La Pequeña Daisy
by Kayri Hernandez Campos

As a Latina woman, her life is full of colors, music, religion, language, and so much more. Let’s name her the little daisy since she loves daisies so much. There are various parts of her culture, which can get a bit confusing. For one, she is a mix of both Honduran and Salvadoran. Her mother is from Honduras, while her father is from El Salvador. For the little daisy and her three brothers, Spanish was their first language; their parents wanted them to preserve the language. They wanted them to understand it and speak it properly. As she and her brothers went to school in America, they started to learn more English than Spanish. The little daisy’s parents were worried since speaking Spanish was a way to communicate with them. They started helping their children speak more Spanish at home, though today, they still ask what certain words mean or how to say something in Spanish. Still, they were all happy they could understand each other now; even the little daisy and her brothers were teaching their parents to speak English.

Although the little daisy and her brothers could now speak two languages, their parents wanted something more for them. Their parents wanted them to grow up with Christianity in their lives. Preferably being Pentecostal, which is a much stricter religion. Comparing it to the Catholics, it meant following all the rules of the bible and praising God even more. Back then, the little daisy’s grandmother had started the whole endeavor of following the lord’s will. She had made the little daisy’s father, uncles, and aunt go to church. It was around the early 80s that she started to convert to Christianity. And at the time, she was involved with the protestants that were coming out, overpowering the Catholic religion; as stated in, “Protestant Growth and Change in El Salvador” (Christian, Patricia B., et al, 140). The little daisy’s grandmother had not only immigrated with her children, but she also brought along their beliefs to America. Later, when the little daisy’s parents met her mother didn’t believe in anything. Though, after being together for a few years she slowly started to convert, and today you’ll see her reading the bible often. Now growing up the little daisy and her brothers were forced to go to church, at some point she had believed in the lord and followed his rules, but now she doesn’t. It’s not that she hates him, but she feels freer after leaving her church, and she still respects him. He is what shaped her to be kind, caring, and to be a good person in life.

The little daisy’s parents wished she stayed in their church. God, for them, gave them a second chance in life. They are taught that God is their father and the one who brings the world peace and destruction. God teaches them how to live their lives respectfully as Christians. How they should dress appropriately as men and women. How they should respect their parents, neighbors, and elders. That they should give him thanks for giving them life, letting them breathe. Although they may go through tough situations, they have someone to entrust their lives with. To them, he’s the only one who can guide and keep them safe in this world.

Another important part of the little daisy’s life is the meals she eats. Growing up, she would always enjoy her mother’s cooking. Every time she was home, and it was time for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner, she would run to the dining table. Especially if her mother made pupusas that day, you bet she was the first to try them. Eating together as a family was important to them. Eating together as a family is what brought them together even more than before. They always loved to share their food, enjoying the taste together. They would talk about how their day went, make jokes, and enjoy each other’s presence.

Speaking of having meals together, most Latino families stay together throughout their whole lives. This includes her family in the category of staying together for most of their lives. They all get this feeling of responsibility for their family matters. When a family member needs money, the little daisy’s family usually helps them out by sending them some to help. If they need a place to stay for a bit, they at least give them their living room to sleep in. If they are sick, the little daisy’s family does their best to take care of them and give them support.

For them, family is all that they have in this world. A lot of Latino families will agree that family comes first. Sometimes that’s why some of them end up rebelling. Family this, family that, it can get overwhelming for a lot of them. The reason for the little daisy is that not all family members are good people. Some like to use them for their own gains with money, food, clothing, and even living in their own homes. Most of the time the elders in their family will continue to help them out, while others like the little daisy see the truth of what they really want. Although, in the end, they still help because they don’t want any family to be left behind. Who else is going to help them but their family? Most elders believe that acquaintances, coworkers’ friends, and best friends can leave them one day. They believe that their family will stay with them till the end of the line.

Now to keep living together as a family they need to earn enough to provide for themselves and each other. In El Salvador and Honduras, it’s seen that a lot of people are trying to survive through farming and tending to animals for food and clothing. In Honduras, it’s less about earning money and more about farming while El Salvador is a bit of the opposite. Both of the little daisy’s parents grew up poor and had to work at an incredibly early age. That’s also why their mentality is more mature than hers. They didn’t want her brothers and her to suffer as they did back then. Whenever she would ask her parents about how they survived as children, they would smile as they spoke about their past.

Working over there is difficult considering the heat, and the fact that there’s less food as well. As stated before, her parents had to work when they were kids back then. And today that still happens over there. While in the U.S child labor is illegal and immoral, over there it’s very normal to see a child working. A lot of families over there cannot afford to send their children to school, so they put them to work instead. It makes it easier for them since the labor is now spread out with more people helping them. The little daisy is glad her parents came here, the fact that they wanted their children to be born into an easier life shows us that they do really love us. Life couldn’t be better without all the colors, music, and love that surround her life. And that’s all for the little daisy’s intro into her life as a Latina.

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Works Cited

Christian, Patricia B., et al. “Protestant Growth and Change in El Salvador: Two Decades of Survey Evidence.” Latin American Research Review, vol. 50, no. 1, 2015, pp. 140–59. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43670235. Accessed 03 Dec. 2022.