that we were leaving El Salvador, our family members were giving us a lot of different gifts for us to not forget them or our country. One thing that we got was this magnet souvenir that has the shape of the map of El Salvador. Now every time I visit El Salvador I buy a souvenir to have a little piece of my country in New York. 

– JL

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant