Loading ...Marcia’s Story
I never dreamt of leaving Brazil to immigrate to another country. I had a stable job in the Bank of Brazil and more than 19 years in my career, four sons to guide through life, a marriage that broke down, but a good life in Brazil. Finding a second love at 35 years of age and to be in love to the point of leaving everything behind was a huge turn-around in the life of my family and for me. My sons were going to come with me.
We arrived in Toronto on a fall day and the boys loved the yellow and red leaves already falling from the trees. My husband was already here waiting for us, working two jobs so that he could receive us. Meanwhile, we had to live in two rented rooms of a house. We had to share the washroom, kitchen and living room with other families. When we arrived with ten huge suitcases, after a flight of ten hours, we only had two rooms without beds, just mattresses on the floor for the boys. There was no money. My husband was working during the day so that we could eat at night and we were all scared.
In spite of the elderly landlady’s kindness to accept us (one family in two rooms, when everyone else was living one person per room), the other tenants started to complain that now the washroom was always busy, that there were too many people, and the poor lady had to ask us to find another place to live. With the only money I had in my purse ($1200 which my father gave us for the trip because at that stage we had no more savings) we managed to pay the last month’s rent for an apartment and we moved with the suitcases, some old chairs which the landlady found for us and a table. We only had cereal and macaroni and cheese to eat. (Over Please) We struggled for several months. Some days I was so depressed that all I wanted to do was to stay in bed. My 15 year-old son cried continuously and complained that he had left his girlfriend in Brazil and blamed me for his unhappiness. My oldest son quickly found employment in a restaurant but felt very lonely. The youngest one hated school, which had longer hours than in Brazil. Over there he only spent 3 ? hours in school. Here, the time in school seemed like an eternity for him. “Mom, it’s all your fault!” “Mom, why did you do this to us?
”There wasn’t enough money to feed everyone; we had to eat little, we who had plenty in Brazil. My husband worked like crazy so that we would lack nothing. Life was hard, not only because of financial problems, but also because we felt lonely, without friends, with nobody. I remember that during that period I spent my time “rescuing” my sons; one day one was depressed, the next day the other one was depressed. I slept very little, worked at home, took care of household chores and lived stressed-out. But, my husband and I were o.k. Or at least more or less o.k. We didn’t even remember that we were just starting our life together. Sometimes we would fight and then everything would return to normal. We were a new couple and had to deal with the difficulties common to the beginning of a relationship.
One day I decided to look for assistance in The Salvation Army. Someone told me about Florence and I decided to take my 15 year-old for a chat. There we listened a lot and also talked a lot. It was the first truly friendly face that we met. I will never forget. As a consequence of meeting Florence, my son Lucas decided to look for the church denomination which he belonged to in Brazil. There he met his girlfriend. This summer, when I gave him the plane tickets to visit his dad in Brazil, he asked: “Mom, do I really have to go?”
My oldest son’s wife has arrived. My second son finished his first job and will start working as a junior accountant next week. He also studies accounting at George Brown College. My youngest son still finds that school is too long, but he is happy.
And what about me? After working as a babysitter for a while, I inaugurated my own Home Daycare this past July. I met several families through internet ads and today I have several clients. I am also helping my daughter-in-law who arrived recently to meet a few families so that later on she can have her own home daycare.
I know that there is still much to conquer before we realize all our dreams. We want to buy our own house, our children as well; we want to be very happy. Life today, two years later, is nothing like the life we had when we arrived. We are happy, and are in the on-going process of improving our family- life and as a couple.
The most important ingredient was never missing: a great love between us and our sons and a big determination to live in this country. And now that life is more stable, I have had time to realize that life is like a fisherman’s boat, which rocks back and forth, back and forth…Who knows? One day I may see wild turkeys again, but this time in my own yard.