Margarita Rivera
This transcript has been translated to English from the original Spanish.
Click here to read the full transcript.
Born in Puerto Rico, Margarita Rivera came to New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. She sustained significant financial losses as a result of the storm.
ANNOTATIONS
Minimum Wage - Millions of New Jerseyans have been unable to properly afford their expenses and obligations due to deflated and low pay. Recently, in early 2019, the state signed into law legislation that will increase the minimum wage for most workers by 2024 and all workers (except for tipped workers) by 2029. This will help over a million workers by boosting their pay and have an indirect benefit on hundreds of thousands more further up the income scale as businesses reform their compensation policies and the economy grows due to more residents finally having the ability to fully participate and afford critical purchases.
Context Link 1: https://www.njpp.org/reports/a-15-minimum-wage-would-help-over-1-million-workers-and-boost-new-jerseys-economy
Context Link 2: https://www.njpp.org/blog/explainer-new-jerseys-15-minimum-wage-proposal
Flexible Work Scheduling - Enabling employees to have flexible work schedules has several significant benefits ranging from increased productivity to decreased absenteeism, decreased costs, and a healthier and happier workforce. This is especially important as workers have difficulty dealing with daily demands and meeting the needs of family members. Flexible schedulling can help ensure that workers take care of themselves and their families without being punished for doing so through the loss of wages or work hours.
Context Link 1: https://www.flexjobs.com/employer-blog/the-benefits-of-allowing-employees-a-flexible-schedule/
Context Link 2: https://www.povertylaw.org/clearinghouse/articles/work-schedules-and-working-families
Child Tax Credit - The costs of raising children are constantly increasing, becoming unaffordable for many families. A Child Tax Credit, which would provide a tax break for all families within a certain level of income who have children, would help ease the costs of providing for children. The federal government has a Child Tax Credit, but the state of New Jersey could implement its own refundable version that would provide even more support for qualifying families.
Transcript: “Raising children alone is an uphill battle.”
Context Link 1: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/policy-basics-the-child-tax-credit
Context Link 2: https://itep.org/new-50-state-analysis-state-child-tax-credits-would-lift-2-1-to-4-5-million-children-out-of-poverty/
WorkFirst NJ - The WorkFirst NJ program requires participants to study or volunteer. This, understandably, leaves little time for participants to search for stable employment. As such, the program is in the process of being reformed to better suit the long-term needs of participants.
Context Link 1: https://www.njpp.org/blog/new-jersey-can-take-simple-steps-to-help-lift-its-poorest-children-out-of-poverty
Immigrant Business Owners - Immigrants make up nearly half of New Jersey's main street small businesses, even though they make up barely a quarter of the state's population.
Context Link 1: https://www.njpp.org/reports/immigrant-small-business-ownership-is-a-cornerstone-of-new-jerseys-economy
Context Link 2: http://www.roi-nj.com/2019/03/18/finance/njpp-finds-immigrant-owned-small-businesses-have-4-4b-impact-on-n-j-economy/
TRANSCRIPT
My name is Margarita Rivera. Just seven months ago, I started living here in NJ. I'm Puerto Rican. I brought my two children who are teenagers with me, and I am studying English here right now.
And how old are you?
Forty-eight.
So tell me, where were you born? Where did you grow up?
I was born in Puerto Rico. Before coming here, I lived in Caguas, which is a town in Puerto Rico. I have worked since I was 17 years old. In December, I quit my job because of the hurricane, and I came to try something different so that my children could study.
So tell me about your experience before you came here. What was it like?
Well, this is a before and an after. Before the hurricane and after the hurricane. Before the hurricane, everything was perfect. I got up like any normal person, I took my children to school, I went to work, and my life was completely normal. Until the hurricane happened there. Then the complications of being without water, without light, everything destroyed, without being able to buy things because there was no food available.
Let’s start off by maybe speaking a little bit about your life before the hurricane. So when you were growing up, who raised you, and how many siblings did you have?
I was raised in a normal family. I have three brothers. I am the second child. My dad and my mom have been together for 54 years. Completely normal. I went to school, like any child. Like any teenager, I went to university, and I started working when I was 17 until December of 2017.
And what kind of work were you doing back in Puerto Rico?
I worked for a company, Gatsby. I worked for them for 18 years, as a supervisor. The last 10 years, I was a supervisor in the customer service area. And the last four years I worked as a salesperson. Because the company was in decline, I decided to change jobs.
What kind of business was it? What did they do?
Gatsby was a wholesale company of people with their own businesses who sold clothes independently. They were approved a line of credit, and I was the one who verified the credit report, and then I gave them an amount so that they can buy the clothes, and every thirty days they paid us. We helped people establish their own businesses.
So your whole time growing up prior to the hurricane, you said you lived a normal life. What was your financial situation and your family’s financial situation. Did you live fairly comfortably?
We lived check-to-check. I can’t say comfortably, because the salary in Puerto Rico is not high. But the conditions are very different from the ones here. Housing is not as expensive as it is here. I lived check-to-check and paid my bills check-to-check. It was not like I had extra. I just lived from day to day. [Annotation #1]
After you went to school, you went to university, you got this job, and then you were living on your own, and you had the child then?
Yes, I got married. I had my oldest son. Then I got divorced. I got married again when I was 24 years old.
While you were working?
I've always been working, I've never been without work there.
Do you remember when you were young what you wanted to be when you grew up? How did you imagine your future life to be?
Of course everyone wants to be well, live well, not check-to-check the way one lives. At age 22, I had my son. Despite that, when he was two years old, I continued studying. I studied vascular studies, but never worked in that, because back then, the only job openings were at night. So I stayed working at Gatsby because it was during daytime and was more convenient for me to get my children from school.
So she did you finish your degree then?
Yes, I completed an Associates Degree as a cardiovascular technician, and I had previously graduated in integral banking. I was a cashier for a long time, and I worked in a corporate pharmacy before Gatsby.
So your dream at that time was to pursue the profession you studied, to be a cardiovascular technician?
Of course.
But the problem was, because you had to watch your children, you had to take jobs that would accommodate the hours of watching them.
Yes, yes. Because whenever I was looking for work, you know, starting-- in fact-- when I graduated from classes, they would place me in night shifts, and I couldn’t work them because of the schedule. [Annotation #2]
So you had your first child, and how long after that was it that you had your second child?
Eight years later.
Oh wow, and were you still married to your husband at the time?
No. I got divorced after two years and I got married again, and during that time we had the kids. They are eight years apart.
Okay. And then that second marriage ended at a certain point as well?
I had the second boy, and then I had a baby girl, and then when they were both four or five years old, I got divorced.
So three children overall?
Yes. One is already an adult.
So how was it after you got divorced each of these times? Was it difficult raising these kids on your own, with just your paycheck?
Of course.
Did you ever think you would leave Puerto Rico?
Never, ever in my life. Never in my mind did that cross my mind.
At the time, even before the storm, I understand it was difficult, not just for you. Because of the economic situation on the island, were a lot of people struggling that you knew?
Super difficult. It was not that I earned like a millionaire, but I didn’t qualify for any assistance. I didn’t receive a pension, and it was very difficult for me. Raising children alone is an uphill battle. [Annotation #3]
And you didn't have any help or support at the time from any family members?
Sure, of course. My mom always helped me. What can I tell you? If it weren’t for her, I would not be where I am. My parents helped me buy my children's things, and they helped me buy things for school and pick them up while I was working. Because it was very difficult on my own. Both my mom and my dad helped.
What about your siblings? Were they also struggling?
Two were police officers, and another worked for the government, which used to be a stable job. But as the years have passed, being a government worker has become like a temporary position, with six month contracts that might not get renewed. So right now they’re dealing with that. The one who’s 26 years old might lose his job. I mean, they don’t want people in the government anymore.
So tell me the story of when Hurricane Maria hit the island. What do you remember?
Look... honestly speaking, no one expected it to be the way it was. Yes, we prepared ourselves with plenty of water, food, this and that. I spent the storm in my house with my children, and then obviously when everything happened, that all the roads were destroyed, that there were no lights, I tried to communicate with work, but the telephone service wasn’t working either. It must have been at least two and a half or three weeks before I was finally able to contact my employer, and then I started working part time. I was without work for almost a month, and they didn’t pay you for those days either.
And you had lived through other hurricanes in the past, right?
Yes, yes, yes, yes. But this was horrible, and on top of everything, we didn’t have gasoline either. If you were working in the city, you had to leave work long in advance in order to spend hours waiting in line for gas, and employers took advantage of people who were desperate for work. Actually, I’ll tell you something. My company fired the cleaning staff and forced all of us to do the cleaning, and we didn’t have a choice because we all really needed the money.
Did you have much damage to your house and your neighborhood?
The main road in town was destroyed, and there were no lights, so it was chaos in the mornings when I left the house to drop my boys off at school and make the trip to work. I mean, it was really crazy because there was no telephone communication, so you couldn’t call anyone in certain areas.
And did you personally sustain any financial losses in the storm? Did you have to pay for any repairs to your house or anything like that?
Yes, in fact FEMA never paid anything. My roof is leaking. Fortunately, I lived in a cement house, so my damage wasn’t too bad, but yes, of course there was damage. The ceiling was affected, I can tell you, and the dryer was ruined because it was outside. They weren’t huge problems that you couldn’t solve, but things were definitely affected. And it cost us a lot. Remember that we didn’t have water or electricity, so we had to buy water to drink. And it took a lot of work filling buckets with water and carrying them in our car just to be able to clean our house. I had to get my kids what they needed, and we had to use flashlights. Also, all my plants died, so I didn’t have any vegetables. There were many determining factors.
So what was your daily life like in those days, weeks, and months after the storm?
Madness. It involved constantly looking for where there was a water supply and filling buckets so we had enough to last us for the next two or three weeks. We didn’t expect to still be in the dark and need candles in November. Plus, you were working less hours, so you were making less and then you had to figure out how to buy the things you needed for your day to day survival. It wasn’t enough. Plus, it was already Thanksgiving time, and the kids still had not returned to school, so they were off for a really long time. One of my kids was a senior who was supposed to graduate, and my daughter was in a Business Administration program, and their studies all got pushed back.
And the longer things went on, I guess it was harder to see signs of hope? It didn't quite feel like things were improving, and you didn't know when things would get back to normal?
Yes, the water and electricity came back, but the problems with the roads continued. The most brutal thing was that the boys were in school only half a day, so they weren’t really learning anything. On top of that, I was working way less hours, and they continued to mistreat us employees, so that made me decide to leave.
You were working a lot less hours, so your paycheck was smaller, and you were struggling a lot more from that.
Sure. And spending more. In Puerto Rico, they opened a window for you to delay payments for three months. But then in January, you had to pay back everything from those three months, so it wasn’t feasible, because if you don’t have enough for a month, how you are going to get enough for three months?
And what ended up happening with your children's school?
Well my partner had already been up here for several months, and for a long time, he was encouraging me to come join him until the situation from the hurricane improved. But I didn’t want to do it at the time, because I had my family in Puerto Rico, and all my things were there. But eventually the circumstances forced me to reconsider so my kids could have a better life and also because I was getting sick of being mistreated at my work.
After all this time went by and my boys were still in school only half a day, I started to search online for schools up here and asked my partner to go check them out. I then sent their transcripts to see if they could get into good schools, cause I know the schools in Newark aren’t great. To live in Newark you have to be brave, especially when you’re new to everything and without family. We had to act from gut to hearts.
So just to make sure I understand, this partner you’ve been in a relationship with... he came here after the storm?
No, he had been here since May, long before the hurricane. He was already here, he already had his job and everything. We were still early in our relationship, so we would travel to see each other occasionally and speak by phone. We didn’t think that I would come here. We thought it would be a long distance relationship and we would take our time. But things turned out to be much more rushed.
And that decision to come here... was there sort of one final thing that finally pushed you over the edge, where you said, “I can’t do this anymore. I need to leave?”
Of course the mistreatment at work, the hours it took to commute, and the sacrifices I had to make, because if you’re without electricity, you’re sitting in traffic for up to two or two and a half hours to get to your job, and two and a half hours to return home in a traffic jam. On top of that, the abuse I received from my employer. It was the culmination of everything that led to my decision.
And I imagine that must’ve been hard, leaving the place you grew up and where you’ve lived your entire life, leaving a lot of your family and friends behind to come here. I’m sure that was very difficult and a very big decision, right?
If you ask me if I would’ve done it over, I would not have done it. It has been very hard. Too hard.
As hard as things were back there, would you rather still be in Puerto Rico than here?
Yes, because it’s hard being alone without family, without people you know, and without anyone to help you, just relying on your own intuition, and having to use your phone to search for everything, because no one speaks Spanish. It was also difficult not having a car at first, so I had to travel by train or bus without knowing how and got lost in the cold because it was snowing, since I arrived in December. There was no one to tell you this is around here, this is over there. Only the GPS. My partner tried to help me, but he was working at his job, so he couldn’t do much. I applied for assistance here. Child support and everything else I could until I settled down. Once I settled down, I got rid of it. It’s been very difficult, because every time I went to an aid office, every time I went to a window and said, “I don’t speak English,” everyone ran away. Even when I was summoned to do community service and took English classes, there was a woman who said to me, “How do you not know English if you're a citizen and you're supposed to speak English?” And I said, “I don’t know English because English classes are in Spanish over there.” I know a lot of things, but establishing a conversation isn’t one of them.
Had you been here or spent much time here before you moved here? Or was this all totally new to you?
I had never left Puerto Rico except one time the summer before the storm, when I came here for eight days to visit my partner.
So when you were first planning this move and you decided, “Okay, I have to come here.” What did you imagine it would be like? Even though it’s still the United States, it’s obviously very different. How different did you think it would be from what you were used to?
Of course I didn’t expect that things would be easy for me, nor did I want a free hand out. I figured that since there are so many Hispanic people here, I would take English classes and settle in a place with other Hispanics, so the transition wouldn’t be too bad. But when you receive government assistance, you have to volunteer, you have to study. They send you to a place to study where you don’t see any progress, with people who already know the language and simply live on handouts, and I had never lived like that. So you do that from nine in the morning to noon, and at twelve thirty you have to take a bus to go volunteer until four thirty. You know how much help you are giving for how much you get? If you’re doing that from Monday to Friday, you don’t have the possibility of getting a job or being in a place where anyone would say, “We're going to pay you,” cause there’s no time left over. [Annotation #4]
What has this move been like for your kids?
Being teenagers, they were able to adapt quickly in the sense that, like, everything is new. And although the situation is quite difficult because they already had a structured life, it was like taking a suitcase and throwing your clothes in, and you have to keep walking. They left everything, but the day to day of being able to spend time in school and being in a vocational school where they speak different languages has helped them already advance. I had put them in English classes in Puerto Rico for years, and the television they watched in my house was in English because I didn’t want them to go through what I went through. I was preparing them so they would be bilingual, not like me. If it weren’t for work, I could’ve been in classes with them, but that never happened. When I saw the difficulty and saw that I could have been in a better job if I were bilingual, I always wanted them to learn both languages.
How old are your kids right now?
The oldest living in Puerto Rico is 26. He’s already a married adult. My son who is here in his senior year and about to graduate will be 18, and my daughter is 16.
Was it hard to leave behind your eldest child and some of your family members? Were you very close to your family?
Yes, super difficult, like torture. It was very hard. We see each other by video chat. My older son didn’t agree with my decision to leave. He wanted me to stay there. There was some friction, but then I had to think about the future of the others who are still growing. He lived on his own. He already had his family. My priority was my teen children.
How did your teenage kids feel about the move? Did they want to come, or did they want to stay?
They wanted a change. They felt that they weren’t learning, and they needed that change to have more options.
So what was it like when you came here? How much did you bring in terms of your possessions, or were you starting over from scratch?
We came with two suitcases each. We left everything, car, furniture, everything. We started at zero. I have furniture and a stove now, because the apartment that my partner got for me had that, but right now I don’t have my own furniture. We have beds to sleep in, but we have no luxuries, because that spring, he lost his job, and we had to find a way for his to start his own business, and that's why I gave up the assistance. I have good credit and was able to help him work on his own and set up a business. Otherwise I would have had to return to Puerto Rico.
His business started declining in February, and by April, he was working so few hours that his job was cut. So in that process, we began to think about what to do, because I didn’t want to continue living on government aid. I can’t be out of my house all day without earning anything to get assistance, because I'm getting five bucks an hour, and I've never lived off of assistance before. So we started to design a plan to better ourselves, and then he thought, “Let's start our own business. I’ll do the work, and you stay home and run everything, and we’ll do it in your name,” because he doesn’t have good credit, but I did.
What is this business that you’ve started?
Making doors. He was already a welder. He installed commercial doors and rolling doors, so we decided to establish ourselves and make business cards and start to see if we could make the business ourselves. [Annotation #5]
So do you actually go out finding work with him, or do you stay behind the scenes?
What I do is manage the bills from the house. We create invoices for what we charge for the work. I’m the one that takes control of the expenses. I’ve been talking to an accountant to get advice, because we’ve barely been running for three months. We need to learn what to do because I don’t know everything, and it’s very different here. We’ve had to figure out what to charge, and he’s had to hire people and outsource work to others who specialize in the jobs we’ve taken, which are in large stores that obviously require more workers.
How has it been so far? Is he finding steady work?
Yes, the business is thriving, I’d say. Of course, almost everything goes to the salary of the people who are working and also to expenses like buying a car, because you can’t run a company like this on foot. We had to look into having insurance for the employees. So almost all the money that’s being generated has been spent, but it’s given us enough to live. If he didn’t take a salary, we’d invest everything back into the business for things like materials and tools for welding.
What is your financial situation like right now?
We’re living day to day. That’s what I say. Working to at least have a roof over our heads and food to eat, because I no longer have financial assistance. Only the medical plan, because my kids have health conditions, and I also suffer from my thyroid. And we’re also paying for the house. So like I tell you, we work to live. It’s an uphill battle, because they require you to have insurance. That’s expensive. The payments are expensive. The car and car insurance are separate too, but that’s all required to be able to establish your business. And it's even more difficult because I do not have anyone to guide me. I sought help from an accountant that was recommended by the landlord of the house we live in, because I don’t have anyone. We still haven’t found our footing, but we’ve filed the paperwork to start things the proper way, in terms of the requirements that the state demands.
From a financial perspective, you said your healthcare is still covered, but apart from that, are there other specific things that off the top of your head you find yourself struggling to afford?
How can I explain? I don’t have an abundance, but I have enough, honestly, thanks to my partner receiving his salary. He pays for the house, and I’ve managed to be able to make daily purchases and pay the bills with the little I’ve had. For example, the internet that the kids use to study because they need that, and the costs of electricity. That's what I cover.
You never have a problem with food or rent?
No, because he pays for the housing. If our housing wasn’t paid for, the situation would be different. I work twenty hours part time with him handling the paperwork, and since I don’t have a lot of debt, that’s been enough to cover the other bills.
Has she continued taking English classes?
Yeah, I am studying until September. If I don’t pass level one, then I’ll repeat it again, because what I want to do is to learn. I want to work like I did before, because in a certain way, you feel helpless. You feel that your self-esteem is lowered, because you’re used to different things that you don’t have, and language is crucial.
How would you describe your life here now?
Fighting to get the kids through school, ‘cause I want them to graduate. One is in Essex County College about to take an exam, and my daughter is starting her senior year. I hope that I can continue studying and that my house starts to look nicer. I try to keep the television on English channels, but it's not so easy at my age to learn a new language. Maybe it is for other people. They say, “Don’t worry about it. You're going to learn this and that,” but the level of absorption for me is not as easy as it is for a teenager who has an open mind, and they learn faster than an older person who’s lived their whole life with one language without needing to learn the other.
And from a financial perspective, do you find yourself having to make sacrifices on a regular basis? Do you find yourself wanting to buy stuff that you’re not able to?
Sure, absolutely. In my house, what we have are only the basics. We live out of suitcases. We have beds, closets to put clothes in, and there is a TV. But I will not tell you that there isn’t a computer. When I'm in better financial shape, obviously we'll have better things and more things, but for now we have the basics.
And what about your kids? Are you making sacrifices for them as well? How are they taking the situation?
Yes, it’s just that when there isn’t, there isn’t. First we were on foot, now we at least have a car. Before everything was on a bus and train, which we had never experienced in Puerto Rico. Everything has been about adapting and coping so we can keep moving forward.
So I take it that at this point, you don’t have any savings? Like if there was an emergency, there’s no money that you could tap into?
My only option if there were an emergency and I had to leave the country or something would be to use credit cards. I pay the minimum and I have them paid up to date, so I have good credit.
I imagine a lot of this has been stressful at times. How do you handle that, and do you have any coping strategies?
I pray to God a lot. That’s it. And I call Puerto Rico often to talk to my mom. It’s been very difficult. Very difficult, really. But I realize there are a lot of immigrant people worse off than me. There are people who don’t have papers, that don’t have social security, who come here through different ways, and I have to think that I at least have my documents up to date, and my children do too. That motivates me, and I ask God to make the business prosper so that we’ll be okay and to be able to meet all the demands, because it’s really difficult to open up your own business here. Also, seeing other people’s stories and all that they have to go through and figure out to become citizens in a short amount of time motivates me to keep going.
How are your family and friends doing back in Puerto Rico?
My parents are older. My dad was sick back in July, so I had to make an emergency trip back there for six days because he was in bedridden for three weeks, and that affected me a lot. I took him to doctors so he could get injections to be able to walk and all that, and he was better by the time I left him.
I also sent both my kids to Puerto Rico. My daughter is there receiving treatment because she was born without her two front teeth, and she had braces when we arrived here. No one wants to take care of her with braces, and we have to put implants on her teeth, because otherwise there’s just a hole in her mouth. So she has two false teeth. She’s been there for a month because she had to continue her treatment. That's why I sent her and also sent my son to accompany her. But he's already back now because he had to enroll to take classes.
I guess what I was asking was how are your family and friends back home doing now? Are they still dealing with the consequences of the storm? What is their life like now?
Everything is very bad. There’s a lot of crime, and you can’t go out at night. The lights go out all the time. Certain things that people did regularly in the past are now difficult to do. Thank God my parents are already retired. My mom retired from a bank and has her account with her retirement money, and my dad has his social security. Economically, it’s not that they have money to throw away, but they have enough to live. But many doctors have left, and we’ve had to change doctors. Life has changed as a result of this for everyone there.
Do you know many other people from Puerto Rico who’ve had to leave the island as a result of the storm and go to somewhere else and start over?
Many people. People in Florida, friends in New York. Lots of classmates of my kids live somewhere else now, I know many people, yes. But most of them already had family here. Not like me. I didn’t come here with my mom, daddy, aunt, or anything like that.
A lot of the challenges you’ve spoken about that you’ve faced have been as a result of the storm. Things that were beyond your control, but I guess if you look back at anything that was in your control, are there any words of advice that you would give your younger self?
Of course I should’ve learned English. It’s not the same when you arrive at a place where you don’t completely know the language. I think it’s been the biggest difficulty, because if you don’t know how to get around, you can put it in your phone and use GPS, but if you don’t know how to communicate and express yourself, it's the worst.
Looking ahead a few years from now... maybe five years or whatever, where would you like to be, and what would you like to be doing?
I hope that I can at least hold a conversation and fend for myself. In Puerto Rico, you’re questioned a lot about your age. They see your resume and the date that you graduated. There’s a lot of age discrimination. Here I have realized that you may be older, but they give you the opportunity to work. What has limited me is my language skills. In the long term, I’d like to see my children graduate. The 18-year-old wants to study nursing. My daughter wants to study to be a pharmacist. What I’m focused on is that they finish their university here, ideally. I don’t think that I’ll be studying English for 5 years. I have to learn it in a year or a year and a half. Everyone learns at their own pace, but it’s something exhausting.
Would you like to one day return to Puerto Rico? Do you think you will?
Yes. I think yes. My roots are there, and I would like to return if the situation improves, but there are difficulties there and there are difficulties here too. Everything really depends on how things flow and how my children develop their careers. It’s possible that they’ll find the love of their life and get married and I’ll say, “I don’t want to go to Puerto Rico because I want to be near them.” Or maybe they’ll finish school and have the possibility of working back there in their respective fields. The truth is that I don’t know, but I would be lying if I said that in the long term, I didn’t want to go back because of everything I'm going through here, this loneliness of being without my family and everything that entails, that makes you feel less than optimal.
What gives you hope for the future?
My children and also being able to start this business. Because working independently gives you stability because you don’t have to jump around from job to job, never knowing what will happen. I want stability. I want to start something and see it come through to fruition.